Alert archive / Iowa / Flash Flood Warnings in 2001

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Quad Cities, IA

May 14, 2001Washington County, Iowa

NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this flash flood warning at May 14, 2001, 3:44 AM CDT for Washington County, Iowa. It was in force for 3 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties.

The facts

Issued: May 14, 2001, 3:44 AM CDT (08:44 UTC)
Expired: May 14, 2001, 6:30 AM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Quad Cities, IA
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Washington County, IA

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 93 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:46 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 00:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 100 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1442 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 66 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 148 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 219 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WGUS53 KDVN 140845
FFWMLI
TTAA00 KDVN 140836

IAC183-141130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
344 AM CDT MON MAY 14 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN QUAD CITIES HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  WASHINGTON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST IOWA

* UNTIL 630 AM CDT

* AT 340 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  HEAVY RAIN WAS FALLING OVER THE WARNED AREA.

* THUNDERSTORMS WERE CONTINUOUSLY REDEVELOPING AND MOVING OVER
  PORTIONS OF THE WARNED AREA...LEADING TO VERY HIGH RAINFALL RATES
  AND THE LIKELIHOOD OF FLASH FLOODING IN THE WARNED AREA.

* NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATES INDICATE THAT 
AROUND 3 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN IN THE LAST 90 MINUTES NEAR 
KALONA. DOPPLER RADAR ALSO ESTIMATES THAT AS MUCH AS 4 TO 6 INCHES 
OF RAIN HAS FALLEN FROM NEAR BRIGHTON TO WEST OF WEST CHESTER. 
THIS RAIN...AND ADDITIONAL 1 TO 3 INCHES OF EXPECTED HEAVY RAINFALL 
WILL CAUSE LOCAL STREAMS AND RIVERS TO RISE RAPIDLY AND OVERFLOW 
THEIR BANKS. 

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THIS STORM WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OF SMALL
CREEKS AND STREAMS...HIGHWAYS AND UNDERPASSES. ADDITIONALLY...COUNTRY
ROADS AND FARMLANDS ALONG THE BANKS OF CREEKS AND STREAMS AND OTHER
LOW LYING AREAS ARE SUBJECT TO FLASH FLOODING.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED ACT
QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY
IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS
SAFELY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED QUICKLY.
MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

LAT...LON 4149 9154 4121 9150 4121 9182 4150 9189

MCCLURE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Quad Cities, IA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 13, 11:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Keokuk	29 min
May 14, 1:18 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Van Buren	42 min
May 14, 2:16 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DVN	Jefferson, Keokuk, Van Buren	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Iowa, 2001 Every flash flood warning in 2001

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.