Heavy rain on the 25th across portions of northern and eastern Iowa led to river flooding along the Cedar River at Cedar Falls.
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The episode as NWS DMX wrote it up.
Heavy rain on the 25th across portions of northern and eastern Iowa led to river flooding along the Cedar River at Cedar Falls.
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 Aug 26, 5:43 AM CST, 3 hours 2 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Des Moines IA 643 AM CDT Fri Aug 26 2016 .SHORT TERM.../Today/ Issued at 342 AM CDT Fri Aug 26 2016 High pressure moving into northwest Iowa has brought cooler temperatures and lower dew points to that region with each dropping into the low to mid 50s. A broad area of cirrus shield continues to stream north as moisture transport is ongoing over the drier air below. A few patches of fog have begun to develop along the northern periphery of the cirrus including near Waterloo and Mason City and actually a few reports farther south under the high clouds. Potential for local reduced visibilities to one quarter mile due to the fog over the next several hours. A few showers and thunderstorms have develop over northern Missouri along ribbon of theta-e advection. CAMs being aggressive lifting precipitation into central Iowa this morning. The initial push north should be slowed by dry air as the area of high pressure slides east across northern Iowa. Proximity soundings at Des Moines show a moistening profile becoming saturated down to 8-10 kft toward noon then saturation lowering to around 5 kft by mid to late afternoon. May be a bit low on pops over the south this morning then precipitation should lift into the Interstate 80 to Highway 30 corridor mid to late afternoon. Clouds will again have an impact on high temperatures. .LONG TERM.../Tonight through Thursday/ Issued at 342 AM CDT Fri Aug 26 2016 For tonight...a broad ribbon of theta-e advection will lift from roughly the I-80 corridor Northward across the forecast area. Showers and thunderstorms should develop/spread Northward overnight tied to that and aided by some decent forcing. On Saturday a shortwave will sweep the Northern Plains and upper midwest and a warm front across Northern/Eastern Iowa will linger through mid afternoon. Showers/storms should be ongoing across much of central Iowa Saturday morning then be confined to the North and East later in the day. For Sunday in the wake of the passing shortwave we will be in broad Southwest flow with a surface low over the Northern Plains and a frontal boundary setting up across the Dakotas and Minnesota into Iowa by later in the day. Instability will increase later in the day with a chance for showers and storms in the afternoon into Sunday night. Then for Monday into Tuesday ridging will develop over the Rockies but as the ridge develops...a trough will set up over Eastern portions of the upper midwest with a frontal boundary somewhere across the region and models indicate some instability so there will be additional chances for showers and storms into Monday and Monday night. Tuesday into Thursday the aforementioned upper ridge pushes into the central plains then the upper midwest and this should warm us up going into mid to late week. Instability along the fringe of the ridge will mean at least some isolated storms across Northern/Eastern portions of the forecast area but models are pretty divergent by this point so I kept the slight chance/chance pops we had going in the longer term at this point. && .AVIATION.../For the 12Z TAFS through 12Z Saturday morning/ Issued at 643 AM CDT Fri Aug 26 2016 Localized fog possible in vicinity of KMCW/KALO early in the period. Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms this morning near KOTM possible near KDSM later this morning. Lowering cigs and increasing precipitation chances overnight. Potential for MVFR cigs this evening and a few locations with IFR after 06z. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && SHORT TERM...Donavon LONG TERM...FAB AVIATION...Donavon
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 421 AM CDT FRI AUG 26 2016 IAZ004>007-015>017-023>026-033>038-044>050-057>062-070>075- 081>086-092>097-271200- EMMET-KOSSUTH-WINNEBAGO-WORTH-PALO ALTO-HANCOCK-CERRO GORDO- POCAHONTAS-HUMBOLDT-WRIGHT-FRANKLIN-SAC-CALHOUN-WEBSTER-HAMILTON- HARDIN-GRUNDY-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- 421 AM CDT FRI AUG 26 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL SPREAD ACROSS THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE OUTLOOK AREA TODAY THEN EXPAND ACROSS ALL OF CENTRAL IOWA TONIGHT. SEVERE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED BUT STRONGER STORMS ACROSS THE SOUTH MAY PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE AREA SATURDAY. SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED. PERIODIC THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL CONTINUE INTO MID-WEEK. AT THIS TIME SEVERE WEATHER DOES NOT APPEAR LIKELY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. IAZ027-028-039-271200- BUTLER-BREMER-BLACK HAWK- 421 AM CDT FRI AUG 26 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL INCREASE OVER THE AREA THIS EVENING AND WILL BE LIKELY ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA OVERNIGHT. SEVERE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED. FLOOD WARNINGS REMAIN 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 WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE AREA SATURDAY. SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED. PERIODIC THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL CONTINUE INTO MID-WEEK. AT THIS TIME SEVERE WEATHER DOES NOT APPEAR LIKELY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. FAB
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The Cedar River at Cedar Falls crested at 91.46 feet on 27 August 2016 at 11:15 CST.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, August 2016
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: 649135.