4,632 first-hand accounts of flood events in Iowa, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
A very unstable airmass was in place over Iowa. The stationary front that had been south of the state over the past several days began to lift north and extended from southwest into east central Iowa on the afternoon of the 28th.
Read the full account →A cold front dropped slowly southeast into Iowa. The severe parameters were not strong, however a narrow line of thunderstorms developed over north central Iowa into western Wisconsin. The storms trained along a slow moving line.
Read the full account →A very unstable airmass was in place over Iowa. The stationary front that had been south of the state over the past several days began to lift north and extended from southwest into east central Iowa on the afternoon of the 28th.
Read the full account →A very unstable airmass was in place over Iowa. The stationary front that had been south of the state over the past several days began to lift north and extended from southwest into east central Iowa on the afternoon of the 28th.
Read the full account →A warm front moved slowly north into Iowa during the overnight hours of the 28th into the 29th. The airmass became unstable as surface temperatures warmed into the low 80s, with dewpoints around 70 along and south of the front.
Read the full account →The combination of snow melt runoff and heavy rains caused the Mississippi River to rise to levels second only to the all-time record flood of April 1965. At Lansing (Allamakee County), the river crested at 19.9 feet on April 21.
Read the full account →Heavy rain fell once again across a large part of Iowa, especially across the north and northeast. This rain fell on rivers that were already close to flood stage as they were just beginning to fall after the flooding from earlier in the month.
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall continued across the state into the second week of June. The rain of the first week set the stage, heavy rain going into the second week put things over the top.
Read the full account →A warm front extended east to west across the Upper Mississippi Valley on June 7, which provided the focus for thunderstorms producing excessive rainfall. In fact, these storms exhibited very high rainfall rates, which led to 1 to 2 inch rainfall amounts in an hour.
Read the full account →The outflow boundary from the previous night's convection was draped across southern Iowa east to west. As the low level jet increased to 30 kts during the evening, thunderstorms broke out north of the boundary and moved across central and southern Iowa.
Read the full account →A strong storm system developed over the southern Rockies during the early morning hours of the 17th. A strong frontal boundary extended from the low, northeast across Iowa. A 50 kt low level jet developed during the predawn hours.
Read the full account →May 2013 was a wet month across the state. The heavy rainfall brought relief across the state from the drought of the preceding year. The month began with a May record snow event. Snow began in northwest Iowa early on the morning of the 1st with six inches reported at Sibley.
Read the full account →A warm front moved slowly north into Iowa during the overnight hours of the 28th into the 29th. The airmass became unstable as surface temperatures warmed into the low 80s, with dewpoints around 70 along and south of the front.
Read the full account →A very unstable airmass was in place over Iowa. The stationary front that had been south of the state over the past several days began to lift north and extended from southwest into east central Iowa on the afternoon of the 28th.
Read the full account →A very unstable airmass was in place over Iowa. The stationary front that had been south of the state over the past several days began to lift north and extended from southwest into east central Iowa on the afternoon of the 28th.
Read the full account →The state was stuck under northwest flow aloft, resulting in shortwaves aloft initiating storms. Additionally, at the surface a warm frontal boundary resided across the southwest third to half of the state during the day of the 21st and through the overnight.
Read the full account →A complex of storms worked their way across Nebraska overnight on the 18th into the 19th, eventually making their way into Iowa. As those elevated storms approached the central third of Iowa, the linear storms began to backbuild and with increasing convection behind them in…
Read the full account →A complex of storms worked their way across Nebraska overnight on the 18th into the 19th, eventually making their way into Iowa. As those elevated storms approached the central third of Iowa, the linear storms began to backbuild and with increasing convection behind them in…
Read the full account →A complex of storms worked their way across Nebraska overnight on the 18th into the 19th, eventually making their way into Iowa. As those elevated storms approached the central third of Iowa, the linear storms began to backbuild and with increasing convection behind them in…
Read the full account →Leading up to this event, a low pressure system was slowly working its way northeast through the Dakotas and into southern Canada. The associated fronts made their presence felt within Iowa on the 24th and 25th.
Read the full account →A generally stationary boundary remained oriented roughly west to east across the state through the evening and overnight hours. As a result, storms initiated along and north of the boundary and provided multiple rounds of heavy rainfall from roughly Ames northward.
Read the full account →A weak frontal boundary draped itself across the state the previous day and into the 28th, oscillating roughly between northern and southern Iowa.
Read the full account →A generally stationary boundary remained oriented roughly west to east across the state through the evening and overnight hours. As a result, storms initiated along and north of the boundary and provided multiple rounds of heavy rainfall from roughly Ames northward.
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 →