Following the passage of the weather system from the previous afternoon, low pressure developed to the southwest of Iowa. A warm front extended from the low into Missouri.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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.
Following the passage of the weather system from the previous afternoon, low pressure developed to the southwest of Iowa. A warm front extended from the low into Missouri. Strong warm advection took place over the front, resulting in a large area of thunderstorms with sleet, freezing rain, and some hail. Over far northern Iowa, much of the precipitation fell in the form of snow. A narrow band of heavier freezing rain fell from north of Fort Dodge, in Webster County, to Kanawha, in Hancock County. In this area, ice accrual was around one quarter of an inch. Thunderstorms were also reported within this band of freezing rain north of the Fort Dodge area.
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 Feb 4, 4:33 AM CST, 27 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 433 AM CST MON FEB 4 2008 .DISCUSSION... COMPLEX WEATHER SCENARIO CONTINUES TODAY THROUGH EARLY WEDNESDAY WITH ALL TYPES OF WEATHER INVOLVED DURING THE PERIOD. CURRENTLY NEXT STRONG SHORTWAVE IS LIFTING THROUGH NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS WITH A 60 KT 850 MB JET MOVING ALONG WITH THE SYSTEM. THE SFC LOW REMAINS WELL TO THE WEST WITH PRIMARY WARM FRONT LOCATED OVER CENTRAL MISSOURI. BEST PRESSURE FALLS NOW MOVING INTO SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL IOWA WITH A PRESSURE TROUGH EXTENDING INTO THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE STATE. SOME LOW INSTABILITIES BEGINNING TO DEVELOP JUST AHEAD THE APPROACHING 850 MB JET AND IN AN AREA OF STRONG THETA-E ADVECTION. SOME CONVECTIVE ELEMENTS LIKELY TO DEVELOP THIS MORNING AND LIFT ACROSS CENTRAL AND NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE STATE WITH SOME THUNDER POSSIBLE. SFC TEMPERATURES WILL BE AT OR BELOW FREEZING WHEN THIS OCCURS THEREFORE SOME ICING IS LIKELY AND HAVE PLACED A FREEZING RAIN ADVISORY OVER CENTRAL PORTIONS THIS MORNING. THE 850 MB BAROCLINIC ZONE PARKS OVER CENTRAL IOWA TODAY. LATEST RUNS OF MODELS AND HAND ANALYSIS SHOW THE WARM NOSE NOT QUITE REACHING NORTHERN IOWA THEREFORE PRECIPITATION TYPE WILL BE PREDOMINATELY SNOW. WITH THE 850 MB JET FEEDING INTO THIS REGION...IT IS POSSIBLE THAT A HEAVY BAND OF SNOW DEVELOPS OVER THE NORTHERN 2 TO 3 TIERS OF COUNTIES THIS MORNING THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON WITH ACCUMULATIONS OF 4 TO 6 INCHES POSSIBLE THROUGH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS CAN NOT BE RULED OUT. MID LEVEL SATURATION AND ICE INTRODUCTION IS LOST THIS AFTERNOON THEREFORE SOME FREEZING PRECIPITATION IS POSSIBLE IN THE SNOW AFFECTED AREA. DUE TO THIS MIX AND COORDINATION PURPOSES...A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY HAS BEEN ISSUED OVER THE NORTH. HAVE RELEGATED MENTION OF PRECIPITATION TO DRIZZLE OR FREEZING DRIZZLE FOR MOST LOCATIONS TONIGHT WITH JUST WATER DROPLETS AND NO ICE TO WORK WITH. POSSIBLE SOME SEEDING FROM ALOFT MAY STRETCH INTO THE FAR NORTHWEST BY 12Z. THE PRIMARY FORECAST ISSUE BEYOND TODAY IS THE PRIMARY STORM SYSTEM CURRENTLY OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA THAT WILL LIFT INTO THE PLAINS TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. THE 850 MB LOW IS EXPECTED TO TRACK ACROSS NORTHERN MISSOURI WITH THE 600 MB TROWAL STRETCHED ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN IOWA. TREMENDOUS LIFT WITHIN THE DENDRITIC ZONE WILL CAUSE GOOD SNOWFALL RATES FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OVER THE SOUTHEAST HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA WILL ALLOW FOR THE POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT. DUE TO THE POTENTIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS STORM HAVE ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH BASICALLY ALONG AND SOUTHEAST OF A AUDUBON TO WAVERLY LINE AND RISK CONFUSION WITH ONGOING HEADLINES. BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF SNOW POTENTIAL ANOTHER FACTOR TO CONSIDER AS THE PRESSURE GRADIENT INCREASES OVER THE STATE. ANOTHER WEAK SYSTEM PASSES THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY AND INTO THURSDAY WITH LIGHT SNOW POSSIBLE ONCE AGAIN. NO CHANGES BEYOND THURSDAY. && .AVIATION...04/06Z A MESSY TAF PACKAGE. AIRFIELDS TO REMAIN UNDER GENERALLY IFR CONDITIONS...DUE TO EITHER CEILINGS...VSBY OR BOTH...DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. CANNOT RULE OUT PERIODS OF LIFR WITH LOW CONFIDENCE IN FOG FORECAST...AS SOME MAY GO DOWN TO 1/2 MILE OR LESS. NRN TAF SITES WILL HAVE A PERIOD OF -SN AND/OR FZRA IN THE 12Z TO 18Z PERIOD. KDSM WILL HAVE A LITTLE FZRA AROUND 12Z THEN CHANGE TO JUST RA BY 16Z. KOTM WILL BE THE WARMEST SITE...WITH POSSIBLY A LITTLE FZDZ AROUND 12Z...BUT THEN TEMPS GET ABOVE FREEZING. THUNDER CANNOT BE RULED OUT FROM KDSM TO KALO AND KOTM FROM 12Z TO 18Z...BUT DID NOT MENTION DUE TO LOW CONFIDENCE AT THIS TIME. