Event Summary for 10/22/01:On the evening of October 22, a warm front extended from Southeast Iowa, through Northwest Illinois. Warm unstable air riding northward over this boundary helped fuel strong thunderstorms across portions of Eastern Iowa, and Northwest Illinois.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS DVN wrote it up.
Event Summary for 10/22/01:On the evening of October 22, a warm front extended from Southeast Iowa, through Northwest Illinois. Warm unstable air riding northward over this boundary helped fuel strong thunderstorms across portions of Eastern Iowa, and Northwest Illinois. Heavy rain from these storms caused numerous reports of urban flooding.
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 Oct 22, 12:15 PM CST, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 115 PM CDT MON OCT 22 2001 WEST-TO-EAST WARM FRONT NUDGING NORTH OF IA/MO BORDER AS NE SHORT WAVE CONTINUES TO INDUCE SFC CYCLOGENESIS OVER KS. MSAS INDICATED PRESSURE FALLS BULLSEYE OVER SOUTHWEST IA INDICATING EVENTUAL PATH OF SFC WAVE PROPAGATION THIS EVENING...WITH IT CONTINUING TO JUST NORTHEAST OF DBQ BY 06Z TUE...AND ACRS WI DURING LATE NIGHT AS NEBRASKA H5 VORT TAKES PATH JUST NORTH OF SFC REFLECTION. INCREASING ELEVATED CONVECTIVE COMPLEX ALONG H85 FRONT OVER WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHERN CWA...TO CONTINUE TO BE MAIN SHORT TERM CONCERN BEFORE IT SHIFTS INTO WI TONIGHT...BUT SOUTHERN CWA TO EVENTUALLY GET INTO THE ACT AS MORE SFC BASED PRE-COLD FRONTAL CONVECTION SWEEPS FROM WEST-TO-EAST AROUND MIDNIGHT INTO THE LATE NIGHT HOURS. TEMPS SHOULD BE HELD UP TONIGHT FOR MILD LOW REGIME...EVEN ACRS NORTH AS DRY DPT EAST-NORTHEAST SFC FLOW INFLUX HAS BEEN NIXED BY ADVANCING WARM FRONT. PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL INTO NORTHEAST CWA MAY NEED LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WORDING FOR REPEATED ACTIVITY. WILL HOLD OFF ON FLOOD WATCH ACRS FAR SOUTH THAT WERE HIT HARD LAST NIGHT...AS THEY ARE RECEIVING A TEMPORARY REPRIEVE FROM CONVECTIVE ACTION TODAY ENOUGH TO RECOVER...AND HOPE LATER NIGHT PRE-COLD FRONTAL CONVECTION NOT PROGRESSIVE/NOT LONG-LASTING. TEMPORARY LULL ON TUE BEFORE STRONG DIGGING JET INTO SOUTHERN PLAINS TUE NIGHT/WED MORNING BRINGS DIGGING TROUGH AND ANOTHER ROUND OF PUMMELING VORTS FOR CONVECTIVE THREAT LATER TUE NIGHT INTO WED MORNING....BEFORE BIG CHILL TAKES PLACE IN DEEPENING UPPER VORTEX CYCLONIC WRAP-AROUND LATE WED AND WED NIGHT. LONGER RANGE(THU-MON)...MEDIUM RANGE MODELS STILL IN REASONABLE AGREEMENT OF CONTINUING TREND OF POLAR VORTEX SETTING UP SHOP NEAR JAMES BAY TOWARD END OF WEEK...WITH UPPER MIDWEST BATHED IN STIFF CAA CYCLONIC FLOW. BOTH EURO AND MRF HINT AT VORT SPOKE ROTATING DOWN THROUGH THIS FLOW THU NIGHT FOR PRECIP CHANCE INTO FRI MORNING... WITH LOW LEVEL CRITICAL THICKNESSES/TEMPS STILL SUPPORTING SNOW. HIGHLY AMPLIFIED RIDGE TO THEN EDGE OVER THE UPPER MS RVR VALLEY FOR DRY BUT CHILLY START TO WEEKEND...WITH REINFORCING BACKDOOR COLD SURGE FRI NIGHT AND SAT. SLOW MODERATION TO RECOVER HIGH TEMPS FROM 40S BACK INTO 50S SUN INTO MON. .DVN... IA...NONE. IL...NONE. MO...NONE. 12
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
1154 AM CDT MON OCT 22 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1215 AM 10 E CARTHAGE IL 1 INCH HAIL
