A large wildfire occurred near Osceola in Clarke County. Over 100 acres were burned with one firefighter injured.
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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.
A large wildfire occurred near Osceola in Clarke County. Over 100 acres were burned with one firefighter injured. Areas burned included pasture, woodland areas, and corn crops. Fire departments were called from Warren, Clarke, and Madison Counties. Fire was caused by an unattended burn barrel.
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 Jul 22, 2:18 PM CST, 42 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 318 PM CDT SUN JUL 22 2012 .SHORT TERM /TONIGHT/... IOWA IS IN THE WARM SECTOR NOW AS SURFACE LOWS OVER SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA AND SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA HAVE CRANKED UP SURFACE WINDS FROM A HOT SOUTHWESTERLY DIRECTION. IT WILL BE A WARM NIGHT...ESPECIALLY OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF IOWA AS THE GRADIENT BECOMES MORE WESTERLY AND RELAXES A BIT. NORTHERN IOWA IS A LITTLE MORE TRICKY AS A WEAK BOUNDARY/COOL FRONT IS FORECAST TO SAG SOUTH OF THE MINNESOTA BORDER. THIS IN TURN IS DEPENDENT UPON HOW MUCH ELEVATED CONVECTION GETS GOING IN SOUTHERN MINNESOTA. LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING SEEMS LIKE BEST CHANCE FOR ISOLATED SHOWERS OR THUNDER...AS ANOTHER IN A CHAIN OF WEAK VORTICITY CENTERS MOVES EAST ACROSS SOUTHERN MINNESOTA. THIS COULD CONTINUE INTO OVERNIGHT IF MORE CONVECTION GETS GOING IN SOUTH DAKOTA AS WITH THE PREVIOUS TWO NIGHTS...BUT IT APPEARS...BUT OVERALL RIDGING ALOFT MAKES IT UNCERTAIN. THERMAL SUPPORT FROM 850 MB ON UP APPEARS WEAK AS WESTERLY FLOW AT ALL LEVELS WEAKENS WARM AND MOIST ADVECTION...SO HAVE INCLUDED CHANCES NORTH UNTIL MIDNIGHT AND THEN DROPPED THEM AFTER MIDNIGHT. .LONG TERM /MONDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES WERE MADE TO THE CURRENT FORECAST EXCEPT TO NUDGE HIGHS UP FOR MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. TOOK A CLOSE LOOK AT TEMPS AND ENDED UP TRIMMING THE EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING ACROSS THE NORTHEAST. TEMPS AT 925MB...850 AND 700MB ALL NOSE UP TO THE HIGHWAY 20 CORRIDOR THROUGH THE WARNING PERIOD BUT RIDGE RIDING SHORTWAVES CONTINUE TO KNOCK BACK TEMPS WEST OF I-35 AND MAINLY NORTH OF HIGHWAY 20. THE FURTHER EAST YOU GO THOUGH THE FURTHER SOUTH THE TEMPS DON/T QUITE MAKE IT. THE RESULT WAS DROPPING EASTERN COUNTIES FROM THE WARNING. I BELIEVE THAT OTHER HEAT PRODUCTS WILL PROBABLY BE NEEDED BUT GIVEN THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE EXPANSE OF CLOUD COVER AND CONVECTION FROM PASSING SHORTWAVES THIS IS BEST HANDLED ON A DAY TO DAY BASIS. IT DOES LOOK LIKE THE FRONTAL PASSAGE WILL COME LATER ON WEDNESDAY THAN WHAT I WAS THINKING YESTERDAY SO TEMPS FOR WEDNESDAY WERE RAISED AND PRECIP CHANCES WERE LOWERED IN THE MORNING AND RAISED IN THE AFTERNOON AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. TEMPS FOR LATE WEEK AND WEEKEND LOOK ON TRACK AND FINALLY MORE SEASONAL. THIS WILL BRING SOME RELIEF TO CENTRAL IOWA. IN ADDITION...THE EURO AND THE GFS BOTH HINT AT A SHORT WAVE COMING DOWN IN THE NORTHWEST FLOW SO THAT WOULD BRING SOME POTENTIAL FOR THUNDERSTORMS AND RAINFALL LATER ON SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT LINGERING INTO SUNDAY. && .AVIATION 22/18Z... VFR CONDITIONS THROUGHOUT SO ONLY QUESTION IS IF MORE MID-LEVEL SHOWERS WILL DEVELOP. THIS APPEARS SOMEWHAT LESS LIKELY THAN LAST TWO NIGHTS...AND WOULD ONLY AFFECT KFOD/KMCW/KALO IF AT ALL. FIRST SLIM CHANCE WOULD BE LATER THIS AFTERNOON WITH REDEVELOPMENT ACROSS NORTH IOWA...AND AGAIN 23/03Z-12Z AS MORE CONVECTION COULD MOVE IN FROM FARTHER WEST....ALTHOUGH MOST OF SECOND ROUND WOULD FAVOR MN RATHER THAN IA. NEITHER CHANCE APPEARS LIKELY TO DROP CEILING OR VISIBILITY TO MVFR. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING UNTIL 3 PM CDT WEDNESDAY FOR ADAIR-ADAMS- APPANOOSE-AUDUBON-BOONE-CALHOUN-CARROLL-CASS-CLARKE-CRAWFORD- DALLAS-DAVIS-DECATUR-GREENE-GUTHRIE-HAMILTON-JASPER-LUCAS- MADISON-MAHASKA-MARION-MONROE-POLK-RINGGOLD-SAC-STORY-TAYLOR- UNION-WAPELLO-WARREN-WAYNE-WEBSTER. && LONG TERM...FAB SHORT TERM...COGIL AVIATION...JUNGBLUTH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 335 PM CDT SUN JUL 22 2012 IAZ033>036-044>048-057>061-070>075-081>086-092>097-232045- SAC-CALHOUN-WEBSTER-HAMILTON-CRAWFORD-CARROLL-GREENE-BOONE-STORY- AUDUBON-GUTHRIE-DALLAS-POLK-JASPER-CASS-ADAIR-MADISON-WARREN-MARION- MAHASKA-ADAMS-UNION-CLARKE-LUCAS-MONROE-WAPELLO-TAYLOR-RINGGOLD- DECATUR-WAYNE-APPANOOSE-DAVIS- 335 PM CDT SUN JUL 22 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE AREA INTO WEDNESDAY. PLEASE SEE THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/DESMOINES FOR MORE INFORMATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE AREA INTO WEDNESDAY. PLEASE SEE THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/DESMOINES FOR MORE INFORMATION. THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL RETURN FROM LATE WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. AT THIS TIME THE THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-037>039-049-050-062-232045- EMMET-KOSSUTH-WINNEBAGO-WORTH-PALO ALTO-HANCOCK-CERRO GORDO- POCAHONTAS-HUMBOLDT-WRIGHT-FRANKLIN-BUTLER-BREMER-HARDIN-GRUNDY- BLACK HAWK-MARSHALL-TAMA-POWESHIEK- 335 PM CDT SUN JUL 22 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT ISOLATED SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE UNTIL MIDNIGHT...MAINLY NORTH OF HIGHWAY 20. TEMPERATURES AND THE HEAT INDEX WILL BE NEAR 100 INTO EARLY EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY HOT DAYTIME TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED AT TIMES BETWEEN LATE MONDAY AND FRIDAY. THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT IS MARGINAL...BUT A FEW STORMS COULD PRODUCE HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS MAINLY ON MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. JUNGBLUTH
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
One hundred plus acre wildfire in fields near Osceola.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, July 2012
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: 385053.