Alert archive / Wisconsin / River Flood Warnings in 2025
River Flood Warning 27, NWS La Crosse, WI
NWS La Crosse, WI issued this river flood warning at Aug 18, 2025, 8:16 PM CDT for Richland County, Vernon County, Wisconsin. It took effect at Aug 19, 2025, 2:05 AM CDT. It was in force for 28 hr.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 18, 2025, 8:16 PM CDT (01:16 UTC)
- In effect from
- Aug 19, 2025, 2:05 AM CDT
- Expired
- Aug 20, 2025, 6:31 AM CDT
- In force
- 28 hr
- Issued by
- NWS La Crosse, WI
- Area
- Storm-based polygon
- Flood severity
- Minor
Counties Richland County, WI, Vernon County, WI
The radar
The La Crosse radar (KARX), 59 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:19 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 Kickapoo River at Viola (VIOW3).
- Action stage
- 12 ft
- Minor stage
- 14 ft
- Moderate stage
- 16 ft
- Major stage
- 18 ft
This gauge today: stage, forecast and historic crests
Stage from the USGS instantaneous record, 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 La Crosse, WI wrote its last area forecast discussion before this river flood warning went out at Aug 18, 6:23 PM CDT, 1 hour 53 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
- Low chances for showers and storms through this afternoon, tapering off through the evening.
- Fog expected to develop overnight, impacting much of the region. Some areas of dense fog will be possible.
- Cooler and mostly dry conditions return on Tuesday and linger through the weekend.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 18, 6:23 PM CDT, 1 hour 53 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service La Crosse WI 623 PM CDT Mon Aug 18 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Low chances for showers and storms through this afternoon, tapering off through the evening. - Fog expected to develop overnight, impacting much of the region. Some areas of dense fog will be possible. - Cooler and mostly dry conditions return on Tuesday and linger through the weekend. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 147 PM CDT Mon Aug 18 2025 Today and Tonight: Lingering Rain Chances This Afternoon, Foggy Tonight The MCS from this morning that dropped a widespread 2-6 inches across Northeastern Iowa has finally moved to the east of the area with only light rain remaining. The surface low appears to be just to our northwest across Central Minnesota as of 18Z. Wrap around showers have been on a downward trend in the last hour or so but as skies start to clear out from the west, indications from hi-res guidance is that we will see an uptick in showers and storms. If we can clear out, this would allow for the cap to erode and convective temperatures to be approached. Storms would likely form over Southeastern Minnesota where clouds have already broken up and across far southern/eastern portions of our local area closer to where the more readily available instability is already located. SBCAPE across these areas would be around 1000 J/kg but shear is rather weak with only around 20 kts of effective bulk shear. As such, would expect these storms to be more pulse-like and scattered in nature. Any location under these storms would see a quick burst of heavy rain as pWats are still in the 1.8-2 inch range across the region. This moisture should remain in place until the cold front fully works its way through our area later tonight. Precip chances wane for much of the area after 00Z as the surface low continues to push east. As the nighttime inversion sets up again for the overnight hours, fog is expected to develop across much of the Upper Mississippi Valley thanks to recent abundant rainfall and plentiful soil moisture. A deep light wind layer on 18.16 RAP/HRRR soundings and NBH probabilities of fog development in the 30-50% range also support the development of fog overnight so have included patchy and areas of fog across the area until after sunrise when it should burn off. Tuesday - This Weekend: Cooler and Drier, Pleasant Overall The long-term forecast looks to remain steady-state from what has been advertised in the last few days. Strong upper level ridging builds across the area, putting the Upper Midwest in northwest flow aloft. And with the cold front through the area, we'll start to see a cooler and drier airmass move into the area. The cold front is not a particularly strong one with the cooler/drier air lagging back a little bit. As such, portions of north-central and west-central Wisconsin could see some wrap- around showers on the back side of the surface low tomorrow afternoon but confidence in this occurring is still pretty low. The drier airmass finally arrives on Wednesday as a weak surface high finally drops into the region with pleasant conditions expected Wednesday and Thursday with highs in the upper 70s to lower 80s and dew points in the lower 60s. A strong upper trough is expected to move into British Columbia starting