DES MOINES, Iowa — An area of rain and thunderstorms moved across western and central Iowa in the overnight with the bullseye of heaviest rain falling right along I-80 to the northeast mixmaster in the Des Moines Metro. This is a loop of the radar between 11 PM Monday through 2 AM Tuesday when a thunderstorm developed with heavy rainfall and not much movement.
Estimates in this area show a pocket of 4″ or more possible right over the northeast corner of the metro.
Due to the localized nature of the heavy rain in Saylor Township, much of this rain flowed into the Four Mile Creek basin. This led to a rise in water in the creek quickly to 9.61 ft as of 6:30 AM Tuesday, but river forecasts are expecting it to fall now and stay below flood stage (12.5 ft).
See more river gages here.
Here is a few measurements that came in from the Metro and around Central Iowa.
There were a few strong wind gusts. A wind gust of 72 mph was measured in Ankeny on a personal weather station at 12:25 AM. A few wind gusts around 60 mph were measured in southwest Iowa around 11:30 PM.
The next round of severe weather is expected in western Iowa on Thursday afternoon along a stalled boundary. A few isolated cells may move from Nebraska into far western and southwest Iowa during the afternoon and evening.
The threat for severe storms and heavy rainfall will slide east into Central Iowa with the front on Friday. Heavy rainfall and some localized flooding could become a problem on Friday.
For more details on the full forecast, visit our WHO Weather page here…