Flooding that began as snow melt continued into April across northern Iowa along the west fork of the Des Moines River. Flooding was persistent, but relatively minor and caused little additional damage.
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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 DMX wrote it up.
Flooding that began as snow melt continued into April across northern Iowa along the west fork of the Des Moines River. Flooding was persistent, but relatively minor and caused little additional damage.
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 Mar 31, 11:00 PM CST, 1 hour earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 1200 AM CDT FRI APR 1 2011 .SHORT TERM /TONIGHT/... SHORTWAVE PUSHING EASTWARD ALONG PRONOUNCED RIDGE ACROSS AREA BROUGHT ONGOING PRECIPITATION ACROSS EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND NEBRASKA ALONG WITH EXTREME WESTERN IOWA. PRECIPITATION WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD ACROSS THE CWA FROM WEST TO EAST AS SHORTWAVE PUSHES EASTWARD. GOOD ISENTROPIC MOISTURE FOCUSES MOST PRECIPITATION ACROSS NORTHERN IOWA. MODELS HINTING AT AN ADDITIONAL SHOT OF LIFT ALIGNING WITH THIS MOISTURE...AND HAVE BUMPED POPS UP ACROSS THE NORTH. PRECIPITATION SHOULD FALL AS LIGHT RAIN...WITH TEMPERATURES ABOVE FREEZING. TEMPERATURES MUCH CLOSER TO FREEZING ACROSS THE NORTH AND EVAPORATIVE COOLING COULD ALLOW FOR A RAIN/SNOW MIX IN THE EXTREME NORTH AFTER MIDNIGHT. .LONG TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... SYSTEM WILL BE DEPARTING FRIDAY MORNING WITH SOME LIGHT LINGERING PCPN EARLY...HOWEVER MOST OF THE DAY WILL BE DRY ACRS CENTRAL IOWA. THE RELATIVELY QUIET WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO PERSIST INTO SATURDAY AS UPPER RIDGING BUILDS AHEAD OF DEVELOPING WESTERN TROF. SFC RIDGING WILL PASS ON SATURDAY EVENING WITH WAA INCREASING ON SATURDAY NIGHT ON BACKSIDE OF HIGH. THETA-E ADVECTION WILL ALSO INCREASE OVERNIGHT...MAINLY IN NORTHERN IA AND WILL SEE THE THREAT OF PCPN RISE QUICKLY PAST MIDNIGHT AS ISENTROPIC LIFT SATURATES THE COLUMN. HAVE RAISED POPS TO LIKELY IN THE NORTH LATE AND CONTINUED THEM INTO SUNDAY. AT THIS POINT...BEST MOISTURE ADVECTION WILL REMAIN IN NORTHERN IOWA BEFORE SHIFTING INTO MN AND WI BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON. HAVE RETAINED CHANCE POPS FARTHER SOUTH WITH SATURATED LOW LEVELS AND SOME LIGHT RAIN/DRZL POSSIBLE NORTH OF THE FRONT. ELEVATED MIXED LAYER MOVES OVER THE STATE BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON WHICH TENDS TO CAP OFF ANY CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL...AT LEAST ACCORDING TO THE GFS. HOWEVER...EURO IS MORE PROGRESSIVE THAN GFS HAVE CHOSEN TO CONTINUE THUNDER CHANCES DURING SUNDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING SHOULD THIS QUICKER SOLUTION MATERIALIZE. THE TIMING DIFFERENCES PERSIST THROUGH TUESDAY AS GFS REMAINS QUITE SLOW. OPERATIONAL GFS SEEMS A BIT SLOW OVERALL WITH GEFS A BIT FASTER BUT HAVE CONTINUE POPS INTO MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT ALTHOUGH AT CHANCE LEVELS. SOUNDINGS DONT BRING COOL ENOUGH AIR INTO STATE FOR A POTENTIAL OF SNOW UNTIL MONDAY EVENING AND HAVE LEFT OUT ANY SNOW WORDING THROUGH THEN. HAVE GENERALLY DRIED OUT THE FORECAST FOR LATER TUESDAY AND BEYOND WITH GRADUAL MODERATION IN TEMPERATURES. && .AVIATION...01/06 TROF OVR WRN IA WILL MOVE EAST OF THE STATE BY LATE TNGT WITH A BAND OF -RA ALNG AND AHD OF THE TROF. A BAND OF MVFR AND LCL IFR CIGS NEAR AND JUST BEHIND THE TROF WILL PERSIST THRU THE NIGHT...WITH CONDS IPVG RAPIDLY AFT SNRS. NERN IA WILL KEEP A LYR OF VFR CLOUDS THRU THE MRNG. GUSTY NWLY WINDS FROM LATE MRNG THRU THE AFTN ACROS THE TAF SITES WILL DIMINISH WITH SNST AND HI PRES BUILDING INTO THE AREA FRI EVE. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && SHORT TERM...MS APR 11 LONG TERM...CAC AVIATION...MS APR 11
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 403 AM CDT THU MAR 31 2011 IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-037>039-050-010915- EMMET-KOSSUTH-WINNEBAGO-WORTH-PALO ALTO-HANCOCK-CERRO GORDO- POCAHONTAS-HUMBOLDT-WRIGHT-FRANKLIN-BUTLER-BREMER-HARDIN-GRUNDY- BLACK HAWK-TAMA- 403 AM CDT THU MAR 31 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT MINOR TO MODERATE FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR EXPECTED ALONG STREAMS AND RIVERS IN NORTHERN IOWA. RIVER FLOOD WARNINGS ARE ALREADY IN EFFECT IN SOME AREAS. PLEASE REFER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/DESMOINES FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. IAZ033>036-044>049-057>062-070>075-081>086-092>097-010915- SAC-CALHOUN-WEBSTER-HAMILTON-CRAWFORD-CARROLL-GREENE-BOONE-STORY- MARSHALL-AUDUBON-GUTHRIE-DALLAS-POLK-JASPER-POWESHIEK-CASS-ADAIR- MADISON-WARREN-MARION-MAHASKA-ADAMS-UNION-CLARKE-LUCAS-MONROE- WAPELLO-TAYLOR-RINGGOLD-DECATUR-WAYNE-APPANOOSE-DAVIS- 403 AM CDT THU MAR 31 2011 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...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY ISOLATED TO SCATTERED NON-SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE SOUTH...MAINLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80 SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. FAB
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, April 2011
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: 289185, 289187, 289188.