Temperatures were above normal during February with below normal precipitation. Severe to extreme drought persist across much of the area given these conditions during the month.
Every event with a place to put it; 44 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
Temperatures were above normal during February with below normal precipitation. Severe to extreme drought persist across much of the area given these conditions during the month.
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 Jan 31, 11:27 PM CST, 33 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Des Moines IA 1127 PM CST Wed Jan 31 2024 ...Updated for the 06z Aviation Discussion... .KEY MESSAGES... - More fog developing overnight into Thursday morning, mainly northern half of Iowa. - Low 20-30 percent rain chances in the west and southwest around Saturday, otherwise the forecast is dry. - Temperatures remain above normal through the next week and beyond. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 225 PM CST Wed Jan 31 2024 Skies have cleared nicely today, yielding to a sunny and unseasonably mild day with modest southwest breezes. Temperatures have risen into the low to mid 50s across the service area, including 52 this hour at Mason City which breaks their daily record, and 55 currently at Des Moines. Thus a January that began with mild and quiet weather will end the same way, despite being interrupted by a period of intense cold and heavy snowfall. Remarkable. A weak surface trough is sagging southward across Minnesota and will reach northern or central Iowa by tonight, where it will stall and wash out on Thursday. Meanwhile, we are melting off most of what is left of the old snow pack today and despite the sunshine and breezes dewpoint depressions are currently only 10-15 degrees in most areas. Also, current dewpoints are about 10-12 degrees above forecast low temperatures tonight, which always sets off alarm bells for fog potential. Indeed, with the high relative humidity in the near-surface layer, the boundary dropping in tonight and bringing light or calm winds beneath currently clear skies, and forecast soundings indicating a strong low-level inversion, we are facing a prime scenario for more fog formation tonight into Thursday morning, especially given that we already saw dense fog this morning. High- resolution model guidance also indicates formation of widespread dense fog almost unanimously, affecting largely the same areas that saw it this morning though there is some question as to how far south the threat will set up depending on the progress of the dying boundary. Have issued a Dense Fog Advisory from midnight through Thursday morning for most areas along and north of Highway 30, but some adjustment may be needed tonight based on short-term observational trends. On Thursday a large high pressure area will strengthen and build southeastward into the Great Lakes region, with the dry northeasterly flow out of the high spreading into Iowa where it will impinge on the old surface boundary. This should result in some clearing in northern Iowa, but in central and southern Iowa around the old boundary clouds will persist and fog might as well, even into the afternoon. If the flow out of the high is strong enough to push the boundary south of our area into northern Missouri then this will be less of a concern. From Thursday night into the weekend the old boundary will wash out as a large cyclone develops over the southern High Plains, held at bay by the Great Lakes high pressure center as the two systems push against each other. This will generate a swath of rain along the northern and eastern hemisphere of the Great Plains low, but the dry air pushing out of the Great Lakes should keep this rain southwest and west of our service area and we now have only low 20-30 POPs in our southwestern and western counties as a result. Initially, from Thursday night through Friday, the lingering low-level moisture around the old frontal boundary will likely keep skies mostly cloudy and there will be some remaining threat of fog redevelopment, however by Saturday and especially Sunday the Great Lakes high will really begin to exert itself and gradually clear things out. Other than the low initial POPs in the southwest and west, no rain is forecast for our area through the next seven days. Meanwhile, temperatures will remain remarkably steady, with daily highs from Thursday through the end of the forecast period ranging from the mid 40s to lower 50s. All in all it will be a quiet and mild week, excepting the initial clouds and fog over the next couple days. Looking into the way-out-there forecast, in the latter part of next week, long-range models show a general consensus in building a broad 500 mb trough over the western U.S., initially placing Iowa beneath southwesterly steering flow before the trough ejects eastward in several waves. This will likely keep temperatures relatively warm and bring a return of rain chances at some point around the end of next week. && .AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z FRIDAY/... Issued at 1126 PM CST Wed Jan 31 2024 Fog is beginning to develop and should fill in between 08-11z. Worst conditions along moisture convergence axis in southern MN and that should drift south into northern Iowa aft 08-09z. IFR/VLIFR cigs and IFR fog will mainly be confined to sites north of US 30 (MCW,FOD,ALO) while DSM and OTM fair better. Conditions still expected to improve aft 16z with a few spots lingering beyond 18z along Highway 20. /rev && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Dense Fog Advisory until 11 AM CST Thursday for IAZ004>007- 015>017-023>028-034>039-046>050. && DISCUSSION...Lee AVIATION...REV
