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; 1 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 24, 2:00 AM CST, 3 hours 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 300 AM CDT SAT MAY 24 2003 NORTHWEST FLOW CONTINUES OVER REGION WITH CLOSED UPPER LOW OVER LOWER MICHIGAN AND STRONG SHORTWAVE UPSTREAM IN NORTH DAKOTA THIS MORNING. PATCHES OF FOG DEVELOPING DUE TO LIGHT WINDS...BREAKS IN CLOUD COVER...AND HIGH LOW LEVEL RH. OVERCAST DECK WORKING ITS WAY INTO THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY WILL PUT THE BRAKES ON FOG DEVELOPMENT BY SUNRISE. DAKOTA SHORTWAVE WILL DROP ACROSS IOWA TODAY AND ROUND THE UPPER LOW EARLY SUNDAY INTO MONDAY. AS A RESULT...EXPECT THE UPPER LOW TO RETROGRADE SLIGHTLY...KEEPING OUR CWFA IN CYCLONIC FLOW AND THE PATTERN RELATIVELY STAGNANT FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. PRECIP ASSOCIATED WITH THE SHORT WAVE TODAY SHOULD BE LIMITED TO WESTERN THIRD OF THE CWFA DUE TO VORT ADVECTION STAYING TO THE WEST AND DRY SURFACE RIDGE IN PLACE OVER THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. WITH THE UPPER LOW HOLDING OVER THE GREAT LAKES THROUGH TUESDAY...LOOK FOR CONTINUED COOL WEATHER WITH MINOR PRECIP CHANCES AS VARIOUS SPOKES ROTATE AROUND THE LOW. AT THIS POINT...ANY MEASURABLE PRECIP CHANCE FOR SUNDAY OR MONDAY IS STILL WELL BELOW 20 PERCENT (POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED POPCORN CONVECTION IN THE AFTERNOON). SO WILL KEEP FORECAST DRY FOR NOW SINCE COVERAGE LIKELY TO BE SPARSE AT BEST. KEEPING THE WARMING TREND FOR THE END OF NEXT WEEK AND NO CHANGES TO POPS NEEDED AT THIS TIME. .DVN... IA...NONE. IL...NONE. MO...NONE. 33
IAZ040>042-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099-ILZ001-002-007- 009-015>018-024>026-034-035-MOZ009-010-250955- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 500 AM CDT SAT MAY 24 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 A WEAK COLD FRONT WILL SWING THROUGH THE AREA NEXT WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE FRONT...AND SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE STRONG. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED NEXT WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING URL: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dvn 33
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Mississippi River
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: 5359215.