A dust devil touched down producing roof damage at a local greenhouse. Overall conditions in the area were benign with mostly cloudy skies, temperatures in the mid 50s and NNW winds at around 10 to 15 mph throughout the afternoon hours.
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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 dust devil touched down producing roof damage at a local greenhouse. Overall conditions in the area were benign with mostly cloudy skies, temperatures in the mid 50s and NNW winds at around 10 to 15 mph throughout the afternoon hours. A weak non-meteorological echo was caught on radar in the area of 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 May 16, 2:26 PM CST, 1 hour 12 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 326 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2014 .SYNOPSIS... ISSUED AT 316 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2014 HIGH PRESSURE FROM SOUTH SOUTH DAKOTA INTO ALABAMA WILL DRIFT EATS TONIGHT AND SATURDAY AS LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPS OVER THE ROCKIES. PATTERN SHIFT WILL TAKE PLACE AS NWLY FLOW GIVES WAY TO RIDGING ALOFT OVER THE CENTRAL U.S. && .SHORT TERM /TONIGHT/... ISSUED AT 316 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2014 WEAK HIGH PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH SOUTH ALONG TROUGH ACROSS IOWA BEHIND RETREATING LOW. LIGHT AND ISOLATED SHOWERS IN EASTERN CWA WILL QUICKLY PUSH EAST IN THE EARLY EVENING HOURS WITH CLOUDS ALSO DECREASING AFTER SUNSET. MAIN CONCERN THEN BECOMES OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURES. WITH LIGHT AND VARIABLE WINDS AND MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES WITH THE HIGH TO THE WEST...TEMPERATURES WILL DROP QUICKLY. HAVE LOWERED TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE CWA...GIVEN AMOUNT OF COOLING LAST NIGHT..WITH TEMPERATURES NEAR RECORD LOWS. HOWEVER...HAVE AGAIN KEPT TEMPERATURES AT OR ABOVE FREEZING...AS WEAK WAA DOES RETURN LATE...AND WINDS WILL NOT BE CALM. WILL ISSUE FROST ADVISORY FOR ENTIRE CWA FOR EARLY MORNING PERIOD. .LONG TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... ISSUED AT 316 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2014 COOL HIGH PRESSURE MOVES TO THE EAST OF IOWA BY SATURDAY NIGHT WITH THE FLOW TURNING SOUTHERLY IN THE LOW LEVELS. WARM FRONT DEVELOPING TO THE SOUTH OF IA WILL LIFT NORTH SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY WITH CONVECTION BEGINNING TO BREAK OUT NORTH OF THE FRONT LATER SUNDAY NIGHT. FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL SETTLE INTO IA BY TUESDAY NIGHT. THIS FRONT WILL BECOME STATIONARY IN THE AREA AND KEEP THE WEATHER ACTIVE WEATHER WITH MOISTURE POOLING ALONG THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY. MOS GUIDANCE MAY BE A BIT AGGRESSIVE WITH THE MAX TEMPS GIVEN THE AMOUNT OF CLOUDS AND WENT A LITTLE BELOW FOR THE MIDDLE PART OF THE WEEK. && .AVIATION...16/18Z ISSUED AT 1226 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2014 CONDITIONS WILL REMAIN VFR THROUGH PERIOD WITH LOW VFR CEILINGS THROUGH THE AFTERNOON WITH CU ACROSS CENTRAL IOWA. MAY SEE BRIEF SHRA AT EASTERN SITES...KMCW/KALO IN AFTERNOON. HIGH PRESSURE WILL PUSH SOUTH OVERNIGHT WITH WINDS BECOMING LIGHT AND VARIABLE. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FROST ADVISORY FROM 4 AM TO 7 AM CDT SATURDAY FOR ADAIR-ADAMS- APPANOOSE-AUDUBON-BLACK HAWK-BOONE-BREMER-BUTLER-CALHOUN-CARROLL- CASS-CERRO GORDO-CLARKE-CRAWFORD-DALLAS-DAVIS-DECATUR-EMMET- FRANKLIN-GREENE-GRUNDY-GUTHRIE-HAMILTON-HANCOCK-HARDIN-HUMBOLDT- JASPER-KOSSUTH-LUCAS-MADISON-MAHASKA-MARION-MARSHALL-MONROE-PALO ALTO-POCAHONTAS-POLK-POWESHIEK-RINGGOLD-SAC-STORY-TAMA-TAYLOR- UNION-WAPELLO-WARREN-WAYNE-WEBSTER-WINNEBAGO-WORTH-WRIGHT. && SYNOPSIS...MS MAY 14 SHORT TERM...AWB LONG TERM...MS MAY 14 AVIATION...AWB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 339 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2014 IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-033>039-044>050-057>062-070>075- 081>086-092>097-171100- EMMET-KOSSUTH-WINNEBAGO-WORTH-PALO ALTO-HANCOCK-CERRO GORDO- POCAHONTAS-HUMBOLDT-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- 339 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A FROST ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR THE AREA. PLEASE REFER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/DESMOINES FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THUNDERSTORM CHANCES RETURN LATE SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY AND AGAIN WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY. A FEW SEVERE STORMS MAY OCCUR DURING THIS PERIOD. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 dust devil. Local standard time, as filed.
Roof damage with broken panels was reported to 3 greenhouses with swirling wind/dirt reported in the area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, May 2014
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: 512024.