Strong Wind in Iowa, April 23, 2001

Name: Strong Wind in Iowa, April 23, 2001
Start: 2001-04-23T00:00
End: 2001-04-23T19:00
Location: Iowa

April 23, 2001 · NWS DVN · 21 events in 21 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 21 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 21

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS DVN wrote it up.

Summary for 4/23/01 gradient wind event:A vigorous low pressure system in Wisconsin brought a trailing cold front through Iowa and Illinois. During the early morning, around 12 AM CST, law enforcement reported a semi-trailer truck blown over along Interstate 80 in Iowa County. A south wind gusted between 40 and 50 mph over a small part of east central Iowa during the early morning, including the Washington, Cedar Rapids, and Iowa City areas. The area of strong winds moved north of the area by 1 AM CST. Then from late morning through sunset, a southwest wind gusted over 40 mph across eastern Iowa. The highest measured speed was 48 mph at the Clinton Municipal Airport. No signficant damage was reported.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Apr 22, 2:00 PM CST, 10 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 22, 2:00 PM CST, 10 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
300 PM CDT SUN APR 22 2001

RUNNING LATE AGAIN DUE TO HYDRO CONCERNS.  SYNOPTIC PATTERN THIS
AFTERNOON SHOWS 500H LOW OVER SE COLORADO...WITH SW FLOW OVER
FORECAST AREA. AT SURFACE...WARM FRONT IS LIFTING THROUGH FA...WITH
DEEP LOW OVER WESTERN KANSAS. SHORT-RANGE MODELS INITIATED MODERATELY
WELL THIS MORNING.

PRIMARY FORECAST CONCERN IS CONVECTION TONIGHT AHEAD OF COLD FRONT
WHICH WILL MOVE THROUGH FA MIDDAY MONDAY.

ATMOSPHERE IS MARGINALLY CAPPED THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING...
BUT SCT CONVECTION POSSIBLE ALONG AND JUST NORTH OF WARM
FRONT. CONVECTION IN SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS WILL MOVE INTO THE FA NEAR
OR AFTER MIDNIGHT. SPC HAS FA IN SLIGHT CHC SVR. RIGHT REAR QUAD OF
JET WILL BE OVER AREA...WITH MODERATE VV'S 06Z TO NEAR 18Z. SEVERE
CONVECTION TO OUR WEST MAY OR MAY NOT GO BELOW SEVERE LIMITS BEFORE
REACHING HERE. SHEAR WILL BE QUITE LIMITED...OR NON-EXISTENT AND WET
BULB A BIT HIGH. DIFFLUENT THICKNESSES FROM SOUTH TO NORTH MAY
PROMOTE SOME HIGHER RAINFALL TOTALS 06Z-09Z...IF RAIN BEGINS THAT
EARLY.  PRECIP WILL CLEAR TO EAST IN THE MORNING...WITH DRY SLOT BY
MIDDAY...AND WRAP-AROUND MONDAY NIGHT.

LOOKING FURTHER AHEAD...500H TROUGH WILL MOVE OVERHEAD MONDAY
NIGHT. NW FLOW WILL SET IN FOR TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY...WITH A SHORT
WAVE EARLY WEDNESDAY. RIDGING WILL MOVE OVERHEAD THURSDAY...WITH
ANOTHER MUCH WEAKER SHORT WAVE.

.DVN...
IA...NONE.
IL...NONE.
MO...NONE.

REA

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

21 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Strong Wind, Benton

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Benton forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.080, -92.066 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Buchanan

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Buchanan forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.471, -91.838 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Cedar

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Cedar forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.772, -91.132 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Clinton

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Clinton forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.898, -90.532 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Delaware

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Delaware forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.471, -91.367 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Des Moines

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Des Moines forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.923, -91.181 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Dubuque

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Dubuque forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.469, -90.882 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Henry

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Henry forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.988, -91.544 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Iowa

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Iowa forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.686, -92.065 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Jackson

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Jackson forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.172, -90.574 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Jefferson

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Jefferson forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.032, -91.949 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Johnson

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Johnson forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.672, -91.588 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Jones

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Jones forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.121, -91.131 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Keokuk

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Keokuk forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.337, -92.179 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Lee

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Lee forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.642, -91.479 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Linn

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Linn forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.079, -91.599 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Louisa

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Louisa forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.219, -91.260 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Muscatine

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Muscatine forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.484, -91.113 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Scott

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Scott forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.637, -90.623 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Van Buren

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Van Buren forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.753, -91.950 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong Wind, Washington

When: April 23, 12:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Washington forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.336, -91.718 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Strong Wind: Non-thunderstorm winds below high wind criteria that nonetheless caused damage or casualties.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Iowa in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Iowa, April 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5243448, 5243449, 5243450, 5243451, 5243452, 5243453, 5243543, 5243544, 5243545, 5243546, 5243547, 5243548, 5243549, 5243550, 5243551, 5243552, 5243553, 5243554, 5243555, 5243556, 5243557.