Alert archive / Iowa / Flash Flood Watches in 2008
Flash Flood Watch 6, NWS Des Moines, IA
NWS Des Moines, IA issued this flash flood watch at May 29, 2008, 3:19 AM CDT for 45 counties in Iowa. It took effect at May 29, 2008, 7:00 PM CDT. It was in force for 12 hr.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- May 29, 2008, 3:19 AM CDT (08:19 UTC)
- In effect from
- May 29, 2008, 7:00 PM CDT
- Expired
- May 30, 2008, 7:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 12 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Des Moines, IA
- Flood severity
- None
All 45 counties
Adair County, IA, Adams County, IA, Audubon County, IA, Black Hawk County, IA, Boone County, IA, Bremer County, IA, Butler County, IA, Calhoun County, IA, Carroll County, IA, Cass County, IA, Cerro Gordo County, IA, Clarke County, IA, Crawford County, IA, Dallas County, IA, Emmet County, IA, Franklin County, IA, Greene County, IA, Grundy County, IA, Guthrie County, IA, Hamilton County, IA, Hancock County, IA, Hardin County, IA, Humboldt County, IA, Jasper County, IA, Kossuth County, IA, Lucas County, IA, Madison County, IA, Mahaska County, IA, Marion County, IA, Marshall County, IA, Palo Alto County, IA, Pocahontas County, IA, Polk County, IA, Poweshiek County, IA, Ringgold County, IA, Sac County, IA, Story County, IA, Tama County, IA, Taylor County, IA, Union County, IA, Warren County, IA, Webster County, IA, Winnebago County, IA, Worth County, IA, Wright County, IA
The radar
The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 41 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:22 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.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this flash flood watch went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Des Moines, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood watch went out at May 28, 11:53 PM CDT, 3 hours 26 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 28, 11:53 PM CDT, 3 hours 26 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 1153 PM CDT WED MAY 28 2008 ...UPDATED AVIATION DISCUSSION... .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH FRI NIGHT SFC-850 MB RIDGE TO THE EAST OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY HAS KEPT A COOLER AND DRIER THAN NORMAL AIRMASS ACROSS MUCH OF THE CWA. THE SFC RIDGE WILL SLOWLY GIVE WAY EASTWARD WITH TIME...WHILE A SHORTWAVE OVER THE CENTRAL ROCKIES IS SPREADING RAPIDLY INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS TONIGHT. PLENTY OF SIMILARITIES IN THE RUC/NAM/GFS BRINGING INTENSE 850 MOISTURE TRANSPORT AND THETA-E ADVECTION ACROSS CENTRAL/EASTERN NEBRASKA OVERNIGHT...AND HAVE GONE WITH CATEGORICAL HIGH POPS IN THE NORTHWEST AFTER 06Z. TEMPS WILL BE HARD WITH ON GOING T-ADVECTION. POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN RATES IN THIS ZONE... HOWEVER LIMITED INITIAL SEVERE THREAT AS SHOULD BE MAINLY ELEVATED WITH LACK OF SIGNIFICANT CAPE. DOMESTIC MODELS ARE PAINTING SIMILAR PICTURE FOR CONVECTIVE TRENDS THU INTO FRI AND COULD VERY WELL TURN INTO ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT EVENT. EXPECT OVERNIGHT WARM ADVECTION MCS TO LINGER INTO FRI OVER AT LEAST NRN HALF OF IA...PUSHING INTO NERN SECTIONS LATE IN THE DAY. ANY BREAK WILL LIKELY NOT LAST TOO LONG HOWEVER. NAM/GFS MLCAPE/CIN TRENDS BOTH INDICATE DEVELOPMENT ALONG NE FRONTAL BOUNDARY NOSING INTO SIOUXLAND AREA. SEE NO REASON WHY CIN WILL NOT ERODE CONSIDERING ACTIVE SWLY FLOW AND PROXIMITY TO JET WITH COMPLEX FIRING TO OUR WEST IN 2000-3500 J/KG MLCAPE AXIS THEN MOVING QUICKLY INTO IA AT 30-40KTS...MAYBE EVEN TOWARD 50KTS. THIS INSTABILITY COMBINED WITH PLENTY OF SHALLOW AND DEEP SHEAR MAKES ALL STORM MODES POSSIBLE /LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WIND...AND TORNADOES/. ALTHOUGH INSTABILITY DIMINISHES SOMEWHAT OVERNIGHT...CIN STILL RELATIVELY LOW WITH PERSISTENT AFOREMENTIONED SHALLOW AND DEEP SHEAR SO WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO HAVE SVR AND EVEN TORNADO THREAT CONTINUE LONGER THAN TYPICAL DIURNAL PEAK. HEAVY RAINS AND FLOODING POSSIBLE AS WELL WITH DETAILS NOTED IN HYDROLOGY SECTION BELOW. MCS