A return of warmer and more unstable air, in a northwesterly flow aloft environment, helped fuel isolated thunderstorms in southwest Iowa. One storm dropped large hail in the Essex area.
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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 OAX wrote it up.
A return of warmer and more unstable air, in a northwesterly flow aloft environment, helped fuel isolated thunderstorms in southwest Iowa. One storm dropped large hail in the Essex 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 Omaha, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 27, 5:12 AM CST, 8 hours 8 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 612 AM CDT SUN JUL 27 2008 .UPDATE...TOOK OUT ALL MENTION OF MORNING TSTMS. SD SYSTEM IS TRACKING WELL TO THE NORTH WITH NO SIGN OF ANY SOUTHERN DEVELOPMENT. DO NOT EXPECT ANYTHING BEFORE 21Z AT THE EARLIEST. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 434 AM CDT SUN JUL 27 2008/ DISCUSSION... FORECAST ISSUES ARE SIMILAR TO PAST COUPLE OF DAYS. HARD TO RESOLVE WAVES ROUND THE UPPER RIDGE. THE RIDGE HAS ENTRAINED A LARGE POOL OF SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE ALOFT...INCLUDING THE REMNANTS OF TD DOLLY...SO BOTH LOW AND MID LEVEL MOISTURE WILL GENERALLY BE AMPLE. MODELS ARE DOING A VERY POOR JOB OF INDICATING TSTM AREAS AND LOW LEVEL BOUNDARIES. THIS MORNING MY MODEL PREFERENCE...IF ANY...WAS A BLEND OF 00Z GFS AND HI RES ECMWF. 00Z NAM WAS MUCH TOO FAR SOUTH WITH MCS IN DAKOTAS...AND 06Z RUN NOT LOOKING MUCH BETTER. DESPITE SOME VERY RECENT IR ENHANCEMENT IN OFK VCNTY...EXPECT PRECIP TO REMAIN GENERALLY NORTH OF THE AREA UNTIL LATER AFTN. AT THAT POINT THERE MAY BE ENOUGH SFC BASED HEATING TO BREAK THE CAP. CHC WILL CONTINUE AFTER DARK WHEN LLJ PICKS UP...BUT RISING MID LEVEL TEMPS SUGGEST THAT IF TSTMS DO GET STARTED IN OUR AREA THEY WOULD TEND TO MOVE EAST AFTER MIDNIGHT. BOTH GFS AND ECMWF RUN A SFC LOW ACROSS SRN SD ON MONDAY WITH HOT AIR TO THE SOUTH OVER OUR AREA. THINK THERE IS STILL A SLIGHT CHC THAT CAP COULD BREAK TOWARD EVE JUST SOUTH OF SD BORDER. OTHERWISE HOT AND DRY WITH AFTN HEAT INDEX CLOSE TO 105...DEPENDING ON DPTS. THERE IS STILL SOME CHC THAT TSTMS WILL MOVE S INTO THE AREA MON NGT AS UPPER HGTS BEGIN TO FALL. THE SOUTH MAY ALSO SEE SOME PRECIP FROM REMNANTS OF DOLLY MAINLY TUE. THIS WOULD CORRESPOND TO ECMWF TIMING...WHICH HAS BEEN MORE CONSISTENT LATELY. MORE CLOUDS AND LOWER TEMPS WILL ALSO RESULT. WED MAY BE DRY BETWEEN SYSTEMS WITH WK HI PRES OVER AREA...BUT GFS AND ECMWF BOTH RUN ANOTHER SHORT WAVE THROUGH THE NORTHERN PLAINS THU NIGHT. RAISED POPS A BIT IN THE NORTH TO REFLECT THIS POSSIBILITY...BUT OTHERWISE CHANCED LITTLE BEYOND TUE REFLECTING GREAT FORECAST UNCERTAINTY. IT IS WORTH NOTING THAT IF NEW MODELS ARE RIGHT...UPPER RIDGE BUILDS FAIRLY STRONGLY INTO THE AREA BY NEXT WEEKEND...A SCENARIO FOR HOT DRY WEATHER. AVIATION... OR TAF SITES KOMA/KLNK/KOFK THRU 29/12Z. VFR CONDITIONS LIKELY FOR MUCH OF THE TAF PD. SOME PATCHY FOG/STRATUS BEING REPORTED EARLY THIS MORNING BUT SHOULD BE ISOLATED ENOUGH NOT TO BRING DOWN TO IFR CONDITIONS AT ANY OF THE TAF SITES. UNCERTAINTY REMAINS IN FORECAST THIS AFTERNOON WITH WHERE AND WHEN TSTMS WL FIRE...IF AT ALL. HIGHEST CHANCES APPEAR TO BE LATER THIS AFTERNOON SO WL COVER WITH PROB30 GROUPS AFTER 21Z. && .OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. IA...NONE. && POLLACK/GRIFFIS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 1102 AM CDT SUN JUL 27 2008 IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-272300- 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- 1102 AM CDT SUN JUL 27 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THERE IS A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE OUTLOOK AREA THROUGH TONIGHT. FOR THIS AFTERNOON...AREAS AT RISK ARE GENERALLY EAST OF A LINE FROM ABOUT PIERCE TO SIDNEY...THEN OVER THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA TONIGHT. DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE STORMS WOULD MOST LIKELY OCCUR THIS EVENING WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL THE PRIMARY THREATS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY THUNDERSTORM CHANCES CONTINUE OVER THE AREA THROUGH MID WEEK. SOME SEVERE STORMS ARE POSSIBLE DURING THIS TIME...ESPECIALLY IN THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. HIGH TEMPERATURES MONDAY ARE FORECAST TO REACH WELL INTO THE 90S. THE MID AFTERNOON HEAT INDEX IS FORECAST TO REACH 100 TO 105 ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... STORM SPOTTERS PROBABLY WILL NOT BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON...BUT ACTIVATION IS POSSIBLE TONIGHT. DEE
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:21 UTC.
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Hail up to 1 inch in diameter fell in the Essex area for about 10 minutes. The hail caused scattered crop and vehicle damage in the area.
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, July 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: 112723.