Very wet weather prevailed for the first 18 days of the month. 25 inches of rain was recorded at New Hampton.
Every event with a place to put it. 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.
Very wet weather prevailed for the first 18 days of the month. The month began with a heavy rain event on the 2nd when 2.25 inches of rain was recorded at New Hampton. Another round occurred on the 7th-8th with the heaviest rainfall being a 5.57 inch total at Edgewood. This primed the pump so to speak for future flooding. On the 13th-15th, heavy rain left a 4.60 inch total at Adair. Then on the 17th-18th, another round of heavy rain produced 3.20 inches at Bloomfield. The frequent heavy rains brought harvest activities to a halt following a rapid start to the harvest season in September. A sharp turnaround took place after mid month with an average of only 0.03 inches of rain for the final 12 days of October. Preliminary monthly rain totals vary from 2.08 inches at Burlington to 11.26 inches at Red Oak. Red Oak’s total more than doubled their previous October record of 5.88 inches set in 1935 (among 96 years of data).
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 Oct 14, 11:57 AM CST, 1 hour 53 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 1257 PM CDT SUN OCT 14 2007 .UPDATED FOR THE 18Z AVIATION DISCUSSION... .SYNOPSIS... ROCKIES LG WV TROUGH NOW HAVING LARGE INFLUENCE ON MIDWEST WX. 110KT SPEED MAX ROUNDING BOTTOM WITH MATURE DEF ZN FROM LOW ACROSS SD/SRN MN. SUBTLE SHRT WVS TRAVERSING ACTIVE SWLY FLOW AIDING MCS WITH WIDESPREAD QG FORCING AND UVM OVER MUCH OF MO RIVER VALLEY. MORE SIGNIFICANT SHRT WV ALSO GETTING READY TO EJECT OUT OF TROUGH BASE. CONVECTION LINES UP FAIRLY WELL WITH H85/H7 THETA-E ADVECTION AND SW-NE FRONTOGENETICAL FORCING AXIS. MUCAPES AND NEGATIVE H7/H5 THETA-E LAPSE RATES PUSHING NEWD INTO IA ALONG WITH DEEP SHEAR GRADIENT SO STORMS MAY BEGIN PRODUCING HAIL MUCH LIKE TOWARD OMA. 07Z SFC ANLYS PLACES PARENT LOW OVER OK PANHANDLE WITH SECONDARY WV ALONG KS/NE BORDER. WRMFNT ALSO TRYING TO DEVELOP FROM NRN LOW ACROSS SRN MO WITH INVERTED TROUGH SHOWING ITS HAND INTO SIOUXLAND AREA. && .DISCUSSION... PRIMARY EFFORT OBVIOUSLY DEVOTED TO IMPENDING SIGNIFICANT RAIN EVENT. NOT A QUESTION OF IF...BUT WHERE. AFOREMENTIONED FORCING MECHANISMS WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH MCS ACROSS IA TODAY WITH REDEVELOPMENT EXPECTED AGAIN LATER TODAY. ALL 00Z MODELS OUTSIDE OF ECMWF NOW FAVORING MORE NLY SOLUTION. MODEL CONSENSUS WILL BE FAVORED THIS MORNING...BUT DO HAVE SOME RESERVATIONS. GFS DOES CONTAIN CONVECTIVE FEEDBACK AT TIMES BUT DOES NOT SEEM TO CONTAMINATE THE OVERALL FORECAST MUCH...AND ANYTIME THE NAM IS IN AGREEMENT IN THE LATER PERIODS RAISES SOME EYEBROWS. CONSENSUS HAS OLD SD/MN DEF ZN FADING OUT WITH ANOTHER CYCLE DEVELOPING LATER TODAY AS SHRT WV PULLS OUT OF TROUGH INTO MO VALLEY. DEF ZN AND STRONG BAND OF THETA-E ADVECTION AND FRONTOGENETICAL FORCING WILL SETUP SOMEWHERE FROM NRN NE INTO NWRN IA OR SRN MN. HAVE CONTINUED TRENDS OF PREVIOUS FORECAST WITH CATEGORICAL POPS IN MANY LOCATIONS TODAY AND NRN/WRN SECTIONS TONIGHT. MODELS HAVE BEEN EMPHATIC TO SUGGEST DRY SLOT PUNCHING INTO ERN IA SO HAVE REDUCED POPS SOMEWHAT E. LAST LOBE OF FORCING ROTATES AROUND LOW MON WITH CAT POPS LINGERING E...AND CHANCES STILL INTO TUE ALTHOUGH WORST SHOULD BE OVER BY THAT TIME. NEXT SYS SHOULD COME ONSHORE LATE MON AND REACH MIDWEST QUICKLY ON HEELS OF THIS SYS WED. GFS/ECMWF BOTH SUGGEST PCPN REACHING WRN SECTIONS WED AND ENTIRE FCST AREA WED NIGHT SO HAVE RAISED POPS ACCORDINGLY BUT NO CHANGES BEYOND THAT. MAY SEE QUITE A TEMP SPREAD TODAY NEARLY 20 DEGREES FROM NW-SE AS WRMFNT TRIES TO CROSS MO BORDER. THUS RESULTED IN AT OR BELOW COOLEST GUIDANCE NW...AND AT OR ABOVE WARMEST SE. BUFR SOUNDINGS DO NOT SUGGEST MUCH WARMING POTENTIAL MON SO TOWARD OR BELOW COOLEST GUIDANCE. THIS SEEMS TO BE ESPECIALLY TRUE TUE SO UNDERCUT COOLER NAM MOS BY A CATEGORY IN SEVERAL LOCATIONS. GENERALLY FOLLOWED A BLEND FOR MINS. && .HYDROLOGY... HYDRO CONCERNS STILL AN ISSUE WITH FLOOD WATCH BEING CONSIDERED. QUESTION WAS WHERE. WAS HOPING 03Z SREF WOULD PROVIDE SOME CONFIDENCE...BUT IT HAS NOT SUGGESTING HIGHEST AMOUNTS TO OUR NORTH. 