Heavy rain led to minor river flooding on the Cedar River at Cedar Falls.
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The episode as NWS DMX wrote it up.
Heavy rain led to minor river flooding on 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 Mar 9, 5:16 AM CST, 1 hour 44 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Des Moines IA 516 AM CST Thu Mar 9 2017 .SHORT TERM.../Today through Tonight/ Issued at 355 AM CST Thu Mar 9 2017 Small area of light snow moving across the northern CWA early this morning, and should quickly move off to the south/east through sunrise. Expect little of no accumulation with a dusting at most. Cooler northeasterly flow in place today, with a stalled frontal boundary across the CWA. This to push south today as a cold front as energy drops south aloft. This will result in increasing cloudiness and temps remaining cooler across the north. Have values only slightly cooler across the south for today compared to Wednesday with warmer air in place aloft initially. Clearing to take place late tonight as an area of cooler Canadian high pressure builds into the CWA. This will send temps down below the seasonal averages with single digits across the far north to the low 20s across the south. Could also see breezy conditions behind the frontal boundary tonight with the sfc pres gradient increasing into the evening hours. It then relaxes some toward early Friday. .LONG TERM.../Friday through Wednesday/ Issued at 355 AM CST Thu Mar 9 2017 Winter returns for this weekend into next week. Overall trends the past 3 nights have been to knock temperatures down. Additionally, several rounds of light snow are appearing increasingly likely. Friday Night-Saturday Morning Snow... Confidence: Medium-High Magnitude of high slated to more or less stall through the weekend in SW Manitoba has increased to around 1050mb. The 00z Thu model suite has held onto the solution of pushing a very fast-moving impulse through the upper Midwest Friday night into Saturday morning. This impulse is now in the time range such that it can be seen ejecting off a low around 1000mi off the west coast. Hopefully the next run suite or two will now be able to even better resolve the magnitude and track of this impulse. 00z Thu NAM is a northern outlier, and have largely discounted it...leaning towards the 00z Thu GFS. Historically, there has been a tendency for models to over- forecast moisture/QPF when there is a strong high to our north and the region is socked in N/NE flow at the sfc, and it looks like this historical trend is starting to manifest itself. Therefore, have begun to trim off QPF/snow in our central to NE CWA. Band of best forcing remains over SW Iowa, with lift in the -12C to -18C layer hitting 20 microbar, concurrent with solid saturation and lapse rates nearing 7 C/km. With strong signal for snow with this forcing, have beefed up POPs to above 90 percent. Winds look to be in the 10 to 15 mph range, with Roebber snow ratios near 13:1. In combination, this could lead to hazardous impacts, and the next shift or two will be strongly considering issuing winter headline(s). For timing, biggest change likely needed in subsequent shifts will be to end the snow sooner as much of the best forcing may be in Missouri by 15z Sat. In fact, large-scale subsidence in place over much of Iowa by 18z Sat. Sunday Afternoon-Monday Snow... Confidence: Low Some similarities and some differences for the next snow potential across Iowa Sunday afternoon into Monday. Robust sfc high is progged to moderate to 1040mb as it propagates SE... crossing into North Dakota early Monday morning. In advance of this high, another impulse/sfc low looks to come off the Rockies around 18z Sun and push to the SE...possibly nearing KS/MO by 12z Monday. Going back to the 00z Tue run of the operational GFS, each subsequent run has been further and further south with the sfc low, and slowly amplifying the influence of the sfc high. As mentioned earlier, this seems like a very plausible trend based upon past events. Therefore, overall confidence is low for this Sunday-Monday event. Additionally, there is quite a spread amongst Ensemble/perturbation members. POPs and snow amounts may need to be (drastically) reduced in next few updates. Monday afternoon and beyond... Confidence: Low Interestingly, the 00z Thu GFS tries to race another compact shortwave across Iowa Monday evening/night. The 00z Thu ECMWF picks up on this feature as well...however is around 6 hours slower with it. Placement of this wave seems reasonable, as the base of an upper trough swings through the upper Midwest. This far out, a feature as compact as this one is, is highly subject to variability. As hinted at earlier, temperatures for the past three 00z suites have been on a markedly downward trend. Tough to get ahead of this trend, as we have not seemingly hit the bottom yet. Thus, there still may be another iteration tomorrow night of lowering temperatures 5 or so degrees. Outdoor vegetation that may have prematurely blossomed will not fare well as overnight temperatures will likely be below 28 degrees for the next seven nights, at least. && .AVIATION.../For the 12Z TAFS through 12Z Friday morning/ Issued at 516 AM CST Thu Mar 9 2017 Increasing clouds through the forecast period, with skies expected to clear behind a cold front late tonight. Northeast to easterly winds to shift around to the north/northwest tonight and become a bit gusty. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && SHORT TERM...Beerends LONG TERM...Kotenberg AVIATION...Beerends
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Des Moines IA 416 AM CST Thu Mar 9 2017 IAZ033-034-044>046-057>059-070>073-081>085-092>097-101030- Sac-Calhoun-Crawford-Carroll-Greene-Audubon-Guthrie-Dallas-Cass- Adair-Madison-Warren-Adams-Union-Clarke-Lucas-Monroe-Taylor- Ringgold-Decatur-Wayne-Appanoose-Davis- 416 AM CST Thu Mar 9 2017 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 There is a chance for accumulating snow Friday night through Saturday morning, and again on Sunday afternoon into Monday. At this time, snow accumulations may be in the 2 to 4 inch range for Saturday. Impacts may be snow covered and slippery roads and outdoor surfaces...leading to potentially hazardous travel. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed. Snowfall amounts on Saturday will be appreciated. IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-035>039-047>050-060>062-074-075-086- 101030- Emmet-Kossuth-Winnebago-Worth-Palo Alto-Hancock-Cerro Gordo- Pocahontas-Humboldt-Wright-Franklin-Butler-Bremer-Webster- Hamilton-Hardin-Grundy-Black Hawk-Boone-Story-Marshall-Tama-Polk- Jasper-Poweshiek-Marion-Mahaska-Wapello- 416 AM CST Thu Mar 9 2017 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 There is a chance for accumulating snow Friday night through Saturday morning, and again on Sunday afternoon into Monday. At this time, snow accumulations look to be less than 2 inches, with minimal impacts to travel. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed. Kotenberg
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 8:45 UTC on 10 March 2017 at 88.61 feet.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, March 2017
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: 691793.