High Wind in Iowa, March 10, 2005

Name: High Wind in Iowa, March 10, 2005
Start: 2005-03-10T10:00
End: 2005-03-10T17:00
Location: Iowa

March 10, 2005 · NWS OAX · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

Where it happened

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.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 happened

The episode as NWS OAX wrote it up.

Intense low pressure over the Great Lakes region combined with high pressure building east out of the Rockies and provided a prolonged high wind event over northeast and east central Nebraska and portions of western Iowa. Sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts of 55 to a little over 60 mph were common throughout the area. The strong winds caused sporadic tree and roof damage, and there were several reports across the area of trees uprooted and a few semi trucks were overturned. One person was injured in Decatur Nebraska (northern Burt county) when a roof of a building under construction blew on top of his house causing substantial damage.Some of the higher gusts measured by AWOS or ASOS sites included...62 mph in Fremont at 110 pm, 60 mph at Norfolk at 247 pm, 59 mph in Albion at 1010 am, 59 mph at Columbus at 115 pm, 59 mph in Tekamah at 119 pm, and 55 mph in Omaha at 224 pm

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 Mar 10, 9:53 AM CST, 7 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 10, 9:53 AM CST, 7 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
953 AM THU MAR 10 2005

.DISCUSSION...

15Z OBJECTIVE MSAS SFC ANLYS INDCD LO PRES OVR ERN MN WITH CDFNT SWD
THRU ERN IA INTO SRN MO. HI PRES AXIS WAS NOTED FM ERN CO INTO ERN
WY. INITIAL SURGE OF PRES RISES BEHIND CDFNT HAVE MOSTLY MOVED S OF
THE FA AND WEAK PRES RISES WERE NOT NOTED OVR MOST OF THE CWA. NEXT
SURGE OF 3 TO 6 HR STG PRES RISES OF 6 TO 8 MB WERE MOVING SWD THRU
ND.

AS THE LO CONTS TO MV SWD THRU THE AFTN...EXPECT PRES RISES TO SHIFT
SWD INTO THE NRN CWA BY 21Z THIS AFTN. LOCAL PROFILES WERE ALREADY
INDCG 50+ KN ON THE LOWEST GATES AND THIS IS EXPECTED TO CONT THRU
THE AFTN. WITH DEEPER MIXING AS HEATING CONTS...SHLD CONT TO SEE
THIS WNDS MIX TO THE SFC. SEVERAL LOCATIONS NR THE CWA ARE ALREADY
MEETING HIGH WIND CRITERIA AS OF 15Z...AND WITH ANOTHER SURGE OF
PRES RISES EXPECTED THIS AFTN...WLD EXPECT THIS TREND TO CONT. 12Z
NAM INCS 61 KT AT THE TOP OF THE MIXED LAYER FM THE LATE MRNG THRU
THE AFTN...AND THUS HAVE ISSUED A HIGH WIND WARNING FOR OUR NRN CWA.
OTHERWISE WND ADVISORY LOOKS GOOD. TMPS HAVE BEEN INCREASES FASTER
THAN EARLIER FORECAST...BUT WLD EXPECT THIS TREND TO LVL OFF THIS
AFN AS CLDS/CAA INCREASE. THUS HAVE ADJUSTED THE HOURLY GRIDS...BUT
MADE NO CHANGE TO THE FORECASTED HIGHS. REST OF THE FORECAST LOOKS
IN GOOD SHAPE.

NEW ZFP/GRIDS/NPW ALREADY OUT.

