Alert archive / Iowa / Flash Flood Watches in 2020

Flash Flood Watch 1, NWS Des Moines, IA

May 14, 2020Davis County, Wapello County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this flash flood watch at May 14, 2020, 12:26 PM CDT for Davis County, Wapello County, Iowa. It took effect at May 14, 2020, 4:00 PM CDT. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 14, 2020, 12:26 PM CDT (17:26 UTC)
In effect from
May 14, 2020, 4:00 PM CDT
Expired
May 14, 2020, 11:31 PM CDT
In force
8 hr
Issued by
NWS Des Moines, IA
Flood severity
None

Counties Davis County, IA, Wapello County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 144 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:27 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 12:00Z, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 179 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2020-05-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 21 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2020-05-14The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 375 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
21 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-218 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
472 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
375 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
374 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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 14, 6:20 AM CDT, 6 hours 6 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 14, 6:20 AM CDT, 6 hours 6 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, May 14, 3:10 AM CDT, 9 hours 16 minutes before
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In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 14, 10:29 AM CDT, 1 hour 57 minutes before
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Des Moines IA
1029 AM CDT Thu May 14 2020

IAZ070>072-081-082-141730-
Cass-Adair-Madison-Adams-Union-
Including the cities of Atlantic, Greenfield, Stuart, Adair,
Fontanelle, Winterset, Earlham, Corning, and Creston
1029 AM CDT Thu May 14 2020

...Moderate to Heavy Rainfall This Morning...

An area of storms in southwest Iowa have already produced rainfall
amounts of 1 to 2 or more inches in portions of Taylor and Adams
counties. As the storms slowly progress north and east through
the remainder of the morning, they will continue to produce
locally moderate to heavy rainfall with the potential for a quick
1 to 2 inches or more of rain. Primary hazards expected would be
locally ponding water and lightning associated with the storms.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 14, 2:36 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementDMXGuthrie54 min
May 14, 3:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXAdair, Dallas, Guthrie, Madison40 min
May 14, 3:45 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementDMXAdair, Madison45 min
May 14, 3:57 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementDMXClarke, Madison, Marion, Warren48 min
May 14, 4:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXClarke, Madison, Warren52 min
May 14, 4:14 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementDMXDallas, Polk61 min
May 14, 4:28 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementDMXMadison32 min
May 14, 4:46 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXClarke, Lucas, Marion, Warren29 min
May 14, 5:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXClarke, Warren29 min
May 14, 5:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXLucas, Marion, Monroe, Warren46 min
May 14, 5:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXClarke, Lucas, Marion, Warren31 min
May 14, 5:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXClarke, Lucas, Union, Warren31 min
May 14, 5:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXMahaska, Marion, Monroe48 min
May 14, 6:13 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementDMXDecatur, Monroe, Wapello, Wayne62 min
May 14, 6:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXMahaska, Monroe, Wapello40 min
May 14, 6:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXMahaska, Monroe, Wapello49 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Watches in Iowa, 2020Every flash flood watch in 2020

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.