Melting of a heavy winter snowpack caused minor to moderate flooding of the Floyd River in northwest Iowa.
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 FSD wrote it up.
Melting of a heavy winter snowpack caused minor to moderate flooding of the Floyd River in northwest Iowa.
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 Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 13, 3:30 AM CST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR SOUTHEAST SD/SOUTHWEST MN/NORTHWEST IA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
330 AM CST SAT MAR 13 2010
.DISCUSSION...
THE UPPER LEVEL LOW WHICH HAS BEEN PLAGUING THE REGION OVER THE PAST
SEVERAL DAYS IS NOW PUSHING INTO THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY...THOUGH IT
HAS LEFT BEHIND ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE ACROSS OUR AREA...AND
WITH A PERSISTING NORTHEASTERLY LOW LEVEL FLOW IT LOOKS PRETTY MUCH
STATUS QUO THROUGH THE WEEKEND. WHAT THIS MEANS IN TERMS OF SENSIBLE
WEATHER IS A CONTINUATION OF LOW CLOUDS...AREAS OF FOG...AND
PERIODIC PATCHY DRIZZLE INTO AT LEAST SUNDAY NIGHT. WOULD NOT EXPECT
MUCH MORE THAN DRIZZLE THROUGH THE MAJORITY OF THE WEEKEND WITH
MOISTURE FAIRLY SHALLOW...GENERALLY BELOW 850 MB...THOUGH DID PUT IN
SOME SLIGHT CHANCE POPS FOR LATER TONIGHT INTO EARLY ON SUNDAY WITH
SLIGHTLY DEEPER MOISTURE PUSHING ACROSS THE CWA WITH MID LEVEL
WAA/ISENTROPIC LIFT. EVEN SO...DOUBT MOST PLACES WILL SEE MUCH IN
THE WAY OF MEASURABLE PRECIPITATION. WHILE THE AIRMASS WILL BE
SLOWLY MODERATING...THE CLOUDS WILL KEEP TEMPERATURES FROM RISING A
WHOLE LOT...WITH RELATIVELY SMALL DIURNAL RANGES. IN TERMS OF
NUMBERS...LOOKING AT HIGHS TODAY A DEGREE OR TWO EITHER SIDE OF
40...THEN INTO THE LOWER TO MID 40S ON SUNDAY...WITH LOWS IN THE
LOWER TO MID 30S.
MAY BEGIN TO SCOUR OUT SOME OF THE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE BY THE
BEGINNING OF NEXT WEEK AS THE NORTHEASTERLY LOW/MID LEVEL FLOW
TRANSITIONS TO A NORTHWESTERLY FLOW AS UPPER LEVEL RIDGING IN THE
WESTERN PART OF THE NATION ATTEMPTS TO PUSH EASTWARD. THE FLY IN THE
OINTMENT COULD BE ANOTHER SHORTWAVE THAT MODELS ARE HINTING AT
DROPPING INTO THE UPPER MIDWEST ON TUESDAY...WHICH MAY KEEP CLOUDS
OVER OUR AREA...THOUGH PRECIPITATION LOOKS TO BE LIMITED AT THIS
TIME WITH VERY DRY AIR IN THE MID LEVELS. TEMPERATURES FOR MONDAY
AND TUESDAY LOOK TO BE NEAR TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL WITH REGARD TO
HIGHS...GENERALLY IN THE LOWER TO MID 40S. WITH EXPECTED CLOUD
COVER...LOWS WILL REMAIN ABOVE NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR...IN THE
LOWER TO MID 30S. /JM
&&
.AVIATION...
IFR AND LIFR CIGS WL CONT THRU SATURDAY. VSBYS WL ALSO PREDOMINANTLY
BE IN THE MVFR/IFR RANGE. HOWEVER A NOTABLE EXCEPTION IS IN E
CENTRAL SD...SW MN...AND PARTS OF NW IA ESP AROUND THE IA GRTLKS
AREA. IN THESE LOCATIONS...LIFR VSBYS AND EVEN SOME VLIFR VSBYS WL
BE COMMON THRU THIS MORNING. TMPS SHUD RMN ABV FREEZING TO AVOID ANY
LIGHT ICING THREAT. /MJF
&&
.FSD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
IA...DENSE FOG ADVISORY UNTIL 9 AM CST THIS MORNING FOR IAZ002-003.
MN...DENSE FOG ADVISORY UNTIL 9 AM CST THIS MORNING FOR MNZ071-072-
080-081-089-090-097-098.
NE...NONE.
SD...DENSE FOG ADVISORY UNTIL 9 AM CST THIS MORNING FOR SDZ040-055-
056.
&&HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 0555 AM CST SAT MAR 13 2010 SDZ038>040-050-052>071-MNZ071-072-080-081-089-090-097-098- IAZ001>003-012>014-020>022-031-032-NEZ013-014-141200- AURORA-BEADLE-BON HOMME-BROOKINGS-BRULE-BUENA VISTA IA- CHARLES MIX-CHEROKEE IA-CLAY-CLAY IA-COTTONWOOD MN-DAKOTA NE- DAVISON-DICKINSON IA-DIXON NE-DOUGLAS-GREGORY-HANSON-HUTCHINSON- IDA IA-JACKSON MN-JERAULD-KINGSBURY-LAKE-LINCOLN-LINCOLN MN- LYON IA-LYON MN-MCCOOK-MINER-MINNEHAHA-MOODY-MURRAY MN-NOBLES MN- OBRIEN IA-OSCEOLA IA-PIPESTONE MN-PLYMOUTH IA-ROCK MN-SANBORN- SIOUX IA-TURNER-UNION-WOODBURY IA-YANKTON- 0555 AM CST SAT MAR 13 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA... SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...NORTHWEST IOWA...AND NORTHEAST NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT FLOODING... FLOODING CAN BE EXPECTED ALONG THE JAMES RIVER...VERMILLION RIVER...BIG SIOUX AND LITTLE SIOUX RIVER UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. FOG... WIDESPREAD DENSE FOG WILL PERSIST ACROSS SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST IOWA...AND SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA THROUGH MID MORNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY AND TONIGHT. && FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SIOUXFALLS. THIS INCLUDES THE GRAPHICAL HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Rapid melting of a heavy winter snowpack caused moderate flooding of the Floyd River. Farmland and other lowlands along the river were affected. The river crested at 4.8 fet above flood stage at Alton on March 15th.
Rapid melting of a heavy winter snowpack caused minor flooding of the Floyd River. Farmland and other lowlands along the river were affected. The river crested at 0.9 foot above flood stage at Le Mars on March 15th.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, March 2010
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: 222615, 222616.