Alert archive / Iowa / Linn County

Flash Flood Warnings in Linn County, Iowa

88 flash flood warnings since 1986. An alert counts here when it covered this county. The archive of flash flood warnings reaches back to 1986.

Linn County and its neighbors

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

Flash Flood Warnings
88
Busiest year
19937 flash flood warnings
Average year
3over 27 years on file

Over time

By year

Before October 2007 these were issued for whole counties, and a storm crossing three counties was often three warnings; since then one polygon follows the storm. The count changed with the practice, not only with the weather.

Warning verification

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

From 2008 to 2025, 82% of flash flood reports in Linn County fell inside a flash flood warning issued on average 61 minutes before, and 19% of the flash flood warnings had no report inside them.

Flash flood warnings by year

WarningsWith a reportFalse alarm ratioReportsInside a warningMean lead time
2008550%850%62 min
20097614%875%66 min
2010330%6100%41 min
201210100%10%
20137614%475%76 min
2014440%5100%106 min
2015220%4100%24 min
20166517%5100%101 min
20173233%1100%2 min
20182150%1100%21 min
20193233%2100%37 min
20203233%2100%114 min
2021110%250%4 min
2022110%0
202310100%0
20243167%1100%11 min
2025550%1182%53 min

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.

The latest flash flood warnings

The most recent on file, newest first.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Sep 20, 2:02 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningDVN6 hr
Aug 12, 6:19 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningDVN3 hr
Jun 17, 7:55 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningDVN5 hr
Jun 17, 7:24 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningDVN6 hr
Apr 15, 7:00 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningDVN4 hr

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.