4,632 first-hand accounts of flood events in Iowa, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
After morning heavy rainfall over northern Iowa, conditions cleared out for the late morning and afternoon hours ahead of an impending cold front.
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall continued to affect the Midwest and portions of Iowa, though fortunately no severe weather (hail, winds, etc...) were experienced with this event.
Read the full account →More heavy rainfall was seen across the area, primarily situated over the northern third of the state, as a surface boundary sat across central Iowa and a shortwave moved through the upper level flow.
Read the full account →More heavy rainfall was seen across the area, primarily situated over the northern third of the state, as a surface boundary sat across central Iowa and a shortwave moved through the upper level flow.
Read the full account →Tornadoes made an October appearance along with other strong storms and heavy rainfall as a number of conditions came together. A frontal boundary stalled out across Iowa, situated from southwest to northeast, roughly cutting the state in half.
Read the full account →Southern Iowa found itself north of a relatively stationary surface boundary, which was laid out across northern Missouri. An 850mb front was situated a bit further north, over much of southern Iowa, with a decent moisture fetch from the Gulf of Mexico.
Read the full account →Repeated rounds of thunderstorms with heavy rains moved across portions of northeast Iowa during the evening of August 23rd into the early morning hours of the 24th.
Read the full account →A round of thunderstorms moved across northeast Iowa during the morning and afternoon of July 21st. These storms dropped locally heavy rains that produced some flash flooding in Fayette and Chickasaw Counties.
Read the full account →A weak semi-stationary boundary remained draped across Iowa in the overnight hours of the 20th into the 21st, which acted as a focus for initial storm development. Storms early in the evening moved off to the southeast and was relatively quiet until the low level jet kicked in.
Read the full account →A record rain event in May in eastern Montana combined with high water from storms in April and May, plus snow melt from a much above normal snow pack, all contributed to bring record high water to the Missouri River chain of reservoirs by late Spring.
Read the full account →Thunderstorms with high winds and extremely heavy rain moved across northeast Iowa during the evening of September 21st into the early morning of the 22nd. Winds of 60 to 70 mph occurred near Rockford (Floyd County) and Nora Springs (Floyd County).
Read the full account →An ideal setup was seen across northern and central Iowa for repeated rounds of heavy rainfall and severe weather. A weak warm frontal boundary stalled out across the area as it transitioned to a stationary boundary and allowed multiple rounds of storms to initiate on the 21st…
Read the full account →An ideal setup was seen across northern and central Iowa for repeated rounds of heavy rainfall and severe weather. A weak warm frontal boundary stalled out across the area as it transitioned to a stationary boundary and allowed multiple rounds of storms to initiate on the 21st…
Read the full account →Repeated rounds of thunderstorms with heavy rains moved across portions of northeast Iowa during the evening of August 23rd into the early morning hours of the 24th.
Read the full account →Strong to severe storms and heavy rainfall moved up into Iowa from northern Missouri during the late afternoon and evening hours of the 22nd of June.
Read the full account →Strong to severe storms and heavy rainfall moved up into Iowa from northern Missouri during the late afternoon and evening hours of the 22nd of June.
Read the full account →Strong to severe storms and heavy rainfall moved up into Iowa from northern Missouri during the late afternoon and evening hours of the 22nd of June.
Read the full account →Similar to recent days, the atmosphere was highly unstable with SB/MUCAPE values in excess of 3000 J/kg, but was devoid of large scale forcing and ability to organize any storms.
Read the full account →Traditional severe weather parameters were lackluster during this event with MUCAPE values predominantly in the 500 to 1500 J/kg range and negligible effective bulk shear.
Read the full account →The setup over Iowa was primed for a heavy rainfall event for a few reasons, including persistent SW 500 mb flow, a strong and SW oriented 850 mb jet, strong low level moisture transport, and elevated CAPE around 1000-2000 J/kg.
Read the full account →Early reports starting on the 9th are in this entry, with several later reports starting on the 13th in Part II. ||Additionally the combination of heavy snowpack and heavy rainfall absorbed into the snow partially collapsed a horse barn roof in rural Adair County near…
Read the full account →Reports from the 13h through the 19th in this entry. ||A relatively deep and widespread snowpack existed across the region during early to mid March.
Read the full account →Major to record flooding occurred during the month of June 2008 with most forecast points above flood stage for the majority of the month. The flooding during this month was more prolific and severe than the flooding in April 2008, and the flooding in April had been the most…
Read the full account →A slowly northward moving boundary/warm front was draped across the area throughout the day. By the evening vigorous storms fired up just north of the boundary and continued as the low level jet began to pick up. Numerous reports of large hail and damaging winds were reported.
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