S. from the 21st through the 23rd of 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.
A strong weather system moved through the central U.S. from the 21st through the 23rd of the month. Strong convection formed north of a warm frontal boundary lifting north through the state. A cold front dropped southeast, producing severe weather on the 21st before it stalled out to the south of the state. As it lifted northward, deep moisture was transported into the upper Midwest as the remnants of a former eastern Pacific Hurricane was drawn north. The tropical moisture resulted in heavy rainfall over a large part of Iowa again on the 23rd, with some places in southern Minnesota receiving 6 to 10 inches of rain. The rainfall from Minnesota flowed down the Des Moines River and produced flooding as far south as Humboldt. The heavy rain that fell over Iowa during this event caused flooding farther south on the mainstem Des Moines, and on the South Fork Chariton River. The flooding caused some property damage and minor crop damage. Since much of the summer saw very elevated river levels, the flooding caused less damage than would be otherwise expected.
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 Sep 28, 9:48 PM CST, 56 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 1048 PM CDT TUE SEP 28 2010 ...UPDATED FOR 06Z AVIATION DISCUSSION... .SHORT TERM /TONIGHT/... QUIET WX TONIGHT AS HIGH PRESSURE SETTLES OVER OUR CWA. CLOUD COVER WILL CONTINUE DECREASING...TO CLEAR OR MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES BY 00Z. MAIN ISSUE WILL BE WINDS...AS THE HIGH PRESSURE BEGINS MOVING OFF TO OUR EAST EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING. WINDS WILL BECOME SOUTHERLY AS THE HIGH DEPARTS. MADE ONLY A FEW TWEAKS TO FORECAST LOWS TONIGHT. .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... LITTLE CHANGE FROM THINKING OF PREVIOUS SHIFTS REGARDING LONG TERM FORECAST. LARGE SCALE PATTERN WILL REMAIN LARGELY UNCHANGED WITH RIDGE BUILDING IN THE WEST AND LARGE TROUGH CARVED OUT IN THE EAST. A SHORTWAVE OVERTOPPING THE RIDGE TODAY WILL RIDE DOWN THE UPPER MIDWEST AND GREAT LAKES REGION TOMORROW...DRAGGING A REINFORCING COLD FRONT ACROSS OUR AREA WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. A FEW MODEL RUNS ARE ATTEMPTING TO SPIT OUT VERY LIGHT QPFS IN OUR NORTHEAST AS THE WAVE PASSES OVERHEAD...HOWEVER MOISTURE WILL BE VERY SHALLOW AND LIMITED AND POPS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE FORECAST AT THIS TIME. ANOTHER SERIES OF MORE SUBTLE SHORTWAVES WILL MOVE BY TO THE NORTHEAST BETWEEN FRIDAY AND SATURDAY...BRINGING A SIMILAR VERY SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN JUST TO OUR NORTHEAST AND A WEAK SURFACE TROUGH ACROSS THE CWA. BEHIND THIS SYSTEM A MUCH COLDER AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE FROM CANADA WILL BUILD RAPIDLY DOWN INTO OUR REGION...USHERING IN A VERY COOL WEEKEND ACROSS THE SERVICE AREA. SATURDAY NIGHT STILL LOOKS LIKE THE COLDEST NIGHT SO FAR THIS SEASON. ALTHOUGH THERE ARE SOME INDICATIONS OF POSSIBLE THIN CIRRUS ASSOCIATED WITH A SUBTLE UPPER ATMOSPHERIC WAVE...IT IS MORE LIKELY THAT SKIES WILL BE CLEAR WITH A VERY DRY AIRMASS IN PLACE AND WINDS GOING DEAD CALM WITHIN THE SURFACE RIDGE AXIS. AT THIS TIME IT IS DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE PRECISELY WHERE THIS RIDGE AXIS WILL LIE EARLY SUNDAY MORNING...BUT THE ENTIRE CWA WILL BE WITHIN LIGHT WINDS AND OUR NORTHERN AND EASTERN SECTIONS ARE MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE CALM CONDITIONS AND POTENTIALLY AREAS OF OR WIDESPREAD FROST. THIS SITUATION WILL CONTINUE TO BE MONITORED THROUGH THE WEEK. TOWARD THE VERY END OF THE FORECAST PERIOD...MONDAY INTO TUESDAY...DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE LONG RANGE MODELS INCREASE WITH REGARDS TO THE LARGE SCALE PATTERN AS A LONGWAVE TROUGH COMES IN FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. THE GFS HAD BEEN MOVING THIS TROUGH EASTWARD AND BREAKING DOWN THE RIDGE OVERHEAD...WHILE THE ECMWF HAD BEEN DIGGING THE TROUGH ALONG THE WEST COAST IN AN OMEGA BLOCK PATTERN. HOWEVER...THE NEW 12Z RUN OF THE ECM IS NOT MORE IN LINE WITH THE GFS INDICATING THE TROUGH APPROACHING OUR AREA AROUND TUESDAY OR WEDNESDAY OF THIS WEEK...JUST BEYOND THE END OF TODAYS LONG RANGE FORECAST PERIOD. && .AVIATION... 29/06Z...VFR CONDITIONS WILL REMAIN WIDESPREAD ACRS THE AVIATION AREA OF CONCERN FOR THE FORECAST PERIOD. THIS WILL BE INSPITE OF A COLD FRONT WHICH WILL MOVE THROUGH IOWA ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. WINDS ARE FORECAST TO BE LIGHT AND VARIABLE OVERNIGHT BUT INCREASE QUICKLY FROM THE SOUTHWEST AHEAD OF THE FRONT. A QUICK SWITCH TO NORTHWEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED BEHIND THE FRONT. NO PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED WITH THE BOUNDARY AS THE ATMOSPHERE REMAINS DRY. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && SHORT TERM...ZOGG LONG TERM...LEE AVIATION...COGIL
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 334 AM CDT TUE SEP 28 2010 IAZ004-015-024-290845- EMMET-PALO ALTO-HUMBOLDT- 334 AM CDT TUE SEP 28 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT RIVER FLOOD WARNINGS FOR MINOR TO MODERATE FLOODING REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR THE WEST FORK DES MOINES RIVER. PLEASE REFER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/DESMOINES FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. IAZ005>007-016-017-023-025>028-033>039-044>050-057>062-070>075- 081>086-092>097-290845- KOSSUTH-WINNEBAGO-WORTH-HANCOCK-CERRO GORDO-POCAHONTAS-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- 334 AM CDT TUE SEP 28 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
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, September 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: 254797.