Alert archive / Iowa / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS Quad Cities, IA

July 5, 2003Hancock County, Illinois; Lee County, Van Buren County, Iowa

NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this flash flood warning at Jul 5, 2003, 8:18 PM CDT for Hancock County, Illinois; Lee County, Van Buren County, Iowa. It was in force for 7 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 5, 2003, 8:18 PM CDT (01:18 UTC)
Expired: Jul 6, 2003, 3:00 AM CDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: NWS Quad Cities, IA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Lee County, IA, Van Buren County, IA, Hancock County, IL

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 133 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:21 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, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 138 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: 628 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -140 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1685 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 133 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 261 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 8.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS53 KDVN 060119
FFWDVN
IAC111-177-ILC067-060800-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
818 PM CDT SAT JUL 5 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE QUAD CITIES HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  VAN BUREN AND LEE COUNTIES IN SOUTHEAST IOWA
  HANCOCK COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS

* UNTIL 300 AM CDT

* AT 812 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING HEAVY RAIN ROUGHLY ALONG AND NORTH 
OF HIGHWAY 2 IN VAN BUREN AND LEE COUNTIES IN IOWA.  AROUND 2 AND 
A HALF INCHES OF RAIN WAS REPORTED IN A ONE HOUR PERIOD BY A TRAINED 
SPOTTER IN NAUVOO IN HANCOCK COUNTY ILLINOIS BETWEEN 7 AND 8 PM.

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

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO WATER COVERED ROADWAYS. THE WATER MAY
BE TOO DEEP TO CROSS SAFELY OR THE ROAD COULD BE WASHED OUT. VEHICLES
CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED QUICKLY.

CAMPERS SHOULD AVOID CAMPING ALONG STREAMS AND FLOOD PRONE LOW LYING
AREAS.

LAT...LON 4059 9092 4025 9129 4062 9171 4062 9216
          4083 9216 4082 9191 4080 9172 4079 9140
          4064 9122

$$

WOLF

2 follow-up statements

000 
WGUS73 KDVN 060245
FFSDVN
IAC111-177-ILC067-060800-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
945 PM CDT SAT JUL 5 2003

...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 3 AM CDT FOR VAN BUREN AND 
LEE COUNTIES IN SOUTHEAST IOWA AND HANCOCK COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL 
ILLINOIS...

AT 931 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING HEAVY RAIN OVER MUCH OF VAN BUREN COUNTY AND 
IN SOUTHERN LEE COUNTY IN IOWA...AND IN EXTREME WESTERN HANCOCK 
COUNTY IN ILLINOIS.

AT 830 PM...LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT IN VAN BUREN COUNTY REPORTED WATER 
OVER THE ROAD AT THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAYS 1 AND 2.  SEVERAL 
SPOTTER REPORTS OF AROUND 3 INCHES OF RAINFALL THUS FAR HAVE COME IN 
FROM LEE AND HANCOCK COUNTIES.  SPOTTERS INDICATED RUNOFF WAS 
INCREASING...AND DITCHES AND SMALL CREEKS WERE RAPIDLY FILLING UP.

SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE HEAVY RAINFALL AS 
THEY GRADUALLY WEAKEN THROUGH 11 PM.  

IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED...QUICKLY MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND TO 
ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS.  CAMPERS SHOULD AVOID CAMPING ALONG STREAMS AND 
FLOOD PRONE LOW LYING AREAS.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE 
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO 
WATER COVERED ROADWAYS.  THE WATER MAY BE TOO DEEP TO CROSS SAFELY 
OR THE ROAD COULD BE WASHED OUT.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER 
SHOULD BE ABANDONED QUICKLY.

$$

WOLF

000 
WGUS73 KDVN 060621
FFSDVN
IAC111-177-ILC067-MOC045-060715-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
116 AM CDT SUN JUL 6 2003

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING WHICH WAS IN EFFECT UNTIL 300 AM CDT FOR 
VAN BUREN...LEE...CLARK AND HANCOCK COUNTIES HAS BEEN CANCELED...

THE HEAVY RAINFALL HAS ENDED OVER THE WARNED AREA. STREAMS AND CREEKS
HAVE RECEDED OR WERE BEGINNING TO RECEDE...ENDING THE FLOOD THREAT.
EVEN THOUGH STREAMS AND CREEKS WERE RECEDING...SOME ROADWAYS MAY
STILL BE COVERED WITH WATER. MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO AVOID DRIVING
THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS.

A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER WESTERN IOWA...WILL MOVE QUICKLY 
EAST INTO THE AREA AFTER 4:00 AM. THIS LINE WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL 
TO PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS OF 60 TO 80 MPH AND TORRENTAIL RAIN...WITH
AN ADDITIONAL 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN. THIS RAIN WOULD BE FALLING ON 
SATURATED GROUND...THUS INCREASING THE THREAT FOR LOCALIZED 
FLOODING. 

BE SURE TO STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...OR COMMERCIAL RADIO OR 
TELEVISION FOR POSSIBLE WATCHES AND WARNINGS. IF YOU LIVE IN A FLOOD 
PRONE AREA...BE PREPARED TO SEEK HIGHER GROUND.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 5, 7:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Hancock	79 min
Jul 5, 10:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Hancock	58 min
Jul 6, 2:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Rock Island	49 min
Jul 5, 7:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Lee	66 min
Jul 5, 7:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Van Buren	61 min
Jul 5, 9:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Lee	66 min
Jul 6, 5:25 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Clinton	35 min
Jul 6, 1:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Cedar, Muscatine, Scott	42 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Iowa, 2003 Flash Flood Warnings in Illinois, 2003 Every flash flood warning in 2003

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.