A large low pressure system moved into the region and continued to deepen as it moved across Minnesota, becoming one of the most intense storms on record in the |Midwest on October 26-27, 2010. Very high gradient winds raked much of the Midwest with wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 DVN wrote it up.
A large low pressure system moved into the region and continued to deepen as it moved across Minnesota, becoming one of the most intense storms on record in the |Midwest on October 26-27, 2010. Very high gradient winds raked much of the Midwest with wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph. Iowa City and Dubuque reported wind gusts to 60 mph.
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 Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 27, 2:34 AM CST, 8 hours 1 minute earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 334 AM CDT WED OCT 27 2010 .SYNOPSIS... DEEP LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WAS STALLED ALONG THE MN/CANADA BORDER NEAR KINL AT 06Z. LARGE AREA OF STRONG CYCLONIC FLOW AROUND THE LOW EXTENDED WELL SOUTH INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS AND MID MS VALLEY THIS MORNING. WINDS ALONG THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF THE STRONGER CYCLONIC FLOW HAVE SUBSIDED OVERNIGHT DUE TO DECOUPLING UNDER CLEAR SKIES. HOWEVER...UNDER THE CLOUDS IN SRN MN AND ERN SD...WINDS WERE STILL SUSTAINED AT 30+KTS WITH GUSTS IN THE 40S. THE 00Z UA ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT THE SYSTEM WAS NEARLY VERTICALLY STACKED WITH THE UPPER LOW OVER THE MN ARROWHEAD. && .SHORT TERM...TODAY AND TONIGHT... HIGH WIND POTENTIAL WILL THE THE PRIMARY FOCUS AGAIN TODAY AS THE STORM SYSTEM REMAINS NEARLY STATIONARY THIS MORNING THEN STARTS TO LIFT NE THIS AFTERNOON. SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT WILL NOT BE AS STRONG OVER THE CWFA AS IT WAS TUESDAY...BUT WITH A COMBINATION OF SURFACE HEATING BEFORE THE CLOUDS MOVE IN AND INCREASING CAA ESPECIALLY IN THE NORTH TODAY WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO MIX OUT INTO THE 800-750 MB LAYER. THIS SHOULD TAP 50+KT WINDS BY LATE MORNING INTO THIS AFTERNOON. SO WHILE THE SUSTAINED WINDS MAY NOT GO MUCH ABOVE ADVISORY CRITERIA WE COULD SEE SOME GUSTS OVER 50KTS AGAIN TODAY. THE MOST LIKELY AREA FOR THE HIGHER GUSTS WILL BE ALONG AND NORTH OF HIGHWAY 30 SO A HIGH WIND WARNING WILL BE POSTED FOR THAT AREA. TO THE SOUTH A WIND ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED. PEAK GUSTS IN THE SOUTH SHOULD BE IN THE 40-50KT RANGE. THE WARNING/ADVISORY WILL RUN TO 7 PM. HAVE KEPT TEMPS ON THE MILD SIDE IN SOUTH TODAY WITH SUN MOST OF THE MORNING AND THE GOOD MIXING CONDITIONS WE SHOULD SEE LOW 60S. INCREASING CLOUDS AND CAA SHOULD LIMIT TEMPS IN THE NORTH TO THE LOW 50S. TONIGHT...WITH THE STORM PULLING AWAY FROM THE REGION...WINDS SHOULD SUBSIDE DURING THE EVENING. WRAP AROUND PCPN MAY MAKE IT FAR ENOUGH SOUTH TO CLIP THE NRN CWFA SO INCLUDED A LOW POP BETWEEN 00Z AND 06Z. THERMAL PROFILES SUGGEST 850MB TEMPS WILL BE COLD ENOUGH TO SUPPORT A FEW SNOWFLAKES. HOWEVER IN THE LOWER LEVELS TEMPS WILL REMAIN JUST ABOVE FREEZING. SO WITH FORCING EXPECTED TO BE WEAK WILL JUST MENTION -RA. COLD AIRMASS WILL SPREAD OVER THE CWFA OVERNIGHT WHICH SHOULD DROP MINS INTO THE LOW TO MID 30S. ..DLF.. .LONG TERM...