Alert archive / Iowa / Flash Flood Warnings in 2004

Flash Flood Warning 5, NWS Des Moines, IA

May 21, 2004Black Hawk County, Palo Alto County, Pocahontas County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this flash flood warning at May 21, 2004, 3:38 PM CDT for Black Hawk County, Palo Alto County, Pocahontas County, Iowa. It was in force for 119 days. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 21, 2004, 3:38 PM CDT (20:38 UTC)
Expired: Sep 17, 2004, 9:45 PM CDT
In force: 119 days
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Black Hawk County, IA, Palo Alto County, IA, Pocahontas County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 161 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:37 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

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 228 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: 732 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 216 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 321 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 KDMX 212039
FFWDMX
IAC013-212245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
338 PM CDT FRI MAY 21 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DES MOINES HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  BLACK HAWK COUNTY IN NORTHEAST IOWA
  THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF WATERLOO

* UNTIL 545 PM

* AT 333 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  THUNDERSTORMS WITH FLASH FLOOD PRODUCING RAINS IN THE WARNING AREA.

* THUNDERSTORMS ARE CONTINUOUSLY REDEVELOPING...RESULTING IN         
  EXCESSIVE RAINFALL. RAINFALL RATES WILL AVERAGE 2 TO 3 INCHES      
  PER HOUR. THIS WILL PRODUCE FLASH FLOODING IN URBAN AREAS OF       
  WATERLOO AND CEDAR FALLS.

OTHER WARNING LOCATIONS INCLUDE...
CEDAR FALLS...DUNKERTON...ELK RUN HEIGHTS...EVANSDALE...
GILBERTVILLE...HUDSON...LA PORTE CITY...RAYMOND AND WATERLOO
MUNICIPAL AIRPORT

FLASH FLOODS OCCUR QUICKLY...MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND. AVOID WATER
COVERED ROADS...THE ROAD MAY BE WASHED OUT. LESS THAN ONE FOOT OF
FAST FLOWING WATER CAN SWEEP AN AUTOMOBILE OFF THE ROAD.

LAT...LON 4263 9209 4230 9209 4230 9253 4263 9256

$$

KULA

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS53 KDMX 172051
FFWDMX
IAC147-151-180245-
/X.NEW.KDMX.FF.W.0005.040917T2049Z-040918T0245Z/
/0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
349 PM CDT FRI SEP 17 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DES MOINES HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  PALO ALTO COUNTY IN NORTHWEST IOWA.
  POCAHONTAS COUNTY IN NORTHWEST IOWA.

* UNTIL 945 PM CDT.

* AT 345 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS THE WARNED AREA.     
  REPORTS FROM SPOTTERS HAVE INDICATED AROUND 2 INCHES OF RAINFALL
  SO FAR IN SOUTHERN PALO ALTO INTO NORTHERN POCAHONTAS COUNTIES. 

* SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IN THE
  WARNED AREA. RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH
  FLOODING TO OCCUR. SOME LOCATIONS THAT WILL EXPERIENCE FLOODING    
  INCLUDE...LAURENS...AYRSHIRE...CURLEW...CYLINDER...HAVELOCK...     
  MALLARD AND PLOVER.

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.

LAT...LON 4324 9491 4258 9490 4257 9447 4324 9449

$$

COGIL

The office that day

Everything else NWS Des Moines, IA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 21, 2:18 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Crawford	42 min
May 21, 2:37 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Sac	53 min
May 21, 4:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Franklin	28 min
May 21, 5:23 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Bremer	37 min
May 21, 10:59 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Palo Alto	61 min
May 21, 11:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Hancock	67 min
May 21, 11:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Cerro Gordo, Worth	50 min
May 21, 12:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Butler	40 min
May 21, 12:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Cerro Gordo, Worth	16 min
May 21, 12:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Hamilton	40 min
May 21, 1:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Webster	58 min
May 21, 1:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Calhoun	35 min
May 21, 1:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Hardin	48 min
May 21, 1:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Grundy	35 min
May 21, 2:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Grundy	43 min
May 21, 2:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Franklin, Wright	25 min
May 21, 2:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Hamilton	39 min
May 21, 2:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Hardin	55 min
May 21, 2:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Franklin, Wright	47 min
May 21, 2:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Hardin	51 min
May 21, 2:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Black Hawk	57 min
May 21, 2:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Grundy	45 min
May 21, 3:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Butler	39 min
May 21, 3:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Tama	23 min
May 21, 3:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Grundy	48 min
May 21, 3:35 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Black Hawk	40 min
May 21, 3:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Marshall, Tama	31 min
May 21, 4:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Tama	29 min
May 21, 5:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Wright	44 min
May 21, 5:27 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DMX	Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Taylor	120 days
May 21, 5:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Cerro Gordo, Hancock	48 min
May 21, 5:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Palo Alto	45 min
May 21, 5:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Franklin	43 min
May 21, 5:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Grundy, Hardin	53 min
May 21, 5:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Palo Alto, Pocahontas	51 min
May 21, 6:09 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DMX	Adams, Cerro Gordo, Franklin, Hancock, Humboldt, Kossuth and 1 more	120 days
May 21, 6:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Cerro Gordo	45 min
May 21, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Humboldt, Kossuth	45 min
May 21, 6:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Butler	53 min
May 21, 6:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Pocahontas	24 min
May 21, 6:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Humboldt	34 min
May 21, 6:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Bremer	36 min
May 21, 6:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Wright	51 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Iowa, 2004 Every flash flood warning in 2004

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.