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Heat Builds in the West; Extremely Critical Fire Weather in the Northwest

A heat wave over the Southwest will intensify this week, peaking and expanding into the Intermountain West and northern High Plains this weekend. Critical to extremely critical fire weather conditions are forecast from the Northwest and the northern Great Basin this weekend. Particularly Dangerous Situation Red Flag Warnings have been issued. Read More >

Overview

Extremely heavy rainfall, flash flooding, and major river flooding besieged northeastern and east central Iowa during the latter part of September of 2016. Many places saw rivers rise to levels not seen since the devastating floods of 2008. Numerous towns along the Shell Rock, Cedar, Wapsipinicon, and Winnebago rivers and their tributaries were inundated with flood waters. Flash flooding also befell areas under the heaviest rainfall as some places received over 5 to 10 inches in a few hours! Multiple storms tracked across the Ames area on the night of September 22 and led to flash flooding across the city. Finally, at least one tornado and areas of damaging winds and large hail battered northern Butler and southern Floyd counties on the evening of September 21.

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Total Rainfall Amounts across Iowa from September 21-25, 2016
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