Heavy rain fell once again across a large part of Iowa, especially across the north and northeast. This rain fell on rivers that were already close to flood stage as they were just beginning to fall after the flooding from earlier in the month.
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.
Heavy rain fell once again across a large part of Iowa, especially across the north and northeast. This rain fell on rivers that were already close to flood stage as they were just beginning to fall after the flooding from earlier in the month. The rainfall of the first week of June set the state for what would become record flooding over a large part of the northeast half of Iowa, even eclipsing the records set just 15 years previous in 1993. Damage became widespread, both to property and infrastructure as well as agriculturally. More details of the record rains will be included with the next event, which occurred just a couple days later.
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 Jun 5, 11:40 PM CST, 19 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 1240 AM CDT FRI JUN 6 2008 .UPDATED AVIATION DISCUSSION... .DISCUSSION... HAVE UPDATED ZONES TO REFLECT INCREASING SFC INFLOW WHICH IS AT TIMES NEAR 45 MPH INTO THE LINE OF STORMS FORMING ACROSS WESTERN IA. AT THIS TIME...WILL NOT ISSUE AN ADVISORY BUT HIT HARD IN NOWCASTS. ONGOING SVR WX THREAT CONTINUES. 00Z UPPER AIR AND SFC ANALYSES SHOW THAT THE MAIN WAVE IS JUST ROUNDING THE BASE OF THE DEEPENING H500 TROUGH. NO CHANGES TO THINKING...LINE OF SEVERE STORMS SHOULD CONTINUE MOVING NORTHEAST OVERNIGHT AS UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM LIFTS QUICKLY ACROSS THE STATE OVERNIGHT. .PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... DYNAMIC WX STTN UNFOLDING RAPIDLY AS 80 TO 90 KT JET ROTATES OUT OF THE ROCKIES TROF. LN OF TSRA HAD DVLPD OVR CNTRL NEBRASKA INTO CNTRL KS. THERE WILL BE TO AREAS OF FOCUS. ONE ALONG AND N OF THE WRM FRONT WHERE CAP IS WEAKENING...WITH MAIN AREA MOVG INTO WRN IA TWD SNST. EXPECT ALL MODES OF SVR WX INITIALLY...WITH LINE TAKING ON MORE OF A BOW CONFIGURATION TWD 06Z AND AFT WITH HIGH WINDS THE STRONGER THREAT. CELL MVMT LKLY TO BE AT LEAST 50 KTS...HOWEVER WITH THE SYS BEING MORE OF A QLCS INSTEAD OF DISCRETE SYS...TRAINING MAY PRODUCE COPIOUS AMTS OF RAFL. ERN IA MAY YET BE UNDER THE GUN ERY FRI...BUT WX SHOULD BE QUIET BY LATER FRI INTO SAT MRNG. NEXT ROUND EXPECTED BY LATER SAT AFTN INTO SAT NGT WITH ANOTHER SVR ROUND QUITE LKLY. PTRN SEEMS LIKE A BROKEN RECORD WITH NEXT SYS MOVG INTO THE CENTRAL CONUS BY MON. FFA REMAINS FOR TNGT INT FRI MRNG AND IT LOOKS LKLY THAT RAFL TNGT WILL AGGRAVATE FLOODING SITUATION. && AVIATION 06/06Z... INITIAL LINE OF STRONG TO SEVERE STORM ALONG THE I-35 CORRIDOR AT MIDNIGHT MOVING NORTHEAST AROUND 40 MPH. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS BEHIND THIS INITIAL LINE WILL KEEP IFR/MVFR COND OVER THE TAF SITES THROUGH 12Z. AFTER 12Z...RAPID IMPROVEMENT IS EXPECTED BUT SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 25 TO 35 MPH. THIS WAS EMPHASIZED IN THE TAFS. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING FOR ADAIR-ADAMS-AUDUBON- BOONE-CALHOUN-CARROLL-CASS-CERRO GORDO-CLARKE-CRAWFORD-DALLAS- DECATUR-EMMET-FRANKLIN-GREENE-GUTHRIE-HAMILTON-HANCOCK-HARDIN- HUMBOLDT-KOSSUTH-MADISON-PALO ALTO-POCAHONTAS-POLK-RINGGOLD-SAC- STORY-TAYLOR-UNION-WARREN-WEBSTER-WINNEBAGO-WORTH-WRIGHT. FLASH FLOOD WATCH FROM 10 PM CDT THIS EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING FOR APPANOOSE-BLACK HAWK-BREMER-BUTLER-DAVIS-GRUNDY- JASPER-LUCAS-MAHASKA-MARION-MARSHALL-MONROE-POWESHIEK-TAMA- WAPELLO-WAYNE. && SHORT TERM/AVIATION...FAB LONG TERM...MS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 510 PM CDT THU JUN 5 2008 IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-033>039-044>050-057>062-070>075- 081>086-092>097-061415- 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- 510 PM CDT THU JUN 5 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR ALL OF CENTRAL IOWA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP LATE THIS EVENING IN WESTERN IOWA...THEN SPREAD EASTWARD TONIGHT. ALL MODES OF SEVERE WEATHER ARE POSSIBLE...INCLUDING A FEW LONG TRACK SIGNIFICANT TORNADOES AND STORMS WHICH MAY ALSO PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT WIND DAMAGE THROUGH THE NIGHT TIME HOURS. ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN WILL PRODUCE SERIOUS FLASH FLOODING OVER RAIN SATURATED AREAS. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE AREA THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING. PLEASE REFER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/DESMOINES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE ONGOING EARLY FRIDAY MORNING WITH ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE BEFORE ENDING BY MIDDAY. WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT WITH ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS AND HEAVY RAIN AGAIN POSSIBLE. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORM CHANCES CONTINUE EVERY DAY SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...AND WIDESPREAD RIVER FLOODING WILL CONTINUE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE NEEDED THIS EVENING THROUGH THE NIGHT TIME HOURS...AND POSSIBLY AGAIN SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT. REV
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
1206 AM CDT FRI JUN 06 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1145 PM FLOOD 1 NNE MARTENSDALE 41.39N 93.73W
06/05/2008 WARREN IA EMERGENCY MNGR
HIGHWAY 28 ON NORTH EDGE OF MARTENSDALE HAS WATER OVER
THE ROAD
&&
BMOYERPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
1211 AM CDT FRI JUN 06 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1016 PM FLASH FLOOD 4 WSW DES MOINES INT AI 41.51N 93.73W
06/05/2008 WARREN IA AMATEUR RADIO
STREET FLOODING REPORTED IN ORILLIA.
&&
ALBRECHTPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
1243 AM CDT FRI JUN 06 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1220 AM TSTM WND DMG SANDYVILLE 41.37N 93.39W
06/06/2008 WARREN IA EMERGENCY MNGR
TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ON HIGHWAY 92. EXTENSIVE
DAMAMGE ALSO REPORTED IN THE TOWN.
1227 AM TSTM WND DMG 2 SW KNOXVILLE 41.30N 93.13W
06/06/2008 MARION IA EMERGENCY MNGR
TREES DOWN
&&
BMOYERPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
1254 AM CDT FRI JUN 06 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1145 PM FLASH FLOOD 5 SW DES MOINES 41.51N 93.68W
06/05/2008 POLK IA BROADCAST MEDIA
5 FEET OF WATER OVER HIGHWAY 5 AND HIGHWAY 28 WITH
MULTIPLE CARS STALLED.
&&
MDR/BSSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
1255 AM CDT FRI JUN 06 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1255 AM TORNADO 3 S KELLOGG 41.67N 92.91W
06/06/2008 JASPER IA LAW ENFORCEMENT
&&
MDR/BSSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
1257 AM CDT FRI JUN 06 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1213 AM TSTM WND DMG 7 SSW MILO 41.20N 93.49W
06/06/2008 WARREN IA EMERGENCY MNGR
SEVERE TREES DOWN WEST OF LIBERTY CENTER
&&
BMOYERThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
23 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
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, June 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: 105386, 105440, 105449, 105521, 105525, 105517, 105522, 105512, 105429, 105523, 105436, 105505, 105392, 105509, 105444, 105507, 105526, 105366, 105502, 105408, 105496, 105372, 105500.