4,632 first-hand accounts of flood events in Iowa, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
Rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches were common across northeast Iowa during the afternoon of September 9th. This rain fell fast enough and on soils that were already saturated leading to more flash flooding.
Read the full account →Heavy rains during the fourth week of July resulted in moderate flooding on the Mississippi River from Rock Island to Gregory Landing.||At Rock Island, it crested around 17.2 feet around 1 pm July 27.|At Illinois City, it crested around 17.0 feet around 7 am July 28.|At…
Read the full account →Heavy rains during the fourth week of July resulted in moderate flooding on the Mississippi River from Rock Island to Gregory Landing.||At Rock Island, it crested around 17.2 feet around 1 pm July 27.|At Illinois City, it crested around 17.0 feet around 7 am July 28.|At…
Read the full account →Heavy rains during the fourth week of July resulted in moderate flooding on the Mississippi River from Rock Island to Gregory Landing.||At Rock Island, it crested around 17.2 feet around 1 pm July 27.|At Illinois City, it crested around 17.0 feet around 7 am July 28.|At…
Read the full account →Heavy rains during the fourth week of July resulted in moderate flooding on the Mississippi River from Rock Island to Gregory Landing.||At Rock Island, it crested around 17.2 feet around 1 pm July 27.|At Illinois City, it crested around 17.0 feet around 7 am July 28.|At…
Read the full account →Heavy rains during the fourth week of July resulted in moderate flooding on the Mississippi River from Rock Island to Gregory Landing.||At Rock Island, it crested around 17.2 feet around 1 pm July 27.|At Illinois City, it crested around 17.0 feet around 7 am July 28.|At…
Read the full account →Heavy rains during the last week of August resulted in the Iowa River at Marengo going above the moderate flood stage level of 15.5 feet on August 27th around 930 am. It crested around 16.87 feet around 630 am August 28.
Read the full account →Once again, a warm frontal boundary was located to the south of Iowa with very warm and unstable air just to the south of the front. Dew point temperatures were in the low 70s in the warm air. This moisture was drawn north over the frontal boundary, into Iowa.
Read the full account →The first significant severe weather outbreak of the season took place during the afternoon and evening of the 14th with all modes of severe weather taking place. An upper level low pressure lifted northeast out of the southwest U.S.
Read the full account →The first significant severe weather outbreak of the season took place during the afternoon and evening of the 14th with all modes of severe weather taking place. An upper level low pressure lifted northeast out of the southwest U.S.
Read the full account →Heavy rains mentioned above in the urban and small stream flooding caused flash flooding in Polk County, specifically in Des Moines. Walnut Creek rose quicky above flood stage.
Read the full account →Cloudy skies along with scattered showers and thunderstorms continued across much of the area August 27. While most locations saw rainfall amounts ranging from a few tenths of an inch up to 2 to 3 inches, a heavier band or rain fell from Cedar Rapids to Dubuque.
Read the full account →Cloudy skies along with scattered showers and thunderstorms continued across much of the area August 27. While most locations saw rainfall amounts ranging from a few tenths of an inch up to 2 to 3 inches, a heavier band or rain fell from Cedar Rapids to Dubuque.
Read the full account →Cloudy skies along with scattered showers and thunderstorms continued across much of the area August 27. While most locations saw rainfall amounts ranging from a few tenths of an inch up to 2 to 3 inches, a heavier band or rain fell from Cedar Rapids to Dubuque.
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall occurred in Mahaska County as thunderstorms rolled across. Rainfall amounts ranged from 3 inches ove the southern part of the county, upwards to 8 inches over the north. All of the rain fall in a few hours time.
Read the full account →Iowa was under a hot and unstable airmass during the afternoon and evening of the 15th. Precipitable water values rose into the 2 to 2.3 inch range with surface dewpoints in the upper 70s.
Read the full account →A warm front remained in place to the south of Iowa during the overnight hours of the 13th into the morning of the 14th. The airmass was very unstable to the south of the front with CAPE around 3500 J/kg and lifted indices of -7 to -9 C.
Read the full account →During the early morning hours of June 20 a low pressure system located over central Kansas with a front extending into Iowa produced heavy rain-producing showers and thunderstorms across southeast Iowa, northeast Missouri, and west central Illinois.
Read the full account →Another round of severe weather and heavy rain took place during the late afternoon and evening hours of the 9th, lasting into the early morning of the 10th. A strong shortwave lifted northeast across the area.
Read the full account →The weather pattern changed only slightly from the day before. A strong upper level trough was in place to the west of Iowa with the surface low and cold front near the western Iowa border, and the warm front bisecting the state.
Read the full account →The weather pattern changed only slightly from the day before. A strong upper level trough was in place to the west of Iowa with the surface low and cold front near the western Iowa border, and the warm front bisecting the state.
Read the full account →The weather pattern changed only slightly from the day before. A strong upper level trough was in place to the west of Iowa with the surface low and cold front near the western Iowa border, and the warm front bisecting the state.
Read the full account →For the second day in a row, thunderstorms with heavy rain moved across northeast Iowa. A round of storms developed during the early morning hours of June 19th along a warm front and then a second round developed during the afternoon ahead of an approaching cold front.
Read the full account →A powerful upper level system was moving into south central Canada. The upper level winds were increasing as a closed upper low settled into that area. Warm air advection continued across Iowa through the night of the 29th into the morning of the 30th.
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