Hazardous Weather Outlook...CORRECTED National Weather Service Des Moines IA 318 PM CST Wed Jan 31 2024 IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-034>039-046>050-011200- Emmet-Kossuth-Winnebago-Worth-Palo Alto-Hancock-Cerro Gordo- Pocahontas-Humboldt-Wright-Franklin-Butler-Bremer-Calhoun-Webster- Hamilton-Hardin-Grundy-Black Hawk-Greene-Boone-Story-Marshall- Tama- 318 PM CST Wed Jan 31 2024 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of northern Iowa. .DAY ONE...Tonight Dense fog is expected again overnight. A Dense Fog 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...Thursday through Tuesday Dense fog may linger into Thursday morning as well. A Dense Fog Advisory is in effect for the area through much of the morning. Please refer to the National Weather Service website at weather.gov/desmoines for further details. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters will not be needed. IAZ033-044-045-057>062-070>075-081>086-092>097-011200- Sac-Crawford-Carroll-Audubon-Guthrie-Dallas-Polk-Jasper-Poweshiek- Cass-Adair-Madison-Warren-Marion-Mahaska-Adams-Union-Clarke-Lucas- Monroe-Wapello-Taylor-Ringgold-Decatur-Wayne-Appanoose-Davis- 318 PM CST Wed Jan 31 2024 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of much of central and southern Iowa. .DAY ONE...Tonight Areas of fog are possible overnight. The fog may be dense at times. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday Fog may linger into Thursday, with patchy dense fog possible. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters will not be needed. Small
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
44 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across eastern Winnebago county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe to extreme drought conditions to persist across Worth county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe to extreme drought conditions to persist across Hancock county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe to extreme drought conditions to persist across Cerro Gordo county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across far eastern Humboldt county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe to extreme drought conditions to persist across Wright county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe to extreme drought conditions to persist across Franklin county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe to extreme drought conditions to persist across Butler county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed extreme drought conditions to persist across Butler county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across far southeast Sac county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across southern Calhoun county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across south and east Webster county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Hamilton county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Hardin county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe to extreme drought conditions to persist across Grundy county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed extreme drought conditions to persist across Grundy county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across the southeast half of Crawford county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Carroll county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Greene county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Boone county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Story county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Marshall county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe to extreme drought conditions to persist across Tama county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Audubon county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Guthrie county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Dallas county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Polk county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Jasper county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe to extreme drought conditions to persist across Poweshiek county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Cass county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Adair county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Madison county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Warren county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Marion county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Mahaska county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Adams county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across the north half of Union county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across much of Clarke county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across much of Lucas county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across much of Wapello county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across Monroe county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across northern Taylor county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across northern Appanoose county.
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation allowed severe drought conditions to persist across far northwest Davis county.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, February 2024
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: 1154461, 1154462, 1154463, 1154464, 1154465, 1154466, 1154467, 1154468, 1154469, 1154470, 1154471, 1154472, 1154473, 1154474, 1154475, 1154476, 1154477, 1154478, 1154479, 1154480, 1154481, 1154482, 1154483, 1154484, 1154485, 1154486, 1154487, 1154488, 1154489, 1154490, 1154491, 1154492, 1154493, 1154494, 1154495, 1154496, 1154497, 1154498, 1154499, 1154500, and more.