SHOULD LINGER INTO FRI BUT DISSIPATE TOWARD MIDDAY AS LOW LEVEL JET VEERS. FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL STILL LAG HOWEVER AND BE ORIENTED SW-NE ACROSS HEART OF IA DURING PEAK HEATING. NAM/GFS AGAIN DIMINISH CIN AND REALLY BOOST MLCAPE BY AFTERNOON INTO 3000-4000 J/KG RANGE...WHICH MAKES SENSE CONSIDERING MOISTURE HAS ANOTHER DAY TO ESTABLISH ITSELF IN THE WARM SECTOR WITH MOIST SOILS IN PLACE. ANOTHER ROUND OF CONVECTION WILL LIKELY DEVELOP SERN HALF AND MOVE OFF TO THE EAST. ALTHOUGH KINEMATIC PARAMETERS ARE NOT AS STRONG...HEIGHTENED INSTABILITY MAY OFFSET THAT SOMEWHAT WITH MORE SVR WX POSSIBLE. CONVECTIVE CHANCES SHOULD THEN FINALLY DIMINISH INTO THE NIGHT. PCPN TOMORROW MAY RESULT A DECENT TEMP GRADIENT SO HAVE COOLED THINGS OFF NE AND WARMED THEM SW...BELOW AND ABOVE RELATIVELY GUIDANCE EXTREMES. NOT AS MUCH OF A CHANGE FRI BUT STILL TRIMMED HIGHS NE DUE TO PCPN. .LONG TERM...SAT THROUGH WED CONVECTIVE TRENDS WILL AGAIN BE THE PREDOMINATE WX CONCERN THIS PERIOD...BUT OVERALL LESS ACTIVE THAN THE END OF THIS WORK WEEK. FAIR WX SHOULD BE IN PLACE FOR THE WEEKEND AS WEAK ROCKIES RIDGING SLOWLY ADVANCES TOWARD THE MO VALLEY AFTER PASSAGE OF LATE WEEK FRONT. GENERALLY FOLLOWED BLEND OF GEFS/ECMWF INTO NEXT WEEK WITH INFLUENCES FROM HPC AND ECMWF MEAN. RIDGE SHOULD MOVE FAR ENOUGH EAST TO GET IA INTO THE WARM ADVECTION ZONE BY LATE SUN NIGHT INTO MONDAY. THIS SHOULD BE FOLLOWED BY A PROLONGED PERIOD OF IL-DEFINED CHANCES WITH MODEL CONCENSUS SMOOTHING OUT ANY DETAILS. THIS SCENARIO WOULD SEEM TO KEEP CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL ELEVATED WITH RELATIVELY WEAK LOW LEVEL FLOW IN PLACE AND SFC BOUNDARYS REMAINING TO OUR SOUTH AND WEST. ECMWF DOES DEPICT A VERY STRONG SYSTEM AROUND WED...BUT THIS WILL BE IGNORED FOR THE TIME BEING CONSIDERING IT IS DAY 7 WITH LITTLE ADDITIONAL SUPPORT AT THE MOMENT. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO GOING TEMPS WITH RELATIVELY FLAT SEASONAL READINGS ANTICIPATED. && .HYDROLOGY... MANY HEAVY RAIN AND FLOODING PARAMETERS ARE IN PLACE FOR THU NIGHT. 310K/H85 MOISTURE TRANSPORT AND CONVERGENCE IS VERY STRONG INTO CENTRAL IA WITH PWS APPROACHING 2 INCHES...VERY ANOMALOUS FOR LATE MAY...AND EVEN EXCEEDING THAT IN ISOLATED SPOTS. 12-13KFT WCDS WILL MAKE FOR VERY EFFICIENT RAINERS. ONLY DRAWBACK WILL BE FAST MEAN WIND AND SYSTEM MOTION. ALTHOUGH PATTERN DOES FIT CONCEPTUAL UPPER AND LOW LEVEL JET MODELS SOMEWHAT...ULJ MAY BE TOO CLOSE AND PUSH THE MCS OUT QUICK ENOUGH. STRENGTH OF MEAN WIND AND LLJ ALSO RESULTS IN RELATIVELY TRANSIENT CORFIDI VECTORS. BECAUSE THIS IS 3RD PERIOD AND ABOVE CONCERNS...WILL NOT GO WITH FLASH FLOOD WATCH YET BUT CONTINUE ESF. FFA COULD CERTAINLY BE NEEDED BY MID SHIFT OR TOMORROW HOWEVER WITH STORM TOTAL PCPN 1-3.5 INCHES IN GRIDS AT THE MOMENT. && .AVIATION...29/06Z THUNDERSTORMS HAVE FIRED OVER NORTHEAST AND CENTRAL NEBRASKA. PRIMARY CONCERN FOR TAF SITES WILL BE THE CENTRAL NEBRASKA CONVECTION WITH STORM MOTION VECTORS BRINGING THIS INTO NORTHERN TAF SITES LATE THROUGH EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. ADDITIONAL CONVECTION EXPECTED NEAR DSM/FOD/MCW LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON WITH POTENTIAL CONTINUING THURSDAY EVENING. VFR CONDTIONS EXPECTED TO MAINTAIN AT OTM THROUGH THE PERIOD AND AT DSM FOR MUCH OF THE PERIOD. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && LONG TERM/SHORT TERM...SMALL/RUSSELL AVIATION...DONAVON
Hazardous weather outlook, May 28, 5:04 AM CDT, 22 hours 15 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>The office that day
Everything else NWS Des Moines, IA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 29, 9:03 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Calhoun, Hamilton, Humboldt, Pocahontas, Webster, Wright | 42 min |
| May 29, 9:44 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Franklin, Hamilton, Hardin, Humboldt, Webster, Wright | 27 min |
| May 29, 3:46 PM CDT | Areal Flood Advisory | DMX | Carroll | 119 min |
Nearby
Flash Flood Watches in Iowa, 2008Every flash flood watch in 2008
Sources
The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.