BOUSTEAD

&&

.PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...
SHORT TERM...COLD FRONT STARTING TO PUSH INTO NORTHEAST NEBRASKA AT
08Z WITH SOME SCATTERED SHOWERS SHOWING UP ON RADAR FROM EASTERN
NEBRASKA INTO WESTERN IOWA. WINDS WILL BE THE MAIN CONCERN TODAY
WITH ADVISORY STARTING AT 15Z. LOOKS TO BE INITIAL SURGE IN WIND
SPEED JUST BEHIND THE FRONT THEN WEAKEN A BIT AFTER THAT. GUSTS OF
40 KTS REPORTED AT ONL AND 45 KTS AT LBF AT 08Z. STILL EXPECT 25 TO
35 SUSTAINED WINDS ACROSS THE AREA TODAY WITH GUSTS APPROACHING 50
MPH AT TIMES. FORECAST SOUNDINGS INDICATE NEARLY ADIABATIC LAPSE
RATE THROUGH 700MB FOR GOOD MOMENTUM TRANSFER. HAVE REMOVED LOW POPS
FOR NORTHERN CWA THIS AFTERNOON WITH DRY LOWER LEVELS AND LIMITED
FORCING IN MID LEVELS. TEMPERATURES WILL BE TRICKY TODAY BUT NO
SIGNIFICANT COLD ADVECTION INDICATED SO HAVE TRENDED HIGHS WARMER
ACROSS THE AREA TOWARD GFS GUIDANCE.

00Z NAM AND GFS CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN DISTINCT SOLUTIONS FOR FRIDAY
AND SATURDAY. NAM STILL TRYS TO BRING DOWN POCKET OF MUCH COLDER 850
AIR THAN GFS ON FRIDAY AND PLACES SURFACE LOW 12Z SATURDAY FURTHER
NORTHEAST THAN GFS. HAVE CONTINUED WITH FORECAST TREND TOWARD GFS
SOLUTION DURING THIS TIME. IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD TRANSITION TO A
WESTERN TROF CONTINUES IN THE MODELS...BUT LIMITED AGREEMENT IN
TIMING AND PLACEMENT OF FEATURES. OVERALL LITTLE CHANGE TO EXTENDED
PERIOD FORECAST FOR NOW.

FOBERT

&&

.OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...

NE...WIND ADVISORY ALL COUNTIES 9 AM TO 6 PM TODAY.
IA...WIND ADVISORY ALL COUNTIES 9 AM TO 6 PM TODAY.

&&

Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 10, 4:50 AM CST, 5 hours 10 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
450 AM CST THU MAR 10 2005

IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034-
042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-102300-
ANTELOPE-BOONE-BURT-BUTLER-CASS-CEDAR-COLFAX-CUMING-DODGE-DOUGLAS-
FREMONT IA-GAGE-HARRISON IA-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-KNOX-LANCASTER-MADISON-
MILLS IA-MONONA IA-MONTGOMERY IA-NEMAHA-OTOE-PAGE IA-PAWNEE-PIERCE-
PLATTE-POTTAWATTAMIE IA-RICHARDSON-SALINE-SARPY-SAUNDERS-SEWARD-
SHELBY IA-STANTON-THURSTON-WASHINGTON-WAYNE-
450 AM CST THU MAR 10 2005

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PARTS OF EASTERN NEBRASKA
AND SOUTHWEST IOWA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

STRONG WINDS OCCUR ACROSS EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA TODAY.
NORTHWEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH 30 TO 40 MPH BY AFTERNOON
WITH GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH POSSIBLE.

THE COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITY IS EXPECTED
TO RESULT IN EXTREME FIRE DANGER ACROSS EASTERN NEBRASKA AND
SOUTHWEST IOWA THIS AFTERNOON.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL IS POSSIBLE NEXT TUESDAY OR WEDNESDAY.
A STORM SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE FROM THE SOUTHWEST INTO THE
SOUTHERN OR CENTRAL PLAINS STATES AROUND THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK.
AT THIS TIME IT IS TOO SOON TO PREDICT THE EXACT TRACK OF THE
STORM.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT.

FOBERT

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Monona

When: March 10, 10:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Monona forecast zone
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph) estimated gust
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 42.052, -95.960 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Harrison

When: March 10, 10:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Harrison forecast zone
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph) estimated gust
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.683, -95.817 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Iowa in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Iowa, March 2005

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: 5440677, 5440678.