An intense low pressure lifted northeast across northwest Iowa. In the wake of the low, strong northwest winds blew across the state.
Every event with a place to put it; 17 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 DMX wrote it up.
An intense low pressure lifted northeast across northwest Iowa. In the wake of the low, strong northwest winds blew across the state. Winds in most areas were in the 30 to 40 MPH range with gusts to over 50 MPH. Winds did reach 58 MPH in Hamilton County at a mesonet site in Williams. During the event, sustained winds were around 40 MPH for a period of a couple of hours over much of the northeast third of the state that evening.
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 Nov 15, 4:00 PM CST, 3 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 400 PM CST MON NOV 15 2005 .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT)... MAIN FORECAST IS CURRENT SNOW WEATHER EVENT TRANSISTIONING INTO WIND EVENT/BLSN EVENT OVERNIGHT. REGIONAL RADAR SHOWING BULK OF HEAVY PCPN AXIS WELL TO EAST WITH RA/SN CHANGE LINE FROM AROUND WATERLOO TO CHARITON AND LAMONI AT MID AFTERNOON. FRONTOGENETICALLY FORCED HEAVY PCPN BAND WILL SHIFT NE INTO WISCONSIN TONIGHT BEHIND RAPIDLY LIFTING SFC LOW OVER CENTRAL ILL ATTM. WITH SNOW ENDING NORTHWEST TO EAST...WILL CONTINUE THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY OVERNIGHT INTO EARLY WEDNESDAY AS WINDS PICK UP INTO 25-35 MPH RANGE SUSTAINED WITH HIGHER GUSTS AS SFC PRESSURE GRADIENT CONTINUES TO INCREASE. && .LONG TERM (WEDNESDAY THRU TUESDAY)... SIGNIFICANT COOLDOWN WITH TEMPS BEHIND THIS SYSTEM. CONTINENTAL POLAR AIR OVER SRN CANADIAN PRAIRIES WILL FUNNEL INTO UPPER MIDWEST WITH CENTRAL IOWA RIGHT UNDER THE QUICK MOVING SFC RIDGE WEDNESDAY NIGHT. FWC/GFS MOS AND TO A MUCH LESSER EXTENT THE MET ALL PRESENT SINGLE DIGITS FOR LOWS WEDNESDAY EASILY SEE SOME SINGLE DIGITS HOWEVER QUITE A WAY FROM ANY RECORD LOWS FOR THE DATE. EVEN THROUGH RIDGE AXIS PUSHES EAST RAPIDLY AND RETURN TO SRLY HAPPENS BY EARLY WEDNESDAY, STILL LIKE THE COOLER GUIDANCE FOR WEDNESDAY AND THU AFTERNOON. NO MAJOR CHANGES TO GOING MEDIUM RANGE FORECAST AS NORTHWEST FLOW OVER THE NRN PLAINS WILL MAINTAIN COOL SEASONAL TEMPERATURES WITH A FEW SHORTWAVES EJECTING SOUTHWARD THROUGH THE UPPER MIDWEST. NAM/NGM INDICATING ANOTHER SHORTWAVE AS EARLY AS THE FRIDAY WHERE 20 POPS ARE FORECAST AND DONT SEE A NEED TO RAISE THESE WITH CURRENT MOS PRODUCTS BELOW AND STRONGEST LOW LEVEL Q-VECTOR CONVERGENCE TO THE NE OF THE AREA...HOWEVER HAVE EXTENDED SMALL CHC -RW/SW INTO SATURDAY EVENING FOR FORECAST CONSISTENCY. GFS FORECAST SOUNDINGS SHOWING A GENEROUS WARM LAYER JUST ABOVE SFC SO SN NOT A SURE BET DESPITE LOWER THICKNESSES. DRY FROPA INDICATED BY MODELS AT 180 HRS (MONDAY) HOWEVER GFS HAS SMALL QPF PCPN OVER ERN IA. HAVE MAINTAINED DRY FORECAST DURING THIS PD. BOTH ECMWF AND THE DGEX/GFS HAS SIMILAR SYNOPTIC MASS FIELD IN THAT TIMEFRAME ALTHOUGH THE EURO MAY BE MOVING SYSTEM ALONG A BIT QUICKER. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR ALL OF CENTRAL IOWA THROUGH 9 AM WEDNESDAY. && RUSSELL
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 537 AM CST TUE NOV 15 2005 IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-033>039-044>050-057>062-070>074- 081>084-092>095-161145- EMMET-KOSSUTH-WINNEBAGO-WORTH-PALO ALTO-HANCOCK-CERRO GORDO- POCAHONTAS-HUMBOLDT-WRIGHT-FRANKLIN-BUTLER-BREMER-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-ADAMS-UNION-CLARKE- LUCAS-TAYLOR-RINGGOLD-DECATUR-WAYNE- 537 AM CST TUE NOV 15 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHERN...CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST IOWA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW IS EXPECTED THIS MORNING BEFORE BECOMING ALL SNOW THIS AFTERNOON. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 4 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE TODAY WITH ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES POSSIBLE TONIGHT. NORTHWEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WILL DEVELOP TONIGHT WITH WIND GUSTS OF 45 TO 55 MPH POSSIBLE. THIS WILL CREATE CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF SNOW AND MAY REDUCE VISIBILITIES DOWN TO ONE QUARTER MILE OR LESS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THE STRONG WINDS AND BLOWING SNOW WILL LINGER WEDNESDAY MORNING BEFORE DIMINISHING BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... REPORTS OF SNOWFALL AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT. IAZ075-085-086-096-097-161145- MAHASKA-MONROE-WAPELLO-APPANOOSE-DAVIS- 537 AM CST TUE NOV 15 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST IOWA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT HIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA. RAIN WILL OVER SPREAD THE AREA THIS MORNING AND TRANSITION TO SNOW THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE. IN ADDITION NORTHWEST WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS OF 40 TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP TONIGHT AND WILL PRODUCE CONSIDERABLE BLOWING SNOW. VISIBILITIES MAY BE REDUCED TO ONE HALF MILE AT TIMES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THE STRONG WINDS AND BLOWING SNOW WILL LINGER INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING BEFORE DIMINISHING WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... REPORTS OF SNOWFALL AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. DONAVON
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
17 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, November 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: 5482031, 5482032, 5482033, 5482034, 5482035, 5482036, 5482037, 5482038, 5482039, 5482040, 5482041, 5482042, 5482043, 5482044, 5482045, 5482046, 5482047.