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FREEZING RAIN ADVISORY UNTIL NOON CST TODAY FOR ADAIR-AUDUBON-CASS-DALLAS-GUTHRIE-JASPER-MADISON-MAHASKA-MARION-POLK- POWESHIEK-WARREN. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 4 PM CST THIS AFTERNOON FOR BLACK HAWK-BOONE-BREMER-BUTLER-CALHOUN-CARROLL-CERRO GORDO-CRAWFORD-EMMET-FRANKLIN-GREENE-GRUNDY-HAMILTON-HANCOCK-HARDIN- HUMBOLDT-KOSSUTH-MARSHALL-PALO ALTO-POCAHONTAS-SAC-STORY-TAMA-WEBSTER-WINNEBAGO-WORTH-WRIGHT. WINTER STORM WATCH FROM TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING FOR ADAIR-ADAMS-APPANOOSE-AUDUBON-BLACK HAWK- BOONE-BREMER-CASS-CLARKE-DALLAS-DAVIS-DECATUR-GREENE-GRUNDY- GUTHRIE-HARDIN-JASPER-LUCAS-MADISON-MAHASKA-MARION-MARSHALL-MONROE- POLK-POWESHIEK-RINGGOLD-STORY-TAMA-TAYLOR-UNION-WAPELLO-WARREN-WAYNE. SHORT TERM...REV LONG TERM...DONAVON AVIATION...MOYER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 1126 PM CST SUN FEB 3 2008 IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-033>039-044>048-041200- 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- 1126 PM CST SUN FEB 3 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT AREAS OF FOG...AND DEVELOPING AREAS OF FREEZING DRIZZLE ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THE NIGHT. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR THE AREA. PLEASE REFER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/DESMOINES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY BY EARLY MONDAY MORNING...THE AREAS OF FREEZING DRIZZLE MAY BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD...AND INCLUDE SLEET AND POSSIBLY AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM THROUGH THE HIGHWAY 30 CORRIDOR EAST OF AMES. BY MONDAY MORNING...A PERIOD OF ACCUMULATING SNOW NORTH OF HIGHWAY 20 IS EXPECTED...WITH FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET EXPECTED BETWEEN HIGHWAYS 20 AND 30. ALL OF THE SNOW WILL LIKELY CHANGE TO FREEZING RAIN BY LATE MORNING...AND CHANGE TO RAIN BEFORE NOON...AS TEMPERATURES WARM TO ABOVE FREEZING. BEFORE THE TEMPERATURES WARM...UP TO A TENTH OF AN INCH OF NEW ICE ACCUMULATIONS ARE LIKELY BETWEEN HIGHWAYS 30 AND 20...AND 2 TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW NORTH OF HIGHWAY 20 TO THE MINNESOTA LINE. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR THE AREA. PLEASE REFER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/DESMOINES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED...HOWEVER ICE AND SNOW TOTALS ARE APPRECIATED. IAZ049-050-057>062-070>075-081>086-092>097-041200- 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- 1126 PM CST SUN FEB 3 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT AREAS OF FOG...AND DEVELOPING AREAS OF FREEZING DRIZZLE ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THE NIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY AREAS OF FREEZING DRIZZLE WILL END DURING THE EARLY MORNING AS TEMPERATURES BEGIN TO WARM TO ABOVE THE FREEZING MARK. A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE...PRODUCING SOME SLEET...FREEZING RAIN AND RAIN THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING. SOME FREEZING RAIN IS POSSIBLE ALONG THE HIGHWAY 30 CORRIDOR THROUGH 9 AM...HOWEVER...FARTHER SOUTH TEMPERATURES WILL QUICKLY WARM INTO THE MID AN UPPER 30S SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80...ALLOWING THE PRECIPITATION TYPE TO BE RAIN. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED...HOWEVER ICE AND SNOW TOTALS ARE APPRECIATED. RUSSELL
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 ice storm. Local standard time, as filed.
The observer reported lightning with this event.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, February 2008
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: 68180, 68182, 68183, 68185.