Thunderstorms formed along a cold front as it moved southeast intoIowa. Convection earlier in the day and considerable cloudiness throughthe day limited heating of the atmosphere.
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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 DMX wrote it up.
Thunderstorms formed along a cold front as it moved southeast intoIowa. Convection earlier in the day and considerable cloudiness throughthe day limited heating of the atmosphere. In spite of that, temperatures warmed into the low 80s with dew point readings in theupper 60s to low 70s common. This produced a marginally unstable atmosphere with lifted indices in the -4 to -5 C. range and CAPE values in the 1500 to 2000 J/kg range. One of the thunderstorms became severe in Cerro Gordo County and produced a brief tornado touchdown in open areas northeast of Rock Falls.
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 Des Moines, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 3, 2:23 PM CST, 3 hours 12 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 323 PM CDT SUN JUL 03 2005 .DISCUSSION... NEAR TERM CONCERNS INCLUDE CONVECTIVE INITIATION TIME AND LOCATION...AND PROSPECTS FOR HEAVY RAIN OVERNIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING ACROSS THE SOUTH. CURRENTLY...CIRRUS SHIELD IS HELPING HOLD THE CAP WITH +13 AT 700MB ACROSS WESTERN IOWA. CURRENT THINKING IS STORMS WILL INITIATE OVER THE W/NW COUNTIES AFTER 6-7 PM...BUT LOW CONFIDENCE CONTINUES. OVERALL SEVERE THREAT APPEARS LOWER FOR THIS EVENING...BUT SHOULD STILL HAVE SOME POTENTIAL FOR ROTATING CELLS WITH MAINLY HAIL/WIND THREAT. AFTER MIDNIGHT...THE MAIN THREAT SHOULD TRANSITION INTO HEAVY RAIN ACROSS THE SOUTH. PWATS TO 2 INCHES...SLOW MBE MOVEMENT DEPICTED BY BUFKIT SOUNDINGS...WEAKENING SHEAR...AND DEEP LAYER MOISTURE WITH TALL SKINNY CAPE PROFILES...ALL SUPPORT HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL AND WILL HIGHLIGHT IN ZONES/GRIDS ACROSS THE SOUTH. HAVE TONED DOWN THE NAM QPF FROM THE 12Z RUN SOMEWHAT...WITH GENERAL 1-1.5 INCH AMOUNTS TONIGHT AND TOMORROW SOUTH OF I-80. A FEW LOCATIONS COULD RECEIVE CONSIDERABLY MORE. 1-HR FFG VALUES ACROSS THE SOUTH ARE AOA 2 INCHES...AND BELIEVE FF THREAT WILL REMAIN ISOLATED...THUS HAVE OPTED NOT TO ISSUE HEADLINES. OTHER THAN SLT CHCS OF PRECIP WEST TUES AFT/NIGHT...REMAINDER OF 3 DAY PERIOD IS DRY. STAY CLOSE TO MET MOS FOR TEMPERATURES THROUGH DAY 3...WITH MUCH COOLER READINGS SOUTH TOMORROW WITH CLOUDS AND CONVECTION. IN THE LATER PERIODS (THU-SUN)...WEAK SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE NEARBY THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH UPPER RIDGING KEEPING THE BULK OF ANY PRECIPITATION TO THE NORTH OF IOWA. THERE IS A SMALL CHANCE OF A WEAK WAVE OVERTOPPING THE RIDGE AND AFFECTING MAINLY N/NE PORTIONS OF THE CWA SATURDAY. EXPECT HOT AND INCREASINGLY HUMID CONDITIONS THROUGH THE PERIOD. KEPT TEMPERATURES NEAR ENSEMBLE AND OPERATIONAL GUIDANCE. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && KINNEY
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 153 PM CDT SUN JUL 3 2005 IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-041100- EMMET-KOSSUTH-WINNEBAGO-WORTH-PALO ALTO-HANCOCK-CERRO GORDO- POCAHONTAS-HUMBOLDT-WRIGHT-FRANKLIN-BUTLER-BREMER- 153 PM CDT SUN JUL 3 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA NORTH OF HIGHWAY 20. THE RISK FOR SEVERE STORMS IS SLIGHT. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON OVER THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA...DEVELOPING AFTER 4 PM AND CONTINUING INTO THE EVENING HOURS. DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS UP TO 70 MPH AND LARGE HAIL WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT WITH THESE STORMS THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY SCATTERED NON-SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE MONDAY...TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. IAZ033>039-044>050-057>062-070>075-085-086-096-097-041100- SAC-CALHOUN-WEBSTER-HAMILTON-HARDIN-GRUNDY-BLACK HAWK-CRAWFORD- CARROLL-GREENE-BOONE-STORY-MARSHALL-TAMA-AUDUBON-GUTHRIE-DALLAS- POLK-JASPER-POWESHIEK-CASS-ADAIR-MADISON-WARREN-MARION-MAHASKA- MONROE-WAPELLO-APPANOOSE-DAVIS- 153 PM CDT SUN JUL 3 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 20 AND GENERALLY NORTH OF HIGHWAY 34. THE RISK FOR SEVERE STORMS IS SLIGHT. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY OVER THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA THIS AFTERNOON...DEVELOPING AFTER 4 PM...CONTINUING INTO THE EVENING HOURS. DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS UP TO 70 MPH AND LARGE HAIL WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT WITH THESE STORMS DURING THE EVENING HOURS. THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF HEAVY RAINS WITH SOME OF THESE STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THIS EVENING ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA. AT THIS TIME...SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... IAZ081>084-092>095-041100- ADAMS-UNION-CLARKE-LUCAS-TAYLOR-RINGGOLD-DECATUR-WAYNE- 153 PM CDT SUN JUL 3 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA GENERALLY SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 34. THE RISK FOR SEVERE STORMS IS SLIGHT. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY OVER THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON...DEVELOPING AFTER 4 PM AND CONTINUING WELL INTO THE NIGHT HOURS. DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS UP TO 70 MPH AND LARGE HAIL WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT WITH THESE STORMS DURING THE EVENING AND NIGHT HOURS WITH ADDITIONALLY...POSSIBLE LOCALY HEAVY RAINFALL AFTER MIDNIGHT AND INTO MONDAY MORNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY SCATTERED NON-SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE IOWA AND MISSOURI BORDER TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT OVER THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE NIGHT ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA. AT THIS TIME...SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT.
The La Crosse radar (KARX), 162 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:36 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado touched down briefly in open field.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Iowa, 2005Warnings in Iowa, July 2005
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: 5458244.