Alert archive / Iowa / River Flood Warnings in 2019
River Flood Warning 71, NWS Des Moines, IA
NWS Des Moines, IA issued this river flood warning at Jul 3, 2019, 1:25 PM CDT for Emmet County, Iowa. It took effect at Jul 4, 2019, 1:00 AM CDT. It was in force for 57 hr.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Jul 3, 2019, 1:25 PM CDT (18:25 UTC)
- In effect from
- Jul 4, 2019, 1:00 AM CDT
- Expired
- Jul 6, 2019, 10:14 AM CDT
- In force
- 57 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Des Moines, IA
- Area
- Storm-based polygon
- Flood severity
- Minor
County Emmet County, IA
The radar
The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 167 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:25 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 river
Written for the forecast point West Fork Des Moines River at Estherville (ESVI4). The gauge peaked at 8.25 ft at Jul 4, 2019, 6:00 PM CDT.
- Action stage
- 6 ft
- Minor stage
- 10 ft
- Moderate stage
- 13 ft
- Major stage
- 14.5 ft
This gauge today: stage, forecast and historic crests
Stage from the USGS instantaneous record for site 05476500, one reading an hour, from a day before the product to a day after it ended. Flood stages are today's.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this river flood warning 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 river flood warning went out at Jul 3, 12:02 PM CDT, 1 hour 23 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 3, 12:02 PM CDT, 1 hour 23 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Des Moines IA 1202 PM CDT Wed Jul 3 2019 .SHORT TERM.../Today through Thursday/ Issued at 341 AM CDT Wed Jul 3 2019 Slow moving frontal boundary about where it was expected yesterday at this time...between highways 30 and 20 and coincident with an area of warm advection. Additional storms have developed near this boundary within the warm advection. Heavy rainfall is occurring with the storms though at this point the heaviest rainfall is occurring to the west of our forecast area. Southern Crawford county however has not escaped this area of heavy rainfall with radar estimates in excess of an inch. While there may be some localized flooding, most of the water appears that it will flow into Shelby County...again, just west of the forecast area. For today and tonight, not much has changed in the overall pattern and trend...still expect the quasi-stationary boundary to hover between highway 30 and I-80...possibly a little further north towards highway 20. A few weak shortwaves will traverse the state and interact with the boundary producing periodic chances for storms today. PWAT's ranged from 1.6 to nearly 2 inches so heavy rainfall will be possible with the storms. As for the severe potential...not overly excited about that. We will have high instability and low shear. The best theta-e advection shifts into MN and WI and forcing is spotty and hit or miss so other than a marginal hail or wind threat to 40 mph or so, that's what I am expecting. For Thursday, a deep upper trough develops over the west with a ridge attempting to rebuild over the region however a parade of shortwaves will squash any real development of the ridge. At the surface, a pretty strong low will develop over Colorado with general troughiness over the Plains with another frontal boundary extending from NCEN MN to SE SD and this front will sag into the state during the day. Ahead of this boundary, moisture will stream into Iowa with instability becoming strong in the afternoon once again. Areas right along the front, where the convergence will be best may see some strong to possibly severe storms. There is a lot of uncertainty at this point but I suspect this day will see more of a threat of severe storms than we have had recently, though coverage may not be very widespread. .LONG TERM.../Thursday through Tuesday/ Issued at 341 AM CDT Wed Jul 3 2019 /Thursday Night through Sunday/...Confidence: Low to Medium Weakly forced pattern continues for the near future with near indiscernible surface boundary/outflow boundary sitting over southern Iowa tonight...that should drift north a bit by 00z Friday and remain in central to northern Iowa and again become more diffuse with time. The current surface map tonight shows a weak trough extending east northeast into northern Minnesota from an area of low pressure in central South Dakota. Draped across Iowa, a stationary front at the surface is now situated over western through southern Iowa then back northeast toward Dubuque. Aloft some additional weak warm air advection is creating a small area of showers and thunderstorms over far western Iowa. Overall the synoptic models continue to diminish convection by 00z Friday as the weak wave over Kansas tonight will have lifted east northeast of the region by that time and the surface front will also be farther north. The weakness in forcing will be short lived, however, as an H500 wave tracking over the upper level ridge begins to initiate more convection over northern/northwest Iowa Thursday night into Friday morning. The NAM continues to be the most aggressive with convecting precipitation while the GFS/Euro are more limited and focused more so into Nebraska and Minnesota. There again is limited confidence in the location of the convection, though at least there is some consensus on the timing of development. Since the airmass is not changing from now until the weekend, the same impacts will persist with a few stronger storms from time to time; precipitable water of 1.5 to 2 inches; and warm cloud depths supportive of locally heavy rainfall at a few locations. Little change in temperature is anticipated from now until Friday with Thursday night lows in the upper 60s/lower 70s and highs Friday still in the lower 80s north to the mid to upper 80s. south. Both the GFS/Euro are tending to shift the boundary just south of Iowa by 12z Saturday with slightly cooler air dropping into the region as the weekend begins. There is still little consensus on the cessation of precipitation with the Euro still lingering showers into Friday night while the GFS ends rainfall by 00z Saturday. Both models show another weak wave tracking across Iowa Saturday with additional showers and thunderstorms crossing the region during the afternoon/evening followed by lesser chances for rain into Sunday. With more appreciable cloud cover, highs will drop into the upper 70s to lower 80s with lows in the lower to mid 60s. /Sunday Night through Tuesday/...Confidence: Medium Though surface high pressure will be situated over the Great Lakes early next week which may help limit rainfall chances, general westerly flow aloft and southwest flow at H850 will continue to keep the area in a regime that favors additional chances for thunderstorms into early next week. Little change in temperature is anticipated, with a hint that temperature and humidity will again be on the upswing. && .AVIATION.../For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Thursday afternoon/ Issued at 1200 PM CDT Wed Jul 3 2019 The main aviation hazard through the period will be scattered thunderstorms and changing wind directions and speeds with associated outflow. The greatest chances to impact sites will be from 21z to 03z. Otherwise VFR conditions are expected between storms. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...FAB LONG TERM...REV AVIATION...Donavon
Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 3, 4:18 AM CDT, 9 hours 7 minutes before
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</html>In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jul 3, 7:25 AM CDT, 6 hours before
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</html>Local storm report, Jul 3, 9:05 AM CDT, 4 hours 20 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
905 AM CDT WED JUL 3 2019
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0746 AM HEAVY RAIN 1 W FORT DODGE 42.51N 94.20W
07/03/2019 M2.47 INCH WEBSTER IA CO-OP OBSERVER
.
&&The office that day
Everything else NWS Des Moines, IA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2, 8:19 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | DMX | Webster | 56 min |
| Jul 2, 8:31 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | DMX | Webster | 3 hr |
| Jul 3, 2:11 PM CDT | Flash Flood Watch | DMX | Audubon, Boone, Calhoun, Carroll, Crawford, Dallas and 11 more | 7 hr |
| Jul 3, 2:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Carroll, Greene | 28 min |
| Jul 3, 2:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Audubon | 24 min |
| Jul 3, 3:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Boone, Greene | 36 min |
| Jul 3, 3:21 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | DMX | Boone, Greene | 6 hr |
| Jul 3, 3:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Boone, Dallas, Polk | 36 min |
| Jul 3, 4:01 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | DMX | Boone, Story | 6 hr |
| Jul 3, 5:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Hancock | 22 min |
| Jul 3, 6:21 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Taylor | 24 min |
Nearby
River Flood Warnings in Iowa, 2019Every river flood warning in 2019
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; the gauge from the NWS water service and the USGS.