Alert archive / Iowa / Flood Watches in 2026

Flood Watch 2, NWS Des Moines, IA

May 18, 20267 counties in Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this flood watch at May 18, 2026, 10:51 AM CDT for 7 counties in Iowa. It took effect at May 18, 2026, 5:00 PM CDT. It was in force for 10 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 18, 2026, 10:51 AM CDT (15:51 UTC)
In effect from: May 18, 2026, 5:00 PM CDT
Expired: May 19, 2026, 3:13 AM CDT
In force: 10 hr
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Flood severity: None

Counties Adams County, IA, Clarke County, IA, Decatur County, IA, Ringgold County, IA, Taylor County, IA, Union County, IA, Wayne County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 102 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:51 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

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 3.9 hours before the alert went out and 196 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 871 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 271 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 220 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 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 flood watch went out at May 18, 6:36 AM CDT, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 18, 6:36 AM CDT, 4 hours 15 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, May 18, 5:48 AM CDT, 5 hours 3 minutes before

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In the hours before

Local storm report, May 18, 7:53 AM CDT, 2 hours 58 minutes before

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The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 8:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	DMX	Calhoun, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Sac	56 min
May 17, 8:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Calhoun, Carroll, Crawford, Greene, Sac	56 min
May 17, 8:35 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Calhoun, Pocahontas, Sac	40 min
May 17, 8:59 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Emmet, Palo Alto	46 min
May 17, 9:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	DMX	Calhoun, Hamilton, Humboldt, Kossuth, Palo Alto, Pocahontas and 2 more	43 min
May 17, 9:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	DMX	Calhoun, Hamilton, Humboldt, Pocahontas, Webster, Wright	40 min
May 17, 9:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Humboldt, Kossuth, Palo Alto, Pocahontas	52 min
May 17, 9:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Calhoun, Hamilton, Webster	48 min
May 17, 9:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Emmet	30 min
May 17, 9:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Audubon, Boone, Calhoun, Carroll, Crawford, Dallas and 5 more	79 min
May 17, 9:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	DMX	Cerro Gordo, Emmet, Franklin, Hancock, Humboldt, Kossuth and 4 more	62 min
May 17, 9:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	DMX	Emmet, Kossuth, Palo Alto, Winnebago	45 min
May 17, 9:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Adair, Adams, Cass	59 min
May 17, 9:35 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Cerro Gordo, Hancock, Kossuth, Winnebago, Worth	40 min
May 17, 9:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Calhoun, Franklin, Hamilton, Hardin, Humboldt, Webster and 1 more	63 min
May 17, 9:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Franklin, Hamilton, Hardin, Humboldt, Webster, Wright	45 min
May 17, 9:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Hamilton, Hardin, Webster	38 min
May 17, 10:07 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	DMX	Cerro Gordo, Hancock, Winnebago, Worth	38 min
May 17, 10:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Butler, Cerro Gordo, Franklin, Hancock, Wright	37 min
May 17, 10:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Cerro Gordo	26 min
May 17, 10:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Adair, Dallas, Guthrie, Madison, Polk, Warren	24 min
May 18, 5:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Adams, Taylor	56 min
May 18, 5:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Taylor	65 min
May 18, 6:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Ringgold, Taylor, Union	53 min
May 18, 6:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Ringgold, Taylor	59 min

Nearby

Flood Watches in Iowa, 2026 Every flood watch in 2026

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.