10/22/01 HANCOCK REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.IAZ040>042-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099-ILZ001-002-007- 009-015>018-024>026-034-035-MOZ009-010-230945- SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 349 PM CDT MON OCT 22 2001 ...STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE...ALONG WITH POTENTIAL FOR LOCALIZED FLOODING... THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING INTO TONIGHT FOR ALL OF EASTERN IOWA...NORTHERN MISSOURI...AND WESTERN ILLINOIS. THE PRIMARY THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE LARGE HAIL. TORNADOS AND HIGH WINDS WILL ALSO BE A THREAT... MAINLY OVER NORTHERN MISSOURI...SOUTHEAST IOWA...AND INTO WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. A WARM FRONT WILL MOVE VERY SLOWLY NORTH ACROSS IOWA TONIGHT. RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS AHEAD OF THIS FRONT WILL OVERSPREAD EASTERN IOWA AND NORTHWEST ILLINOIS THIS EVENING. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE APPROACHING FROM THE WEST WILL INCREASE THE RISK OF LARGE HAIL WITH ANY OF THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT. A PARTICULARLY POTENT CLUSTER OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA WILL MOVE INTO SOUTHEAST IOWA LATE THIS AFTERNOON INTO THIS EVENING. THE AREA AT RISK FROM THESE STORMS IS MAINLY SOUTH OF A LINE FROM OSKALOOSA...TO WASHINGTON...TO ALEDO. THESE STORMS HAVE A HISTORY OF PRODUCING LARGE AND DAMAGING HAIL. WHERE THESE STORMS INTERACT WITH THE WARM FRONT...THERE WILL BE AN INCREASED RISK OF TORNADOS AND DAMAGING WINDS. ANOTHER CONCERN TONIGHT WILL BE THE POTENTIAL FOR LOCALIZED FLOODING...PARTICULARLY IN URBAN AREAS. HEAVY RAINS CAN CAUSE STREET FLOODING WITH ONLY A COUPLE OF INCHES IN AN HOUR. STREET FLOODING IS AGGRAVATED THIS TIME OF YEAR BY STORM DRAINS THAT ARE CLOGGED WITH LEAVES. THERE ARE 2 AREAS AT HIGHER RISK FOR FLOODING TONIGHT. DURING HEAVY RAINS LAST NIGHT...PARTS OF SCOTLAND AND CLARK COUNTIES IN MISSOURI AND HANCOCK AND MCDONOUGH COUNTIES IN ILLINOIS RECEIVED UP TO 3 INCHES OF RAINFALL. IF HEAVY RAIN TRACKS ACROSS THOSE SAME COUNTIES AGAIN TONIGHT...THERE WILL BE A POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOODING. THIS MORNING...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS TRACKED ACROSS IOWA AND LINN COUNTIES...LEAVING A BAND OF UP TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN FROM GIBSON TO MARENGO...AND INTO CEDAR RAPIDS. ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINS THIS EVENING COULD AGGRAVATE LOCAL FLOODING PROBLEMS...AGAIN...MAINLY IN URBAN AREAS. ALL STORM SPOTTERS...AND PARTICULARLY THOSE IN SOUTHEAST IOWA AND WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS...SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE ACTIVATION THIS EVENING THROUGH TONIGHT. DUBBERKE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Media reported street flooding in the Cedar Rapids metro area. They also relayed that law enforcement reported several vehicles stalled due to street flooding.
Law enforcement reported several streets flooded between 5:30 PM and 7 PM CST.
Emergency managment reported several streets and intersections flooded in Vinton. Some roads were barricaded and a few cars were stalled in curb deep water.
A trained spotter reported steet flooding in Davenport.
Law enforcement reported six inches of water covering Park Avenue in Muscatine.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, October 2001
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5270296, 5270292, 5270293, 5270294, 5270295.