Alert archive / Iowa

Weather alerts in Decatur County, Iowa

2,946 weather alerts since 1986, from the National Weather Service and the Storm Prediction Center. An alert counts here when it covered this county.

Decatur County and its neighbors

Each county as a circle sized by its count since 1986. Tap one for its archive.

Alerts
2,946
Warnings
676
Watches
704
Advisories
668
Busiest year
2010203 alerts
Average year
72over 41 years on file

Over time

By year

Before late 2005 the archive holds only tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings, and from 1997 SPC's watches, so the jump that year is the archive widening, not the weather.

By month of the year

Warning verification

How often warnings here had a storm report inside them, and how much warning the reports had.

From 2008 to 2025, 100% of tornado reports in Decatur County fell inside a tornado warning issued on average 17 minutes before, and 72% of the tornado warnings had no report inside them.

Tornado warnings by year

WarningsWith a reportFalse alarm ratioReportsInside a warningMean lead time
20083167%0
20105180%0
201150100%0
201420100%0
2015110%1100%3 min
20183167%0
201910100%0
202110100%0
2022330%1100%31 min
202310100%0
20244175%0

Severe thunderstorm warnings by year

WarningsWith a reportFalse alarm ratioReportsInside a warningMean lead time
200819763%1080%10 min
20098363%1100%8 min
201015753%683%9 min
201115847%771%9 min
201210550%367%24 min
201311282%1100%23 min
201419668%8100%17 min
201515567%650%13 min
20164250%0
20176350%1100%2 min
201812558%475%22 min
201916944%580%21 min
20206183%20%
202111827%4100%32 min
202215473%1100%25 min
202311918%250%19 min
2024191047%540%16 min
202510550%633%41 min

Flash flood warnings by year

WarningsWith a reportFalse alarm ratioReportsInside a warningMean lead time
20086350%540%73 min
2009110%10%
2010550%3100%45 min
201120100%0
201210100%0
20134325%0
20146433%1100%157 min
2015110%1100%208 min
2016110%0
201810100%0
20192150%0
20253167%0

Years from 2008, the first full year of storm-based warnings. The year still running is on its own page.

Verified by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow, which matches each storm-based warning with the local storm reports inside its polygon while it was in force, within 15 km of its edge: a tornado warning counts as verified on a tornado report, a severe thunderstorm warning on hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more, or wind damage, a flash flood warning on a flash flood report. The false alarm ratio is the share of warnings with no such report; "inside a warning" is the probability of detection, the share of reports that fell inside one; lead time runs from the warning's issue to each report inside it, counting zero for a report that came first. A warning with no report is not proof nothing happened: reports come from spotters, the public and damage surveys, and are thin where few people live.

By product

Every kind of product issued here, grouped by hazard. Each opens the same place narrowed to that product.

The latest warnings

The most recent on file, newest first.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Sep 19, 7:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatDMX30 min
Sep 19, 7:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMX37 min
Sep 19, 6:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMX38 min
Aug 5, 7:12 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningDMX6 hr
Aug 5, 5:41 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMX49 min
Jul 25, 2:53 AM CDTExtreme Heat WarningDMX67 hr
Jun 27, 12:50 PM CDTExtreme Heat WarningDMX6 days
Jun 13, 11:48 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMX27 min
Jun 13, 10:54 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMX51 min
Jun 11, 7:49 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatDMX56 min
Jun 11, 7:15 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threatDMX45 min
Jun 11, 6:43 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatDMX47 min

Nearby

Alerts in force nowTornadoes on recordForecastThe radar archive

Sources

National Weather Service watches, warnings, advisories and statements from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's VTEC archive, which reconstructs tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings back to 1986 from the NWS text archive. Storm Prediction Center watches and mesoscale discussions from SPC's archive through the Mesonet. County centers from the US Census Bureau. Warning verification from the Mesonet's Cow. Rebuilt daily.