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... AN ACTIVE FLOW REGIME ALOFT WILL TRANSLATE TO FREQUENT SYSTEMS THROUGH THE MID RANGE AND EXTENDED FORECAST. THURSDAY WILL BE MARKED BY SLOWLY RELAXING NORTH TO NORTHWEST WINDS AS THE LOW RACES OFF TO THE NORTHEAST AND THE SURFACE RIDGE SLOWLY ADVANCES. INITIAL FORECAST QUESTION IS HOW COLD IT WILL GET FRIDAY MORNING. CONTINUING COLD ADVECTION WILL BRING IN THE COLDEST AIR OF THE SEASON SO FAR. SURFACE RIDGE AXIS IS UNIVERSALLY PROGGED TO BE OVER THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT 12Z FRIDAY FOR NEARLY OPTIMUM RADIATIONAL COOLING. WITH MINS IN THE 20S ACROSS THE CWFA...SOUTHERN SECTIONS WILL SEE THEIR FIRST FREEZE OF THE SEASON FRIDAY MORNING. FRIDAY RETURN SWLY FLOW BEGINS...ALTHOUGH LOW LEVEL RIDGING OVER THE GULF COAST WILL KEEP THE GULF CUT OFF AND LIMIT MOISTURE IN ADVANCE OF THE NEXT SYSTEM THIS WEEKEND. STRONG SHORT WAVE PROGGED TO MOVE INTO THE FOUR CORNERS REGION HAS BEEN FAIRLY CONSISTENTLY DEPICTED BY THE ECMWF AND HAVE FAVORED THIS SOLUTION FOR THE SATURDAY/SUNDAY TIME FRAME. WARM FRONT LIFTS ACROSS THE AREA LATE SATURDAY AS THE SURFACE LOW DEEPENS AND BEGINS RACING ACROSS KANSAS. HAVE NUDGED HIGH TEMPS SATURDAY UPWARD DUE TO THE STRENGTH OF THE WAA IN ADVANCE OF THIS SYSTEM. WILL NEED TO WATCH SATURDAY NIGHT MINS IN LATER SHIFTS AS THEY MAY BE TOO COOL DEPENDING ON THE STRENGTH OF THE WARM FRONT. FOR SUNDAY INTO SUNDAY EVENING HAVE INTRODUCED LOW POPS...PRIMARILY DUE TO THE CONSISTENCY OF THE ECMWF IN DEPICTING THE STRENGTH OF THE UPPER WAVE. BECAUSE MOISTURE WILL BE LIMITED...ANY PRECIP AMOUNTS WOULD BE LIGHT BUT THE POTENTIAL IS WORTH MENTIONING AT THIS POINT. WILL FAVOR TEMPS ON THE COOL SIDE OF GUIDANCE AS THE AREA REMAINS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF CLOUDS AND NORTHEASTERLY LOW LEVEL FLOW. BEYOND THE WEEKEND...CONFIDENCE IN THESE PERIODS IS LOW...AND WILL BEAR CLOSE WATCH AS THE LONG WAVE PATTERN DEVELOPS A RIDGE OVER THE WESTERN CONUS. FOR NOW HAVE TRIMMED POPS BACK FOR MONDAY NIGHT AND KEPT THE REST OF THE FORECAST DRY AS THE ECMWF DROPS THE MAIN ENERGY INTO THE SOUTHERN STREAM. ..33.. && .AVIATION... STRONG WEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED AGAIN TODAY AT ALL TAF SITES. WINDS SHOULD INCREASE BY 15Z WITH GUSTS CLOSE TO 50KTS AT TIMES POSSIBLE AT KCID/KDBQ AND GUSTS OF 40-50KTS AT KMLI-KBRL. WINDS SHOULD DIMINISH TO AROUND 15 TO 20 KTS AROUND 00Z. OTHERWISE VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD. CIGS AROUND 4KFT WILL SPREAD S OVER ALL TAF SITES THIS MORNING AND EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. THE CLOUDS SHOULD REMAIN OVER THE AREA THROUGH MUCH OF THE NIGHT. ..DLF.. && .DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IA...HIGH WIND WARNING FROM 7 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR BENTON-BUCHANAN-CEDAR-CLINTON-DELAWARE-DUBUQUE- IOWA- JACKSON-JOHNSON-JONES-LINN. WIND ADVISORY FROM 7 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR DES MOINES-HENRY IA-JEFFERSON-KEOKUK-LEE-LOUISA- MUSCATINE-SCOTT- VAN BUREN-WASHINGTON. IL...HIGH WIND WARNING FROM 7 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR CARROLL-JO DAVIESS-STEPHENSON-WHITESIDE. WIND ADVISORY FROM 7 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR BUREAU-HANCOCK-HENDERSON-HENRY IL-MCDONOUGH-MERCER- PUTNAM-ROCK ISLAND-WARREN. MO...WIND ADVISORY FROM 7 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR CLARK-SCOTLAND. && DLF/33
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The AWOS site in Independence measured a 59 mph wind gust at 1035 am cst.
The ASOS site in Iowa City measured a 60 mph wind gust at 513 pm cst.
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, October 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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 262845, 262846.