on Wednesday. As this moves east, it will work to flatten the aforementioned upper ridge. This will give the low a path to move into the northern Great Lakes region by this weekend. A corresponding surface low is expected to move into Ontario by Thursday, pushing a cold front through the Northern Plains and into the Upper Midwest by Friday. Some rain chances are expected along the front but they remain pretty low overall with better chances further north and west across the Dakotas and northwestern Minnesota. Outside of some precip chances along the front, a much deeper cool airmass is expected to move in behind the front with projected 850 mb temps between 5-10 degrees below normal. High temperatures for the weekend could very well only reach into the upper 60s to lower 70s. As such, in their latest 6-10 day temperature outlook, CPC has put the Upper Midwest in an area of 60-70% chance for below normal temperatures. With the cold core upper low sitting over the Great Lakes through the weekend and potentially into early next week, a beautiful looks to be on tap for the Coulee region! && .AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z TUESDAY/... Issued at 625 PM CDT Mon Aug 18 2025 The combination of light winds, clearing skies, and light winds will result in the development of widespread dense fog overnight tonight and early Tuesday morning. This fog will form between 19.05z and 19.08z and dissipate between 19.13z and 19.15z. && .HYDROLOGY... Issued at 147 PM CDT Mon Aug 18 2025 Heavy rain has finally come to a much welcomed end across the area. Many locations across the area have seen 2-6 inches of rain in the last 24 hours with some locations, especially across far northeast Iowa seeing rainfall upwards of 10 inches in the last 72 hours. This has lead to flash flooding across much of rural southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa. Rivers across this region have also responded accordingly with many jumping into action or minor flood stage. A few rivers, namely the Cedar & its tributaries and the Turkey River have jumped all the way to moderate and even major flood stage at some locations. With the repeated rainfall across the area, this has lead to increased runoff into the rivers and hence some steep rises in the past few hours. These are notoriously fast responding rivers so this isn't surprising. Current forecasts have these rivers cresting in the next 12-24 hours before gradually coming down over the coming days. Additional details are available in the river flood warning products that have been issued for all locations at or above minor flood stage. Any activity through tonight should be highly scattered in nature and shouldn't have much impact on river rises. && .ARX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WI...None. MN...None. IA...None. && DISCUSSION...Barendse AVIATION...Boyne HYDROLOGY...Barendse
Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 18, 2:02 PM CDT, 6 hours 14 minutes before
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service La Crosse WI 202 PM CDT Mon Aug 18 2025 IAZ008>011-018-019-029-030-MNZ079-086>088-094>096-WIZ017-029- 032>034-041>044-053>055-061-192315- Mitchell-Howard-Winneshiek-Allamakee-Floyd-Chickasaw-Fayette- Clayton-Wabasha-Dodge-Olmsted-Winona-Mower-Fillmore-Houston- Taylor-Clark-Buffalo-Trempealeau-Jackson-La Crosse-Monroe-Juneau- Adams-Vernon-Crawford-Richland-Grant- 202 PM CDT Mon Aug 18 2025 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of southeast Minnesota...northeast Iowa and southwest into central Wisconsin. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight A few strong storms will be possible this afternoon and early evening. The main hazards with any storms would be gusty winds and brief heavy downpours. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... No action needed. .EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATION... No webinar is scheduled. nofwd
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 18, 4:12 PM CDT, 4 hours 4 minutes before
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</html>Local storm report, Aug 18, 5:11 PM CDT, 3 hours 5 minutes before
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</html>Local storm report, Aug 18, 5:36 PM CDT, 2 hours 40 minutes before
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</html>The office that day
Everything else NWS La Crosse, WI issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 18, 8:16 PM CDT | River Flood Warning | ARX | Vernon | 65 hr |
| Aug 19, 1:32 AM CDT | Dense Fog Advisory | ARX | Buffalo, Trempealeau | 7 hr |
| Aug 18, 8:19 PM CDT | River Flood Watch | ARX | Clayton | 34 hr |
| Aug 19, 6:47 AM CDT | River Flood Warning | ARX | Clayton | 44 hr |
| Aug 18, 8:05 PM CDT | River Flood Warning | ARX | Mower | 11 hr |
Nearby
River Flood Warnings in Wisconsin, 2025Every river flood warning in 2025
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.