Name: Hail in Iowa, May 17, 2001
Start: 2001-05-17T00:30
End: 2001-05-17T00:30
Location: Iowa

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 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 Omaha, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 16, 1:43 PM CST, 10 hours 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 16, 1:43 PM CST, 10 hours 47 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA NE
243 PM CDT WED MAY 16 2001

MAIN WEATHER CONCERNS ARE CHCS OF PRECIP AND HIGH TEMPS ON THUR.

QSTNRY FNT EXTDS FM NR GCK TO CNK TO BIE AT 18Z.  AOME SFC CNVGNC
HAS BENN NOTED ALG THE FNT AND WL BE WHR FOCUS FOR CNVTV DVLPMT IS
XPCD BY LATE AFTN INTO TNGT.  AMS S OF BNDRY IS UNSTBL WITH LTST
LAPS SFC CAPES ABOUT 4000 J/KG.  SHEAR IS WK ALG THIS BNDRY...BUT
SOME STG STMS MAY DVLP AS CAP BKS.  WL PUT HIGH POPS TNGT IN SRN ZNS.

FURTHER TO THE W...UPR SHRTWV TROF OVR MT IS FCST TO MOV E DURG THE
NXT 24 TO 36 HRS.  VIGOROUS SFC CDFNT IS FCST TO MOV ACRS AREA DURG
THE NGT INTO THU MRNG.  SVR THREAT DOES APPR MINIMAL WITH THIS FNT
DUE TO LMTD MSTR AND INSTBY.  HWVR...SOME FROTOGENETICAL FORCING IS
INDCD ALG FNT AS IT COMES THROUGH ERN NEB...THERE MAY BE AN ISOLD
SVR RPT.  POPS WL BE LOW FOR THIS EVENT.

TEMPS TMW WL BE MUCH COOLER AS FNT MOVS ACRS. SOME CLDS ARE LIKELY
OVR SERN NEB FOR MOST OF THE DY...WHICH MAY KEEP SFC TEMPS DWN.  WL
GO WITH MID 70S FOR OFK AND OMA...WITH LWR 70S FURTHER S DUE TO
CLDS.

CRISP...COOL ON THUR NGT WITH LOWS INT HE 40S.

ON FRI...AREA WILL BE UNDER SFC RDG AND CONTD COOL ADVCTN...SO WILL
GO WITH HIGHS PREDOMINATELY IN THE LWR 70S.

IN THE EXTDD...WL LEAN MORE TO AVN MDL SOLN WITH NXT CHC OF PRECIP
ON SAT.

SMITH

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 16, 9:40 PM CST, 2 hours 50 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
1040 PM CDT WED MAY 16 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0953 PM    3 SE HARLAN               IA   .88 INCH HAIL
05/16/01   SHELBY

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:31 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Page

When: May 17, 12:30 AM CST
Where: Page County, Clarinda
Measured: 1.25 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 40.733, -95.033

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Iowa in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Iowa, May 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: 5245593.