Sustained winds of 40 to 45 mph with gusts around 60 mph persisted from late morning until late afternoon. The winds caused widespread tree damage with branches and smaller tree debris broken off.
Every event with a place to put it; 11 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 FSD wrote it up.
Sustained winds of 40 to 45 mph with gusts around 60 mph persisted from late morning until late afternoon. The winds caused widespread tree damage with branches and smaller tree debris broken off. There were also reports of power lines down and resulting power outages in the Sioux City and Spencer areas. There was damage to shingles and gutters on numerous homes. The roof of a shopping mall was damaged at Spencer, and the roof of an auto parts building was damaged at Sioux City. A semi truck was blown off U.S. Highway 75 near Merrill.
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 Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 10, 3:20 AM CST, 6 hours 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR SOUTHEAST SD/SOUTHWEST MN/NORTHWEST IA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 320 AM CST THU MAR 10 2005 .DISCUSSION... NEXT COLD FRONT WILL BE MOVING SOUTH OVER CWA LATE THIS MORNING THRU MID AFTERNOON. NW WINDS WILL START TO PICK UP AGAIN THIS MORNING WITH GRADIENT THEN AS COLD FRONT MOVES THRU INCREASE SOME MORE. FOR NOW LOOK LIKE WINDS WILL STAY BELOW WIND ADVISORY LIMITS. WILL HAVE TO WATCH FOR A BRIEF TIME EARLY AFTERNOON...ESPECIALLY ALONG BUFFALO RIDGE. DRY EARLY THIS MORNING BUT AS FRONT MOVES THRU COULD BE SOME SCATTERED FLURRIES OR SPRINKLES. IN SW MINNESOTA A LITTLE BETTER LIFT AND MOISTURE SO A BETTER CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS. SOME LOCATIONS COULD PICK UP A TENTH OR TWO OF SNOW. GOOD MIXING AGAIN TODAY SO TEMPS ABOVE NORMAL. WEAK HIGH DROPS IN BEHIND FRONT LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING AND SHOULD END PCP. LATE TONIGHT SFC LOW DEVELOPS OVER CNTRL SD WITH A LOW POP CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW OVER CWA. 850 TO 700 MB TEMPS WILL BE WARMING OVER SW PARTS ENOUGH THAT THERE COULD BE SOME LIGHT FRZG RAIN MIXED WITH THE SNOW. SATURDAY MRNG AS LOW MOVES SE WARMER AIR WILL SPREAD ALONG SOUTH DAKOTA BORDER TO NEAR SIOUX CITY. CHANCE FRZG RAIN AND SNOW FM NEAR CHAMBERLAIN TO SIOUX CITY EARLY MRNG WITH RAIN AND SNOW MID MRNG. CHC OF LIGHT SNOW OVER REST OF CWA. ANY SNOW ACCUMULATION SHOULD BE A QUARTER INCH OR LESS. WEAK HIGH OVER CWA SATURDAY NOON AND SATURDAY NIGHT AND WENT DRY. NW WINDS DO PICK UP AGAIN ON SATURDAY AND WILL KEEP TEMPS NORMAL TO A LITTLE BELOW. ON SUNDAY WEAK UPPER WAVE MOVES SOUTH OVER AREA AND KEPT SCATTERED FLURRIES IN NRN AREAS WITH BELOW NORMAL TEMPS. GFS SHOWING WEAK SFC LOW DROPS SOUTH OVER MINNESOTA ON SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY BUT NOT MUCH UPPER SUPPORT SO WENT DRY. TEMPS STAYING BELOW NORMAL. NO CHANGES TO EXTENDED WITH MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW SOMETHING FOR MID WEEK. QUESTION IS HOW FAR NORTH IT WILL GET. && .FSD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...NONE. MN...NONE. IA...NONE. NE...NONE. && WB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 0449 AM CST THU MAR 10 2005 SDZ038>040-050-052>071-MNZ071-072-080-081-089-090-097-098- IAZ001>003-012>014-020>022-031-032-NEZ013-014-111200- AURORA-BEADLE-BON HOMME-BROOKINGS-BRULE-BUENA VISTA IA- CHARLES MIX-CHEROKEE IA-CLAY-CLAY IA-COTTONWOOD MN-DAKOTA NE- DAVISON-DICKINSON IA-DIXON NE-DOUGLAS-GREGORY-HANSON-HUTCHINSON- IDA IA-JACKSON MN-JERAULD-KINGSBURY-LAKE-LINCOLN-LINCOLN MN- LYON IA-LYON MN-MCCOOK-MINER-MINNEHAHA-MOODY-MURRAY MN-NOBLES MN- OBRIEN IA-OSCEOLA IA-PIPESTONE MN-PLYMOUTH IA-ROCK MN-SANBORN- SIOUX IA-TURNER-UNION-WOODBURY IA-YANKTON- 0449 AM CST THU MAR 10 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA... SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...NORTHWEST IOWA...AND NORTHEAST NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT WIND AND FOG... NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 35 TO 45 MPH THIS MORNING WEST OF THE JAMES RIVER IN SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA. WINDS GUSTS OF 50 TO 55 MPH ARE POSSIBLE LATE THIS MORNING INTO THIS AFTERNOON. OVER THE REST OF THE AREA...EAST OF THE JAMES RIVER...WINDS WILL BECOME NORTHWEST AN INCREASE TO 25 TO 35 MPH THIS MORNING WITH GUSTS TO NEAR 45 MPH BY LATE MORNING INTO THIS AFTERNOON. THE STRONG WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO BE DECREASE THIS EVENING AND AFTER MIDNIGHT BE DOWN TO 10 TO 20 MPH. FIRE DANGER... VERY STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS AND DRY VEGETATION WILL PRODUCE A VERY HIGH FIRE DANGER INDEX THIS AFTERNOON IN BRULE...CHARLES MIX AND GREGORY COUNTIES OF SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY AND TONIGHT. && FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/FSD. THIS INCLUDES THE GRAPHICAL HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, March 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: 5445067, 5445068, 5445069, 5445070, 5445071, 5445072, 5445073, 5445074, 5445075, 5445076, 5445077.