Alert archive / Iowa / Snow Squall Warnings in 2025

Snow Squall Warning 9, NWS Des Moines, IA

December 28, 20255 counties in Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this snow squall warning at Dec 28, 2025, 12:19 PM CST for 5 counties in Iowa. It was in force for 26 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Dec 28, 2025, 12:19 PM CST (18:19 UTC)
Expired: Dec 28, 2025, 12:45 PM CST
In force: 26 min
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Area: Storm-based polygon
Damage threat: Significant

Counties Jasper County, IA, Marion County, IA, Marshall County, IA, Polk County, IA, Warren County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 41 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:19 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 nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 6.3 hours before the alert went out and 354 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 133 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -102 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 662 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 330 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 352 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this snow squall 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 snow squall warning went out at Dec 28, 5:40 AM CST, 6 hours 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 28, 5:40 AM CST, 6 hours 39 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>

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 28, 4:48 AM CST, 7 hours 31 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
Dec 27, 9:44 PM CST	Blizzard Warning	DMX	Black Hawk, Bremer, Butler, Calhoun, Cerro Gordo, Emmet and 14 more	35 hr
Dec 28, 11:18 AM CST	Snow Squall Warning Significant damage threat	DMX	Boone, Dallas, Greene, Guthrie, Hamilton, Hardin and 2 more	27 min
Dec 28, 11:30 AM CST	Snow Squall Warning Significant damage threat	DMX	Boone, Dallas, Madison, Polk, Story, Warren	30 min
Dec 28, 11:47 AM CST	Snow Squall Warning	DMX	Grundy, Hamilton, Hardin, Marshall, Story	28 min
Dec 28, 11:54 AM CST	Snow Squall Warning Significant damage threat	DMX	Jasper, Marion, Marshall, Polk, Story, Warren	36 min
Dec 28, 12:14 PM CST	Snow Squall Warning	DMX	Grundy, Hardin, Marshall, Story, Tama	31 min
Dec 28, 12:45 PM CST	Snow Squall Warning Significant damage threat	DMX	Black Hawk, Grundy, Jasper, Marshall, Poweshiek, Tama	30 min

Nearby

Snow Squall Warnings in Iowa, 2025 Every snow squall 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.