Quad Cities, IA/IL

Weather Forecast Office

Fall 2018 Flooding Overview

Widespread heavy rain fell from the end of August through early September, and also in October across the region.

Rainfall totals over 20 inches fell in just 3 months across much of eastern IA and northwest IL. This water fell across already saturated soils, and eventually found its way into area rivers and tributaries. This led to significant rises of river levels, and eventually moderate to major flooding. The Wapsipinicon, Rock, English, Skunk, Iowa, Cedar, Pecatonica and Mississippi Rivers were all affected.

Iowa-Cedar Flood Survey 09/12/18 - Courtesy Iowa Flood Center

Flooding
Radar
Rainfall
Environment
Additional

Flooding

The following graphs are for the entire period from September through October for area rivers. These graphs show the long length of time to which a river was in flood during Fall 2018.

Jump to River: Maquoketa Wapsipinicon Cedar Iowa English Skunk Des Moines Pecatonica Rock

Mississippi River


Dubuque LD 11	Dubuque Railroad Bridge	Fulton LD 13	Camanche


Le Claire LD 14	Rock Island LD 15	Illinois City LD 16	Muscatine


New Boston LD 17	Keithsburg	Gladstone LD 18	Burlington


Keokuk LD 19	Gregory Landing

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Maquoketa River


Maquoketa

Wapsipinicon River


Independence	Anamosa	De Witt

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Cedar River


Vinton	Cedar Rapids	Cedar Bluff	Conesville

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Iowa River


Marengo	Iowa City	Lone Tree	Columbus Junction


Wapello	Oakville

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English River


Kalona

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Skunk River


Sigourney	Augusta

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Des Moines River


St. Francisville

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Pecatonica River


Freeport

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Rock River


Como	Joslin	Moline

Radar

Aug 28 - Aug 29th, 2018	Aug 31 - Sep 9th, 2018	Early Morning Oct 10th, 2018

Interactive Radar Loop - Courtesy Iowa Environmental Mesonet	Interactive Radar Loop - Courtesy Iowa Environmental Mesonet	Interactive Radar Loop - Courtesy Iowa Environmental Mesonet

Rain Reports

Daily Maps

Figure 1: 24hr Precipitation Map Ending 9 am 8/6	Figure 2: 24hr Precipitation Map Ending 9 am 8/21	Figure 3: 24hr Precipitation Map Ending 9 am 8/29	Figure 4: 24hr Precipitation Map Ending 9 am 9/6

Figure 5: 24hr Precipitation Map Ending 9 am 10/2	Figure 6: 24hr Precipitation Map Ending 9 am 10/10

7-day Rainfall Maps

Figure 7: 7-day Rainfall Ending September 6th	Figure 8: 7-day Rainfall Ending October 11th

Monthly Maps

Figure 9: Observed August Precipitation	Figure 10: Observed September Precipitation	Figure 11: Observed October Precipitation	August-October 2018 Accumulated Precipitation

Environment

Soil Moisture


Figure 1: Soil Moisture Ranking Percentile for August 2018	Figure 2: Soil Moisture Ranking Percentile for September 2018	Figure 3: Soil Moisture Ranking Percentile for October 2018

Streamflow


Figure 4: Monthly Average Streamflow for August 2018	Figure 5: Monthly Average Streamflow for September 2018	Figure 6: Monthly Average Streamflow for October 2018

Local Summaries from WFO Quad Cities

August 5th, 2018 - Heavy rain, large hail, and damaging winds north of Highway 30
August 16th, 2018 - Heavy rain and brief tornado in southeast Jones county in Iowa
August 20th, 2018 - Heavy rain and brief tornado in northern Clinton county in Iowa
August 28th, 2018 - Heavy rain, widespread wind damage, and 1 brief tornado
Late August/early September - Several rounds of heavy rain produced major flooding on Iowa tributaries and mainstem Mississippi
October 1st, 2018 - Heavy rain north of highway 20 in Iowa.
October 5th-6th, 2018 - Heavy rains in eastern Iowa and northwest Illinois.

Summaries from other NWS Offices

La Crosse, WI - August 27-28 2018: Significant Flooding In Western WI
La Crosse, WI - Record Flooding on the Kickapoo River
La Crosse, WI - September 3-5, 2018 Flooding and Severe Weather
Milwaukee, WI - Late August Severe Weather and Flooding
Chicago, IL - Labor Day Weekend Rainfall

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