00Z NAM/GFS/GEFS PAINTED NWRN IA IN THREAT WHILE WHAT APPEARS TO BE OUTLIER BUT TYPICALLY RELIABLE ECMWF FARTHER SOUTH. QPF GRIDS REFLECT 2-4 INCHES NW WHICH IS IN LINE WITH MODEL CONSENSUS...AND QUICK LOOK AT 06Z NAM NOW EVEN SHOWS 5+ INCH AMOUNTS BY MON EVE NRN PORTIONS...HOWEVER 06Z GFS SUGGESTS 2-3 INCH MAX NOW TOWARD SIOUXLAND AREA. WITH HIGH CONFIDENCE IN HEAVY RAIN BUT STILL UNSURE ON EXACT LOCATION TO TARGET WILL HOLD OFF ON WATCH BUT CERTAINLY MONITOR CLOSELY AND CONTINUE TO HIT HARD IN HWO. && .AVIATION...14/18Z PRIMARY CONCERNS REMAIN APPROACHING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM AND THE LOW CEILINGS AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE SYSTEM. THE PRIMARY FOCUS OF THE SYSTEM THROUGH 18Z MONDAY WILL BE OVER FOD AND MCW AS A DRY SLOT WORKS NORTH INTO THE SOUTHEASTERN TERMINALS INCLUDING DSM/OTM AND POSSIBLE ALO. IFR AND AREAS OF LIFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED OVER NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST IOWA THROUGH MUCH OF THE PERIOD. IN ADDITION SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE PREVALENT OVER THIS AREA THIS EVENING AND PERSIST THROUGH THE PERIOD. ONCE THE CURRENT ACTIVITY PASSES NORTH OF DSM...DSM AND OTM WILL HAVE A PROLONGED BREAK WITH CONDITIONS BECOMING MVFR AND SOME VFR THROUGH 09Z AT WHICH TIME CONDITIONS WILL DETERIORATE. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && SHORT TERM...DONAVON LONG/SHORT TERM...BSS/MJA
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 523 AM CDT SUN OCT 14 2007 IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-033>039-044>050-057>062-070>075- 081>086-092>097-151100- 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-MAHASKA-ADAMS-UNION- CLARKE-LUCAS-MONROE-WAPELLO-TAYLOR-RINGGOLD-DECATUR-WAYNE- APPANOOSE-DAVIS- 523 AM CDT SUN OCT 14 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MUCH OF CENTRAL IOWA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SEVERAL PERIODS OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO THE NIGHTTIME HOURS. SOME OF THE SHOWERS AND STORMS MAY PRODUCE MODERATE TO LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS. RAINFALL AMOUNTS FROM ONE TO THREE INCHES ARE POSSIBLE BY DAYBREAK MONDAY OVER THE NORTHWEST HALF OF THE STATE WHICH MAY PRODUCE PONDING WATER ON ROADS AND RISES IN SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS. ALTHOUGH HEAVY RAIN IS THE MORE PREDOMINATE THREAT...A FEW STORMS MAY ALSO PRODUCE UP TO PENNY SIZED HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO MONDAY BEFORE DIMINISHING BY TUESDAY. THE POTENTIAL FOR MODERATE TO LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS WILL CONTINUE WITH STORM TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS ANYWHERE FROM TWO TO FOUR INCHES POSSIBLE OVER THE NORTHWEST THIRD OF THE STATE BY. IF RAINFALLS OF THIS MAGNITUDE MATERIALIZE...MINOR FLOODING MAY OCCUR ALONG PORTIONS OF THE UPPER DES MOINES RIVER BASIN NEAR ALGONA...HUMBOLDT AND STRATFORD. PONDING WATER AND RISES IN SMALLER STREAMS MAY ALSO OCCUR. ALTHOUGH SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED...SOME OF THE STORMS COULD PRODUCE UP TO DIME SIZED HAIL. ADDITIONAL CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS RETURN TO THE FORECAST LATE WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER APPEARS TO BE MINIMAL AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY NOT BE NEEDED...HOWEVER REPORTS OF HEAVY RAINFALL AND FLOODING ARE ALWAYS APPRECIATED AND ENCOURAGED. SMALL
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, October 2007
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: 60054, 60056, 60057, 60055.