Alert archive / Iowa / River Flood Warnings in 2019

River Flood Warning 71, NWS Des Moines, IA

July 3, 2019Emmet County, Iowa

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.

actionminormoderate51007/0307/0407/0507/0607/07
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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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 3, 7:25 AM CDT, 6 hours before
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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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 2, 8:19 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementDMXWebster56 min
Jul 2, 8:31 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningDMXWebster3 hr
Jul 3, 2:11 PM CDTFlash Flood WatchDMXAudubon, Boone, Calhoun, Carroll, Crawford, Dallas and 11 more7 hr
Jul 3, 2:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXCarroll, Greene28 min
Jul 3, 2:36 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXAudubon24 min
Jul 3, 3:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXBoone, Greene36 min
Jul 3, 3:21 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningDMXBoone, Greene6 hr
Jul 3, 3:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXBoone, Dallas, Polk36 min
Jul 3, 4:01 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningDMXBoone, Story6 hr
Jul 3, 5:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXHancock22 min
Jul 3, 6:21 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXTaylor24 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.