Alert archive / Iowa / Red Flag Warnings in 2026

Red Flag Warning 1, NWS Quad Cities, IA

February 18, 202621 counties in Iowa; 13 counties in Illinois; Clark County, Scotland County, Missouri

NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this red flag warning at Feb 18, 2026, 12:30 AM CST for 21 counties in Iowa; 13 counties in Illinois; Clark County, Scotland County, Missouri. It took effect at Feb 18, 2026, 10:00 AM CST. It was in force for 9 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Feb 18, 2026, 12:30 AM CST (06:30 UTC)
In effect from: Feb 18, 2026, 10:00 AM CST
Expired: Feb 18, 2026, 6:53 PM CST
In force: 9 hr
Issued by: NWS Quad Cities, IA

All 36 counties

Benton County, IA, Buchanan County, IA, Cedar County, IA, Clinton County, IA, Delaware County, IA, Des Moines County, IA, Dubuque County, IA, Henry County, IA, Iowa County, IA, Jackson County, IA, Jefferson County, IA, Johnson County, IA, Jones County, IA, Keokuk County, IA, Lee County, IA, Linn County, IA, Louisa County, IA, Muscatine County, IA, Scott County, IA, Van Buren County, IA, Washington County, IA, Bureau County, IL, Carroll County, IL, Hancock County, IL, Henderson County, IL, Henry County, IL, Jo Daviess County, IL, McDonough County, IL, Mercer County, IL, Putnam County, IL, Rock Island County, IL, Stephenson County, IL, Warren County, IL, Whiteside County, IL, Clark County, MO, Scotland County, MO

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 41 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:30 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 00:00Z, 6.5 hours before the alert went out and 47 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: 1320 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 551 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 788 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 red flag warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this red flag warning went out at Feb 18, 12:01 AM CST, 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 18, 12:01 AM CST, 29 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 17, 2:32 PM CST, 9 hours 58 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Quad Cities IA IL
232 PM CST Tue Feb 17 2026

IAZ040>042-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099-ILZ001-002-007-
009-015>018-024>026-034-035-MOZ009-010-182045-
Buchanan-Delaware-Dubuque-Benton-Linn-Jones-Jackson-Iowa-Johnson-
Cedar-Clinton-Muscatine-Scott-Keokuk-Washington-Louisa-Jefferson-
Henry IA-Des Moines-Van Buren-Lee-Jo Daviess-Stephenson-Carroll-
Whiteside-Rock Island-Henry IL-Bureau-Putnam-Mercer-Henderson-
Warren-Hancock-McDonough-Scotland-Clark-
232 PM CST Tue Feb 17 2026

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of north central
Illinois...northwest Illinois...west central Illinois...east
central Iowa...northeast Iowa...southeast Iowa and northeast
Missouri.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

Warm temperatures, dry conditions and gusty southeast winds
of 25 to 35 mph will lead to an elevated fire danger into this
evening. Outdoor burning should be avoided.

Southeast winds could occasionally gust around 40 mph this
evening, mainly along and east of the Mississippi River.

Isolated non-severe thunderstorms are possible late this evening
and early overnight, with the main threats being hail and lightning.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

Very high fire danger will be found on Wednesday with gusty
westerly winds of 30 to 40 mph, warm temperatures and dry
conditions. A Fire Weather Watch has been issued for most of the
outlook area. Outdoor burning should be avoided.

There is a chance for thunderstorms across portions of the outlook
area late Thursday afternoon and Thursday evening. There is a
Marginal Risk (level 1 of 5) for severe storms near the Quad
Cities and locations to the east and southeast.

Colder air working in behind the storm system late Thursday night
and Friday will bring a chance of rain mixing with or changing to
light snow for parts of the area. Any snow accumulations are
likely to be light.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation will not be needed through tonight.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Quad Cities, IA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 17, 8:04 PM CST	Wind Advisory	DVN	Benton, Buchanan, Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque and 7 more	22 hr

Nearby

Red Flag Warnings in Iowa, 2026 Red Flag Warnings in Illinois, 2026 Red Flag Warnings in Missouri, 2026 Every red flag warning 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.