A pattern change at the end of April brought a series of heavy rain producing systems to Eastern Iowa and Northern Illinois over the first 10 days of the month. Area rivers responded with the Iowa River going above flood stage starting on the 10th.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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.
A pattern change at the end of April brought a series of heavy rain producing systems to Eastern Iowa and Northern Illinois over the first 10 days of the month. Area rivers responded with the Iowa River going above flood stage starting on the 10th. The Cedar and Wapsipinicon Rivers followed by going above flood stage around the 15th. The Mississippi River also went above flood stage, beginning around the 20th. Most tributaries went below flood stage around the 20th, and most locations on the Mississippi that were above flood stage went below by the 28th.Most of the flooding was minor. One location-the Mississippi River at Gladstone Dam 18-experienced moderate flooding. Most impacts were minor in the flooding events during the month.
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 May 16, 2:54 AM CST, 4 hours 36 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 354 AM CDT FRI MAY 16 2003 WX TO BE QUIET ACROSS THE CWFA THROUGH THE WEEKEND AS EASTERLY FLOW CONTINUES OFF LAKE MICHIGAN. ONLY POSSIBLE FLY IN THE OINTMENT IS WEAK SURFACE CONVERGENCE OVER CWFA TODAY. LOW LEVEL LAPSE RATES ARE QUITE STEEP SO DIURNAL SC SHOULD START FIRING BY MID TO LATE MORNING. CYCLONIC FLOW ALOFT AND A WEAK IMPULSE MIGHT BE ENOUGH TO FIRE OFF SOME ISOLATED SHRA OR SPRINKLES. FIGURE OVERALL COVERAGE TO BE UNDER 10 PERCENT SO DIDN/T MENTION IN ZONES. DIURNAL SC TO BE A PROBLEM FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS AS LOW LEVEL LAPSE RATES REMAIN STEEP. HOWEVER AMOUNT OF DIURNAL SC SHOULD BECOME LESS WITH EACH PASSING DAY AS CYCLONIC CURVATURE ALOFT BECOMES MINIMAL. TEMPS TO SLOWLY CLIMB WITH EACH PASSING DAY BUT TENDED TO SPLIT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FWC/MAV WHILE FAVORING COOLER MAV DUE TO EAST AND NORTHEAST WINDS OFF LAKE MICHIGAN. NO CHANGES TO EXTENDED ATTM. DVN... IA...NONE. IL...NONE. MO...NONE. SF
IAZ040>042-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099-ILZ001-002-007- 009-015>018-024>026-034-035-MOZ009-010-171000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 500 AM CDT FRI MAY 16 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN IOWA... NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS...AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THE PROBABILITY OF WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED WITH THE PASSAGE OF A COLD FRONT LATE MONDAY OR EARLY TUESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH THE WEEKEND. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING URL: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dvn SF
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Wapsipinicon & Mississippi Rivers
Wapsipinicon & Mississippi Rivers
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, May 2003
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: 5359134, 5359135.