Disasters of all kinds disrupt hundreds of thousands of lives every year. Each disaster has lasting effects, both to people and property. If a disaster occurs in your community, local government and disaster-relief organizations will try to help you, but need to be ready as well. Local responders may not be able to reach you …

A relatively quiet severe weather season was brought back to life yesterday with seven tornadoes being reported across the Southern Plains and lower Mississippi Valley regions. This brings the total tornadoes for March to eight, which comparatively speaking to the last three years, is very below average. 2015 as a whole has been quiet thus far with only …

Thunderstorms are a common occurrence each spring and summer across the Midwest and Iowa is not immune. Each year, Iowa sees hundreds of severe and non-severe thunderstorms. Thunderstorms can be extremely dangerous storms which may bring deadly tornadoes and lightning, damaging high winds, and hail and can lead to flash flooding. The National Weather Service …

The Storm Prediction Center has issued a Test Tornado Watch for Iowa and Nebraska through 11:00 AM as a part of Iowa Severe Weather Awareness Week. This is a good time to review your tornado precautions: Before the Storm: Know the county in which you live and the names of nearby cities. Have a NOAA Weather Radio …

A tornado is a rapidly rotating column of air in contact with the ground. A visible cloud is not needed for a tornado to be in progress. Some tornadoes may not appear to extend to the ground but are causing considerable damage. Tornadoes take on various shapes and sizes, and most produce winds less than …

A look at the radar this evening shows a large band of precipitation hovering over most of the state with a variety of precipitation types. A note that our P-typing algorithms are not completely correct as several area airports are reporting differently. Most of those in the southern half of the state should be to transition to …

We are currently tracking a large band of precipitation over the state that is dropping a wide range of precipitation from rain to freezing rain and to snow. It’s important to note that our radar system is having issues trying to differentiate between the precipitation types. No snow has been reported at airports consistently for the …

As we head into our second day of severe weather awareness week, today’s focus will be on Warning Reception. One of the most important precautions you can take to protect yourself and your family from severe weather is to remain weather aware. Being weather aware means you are informed of the weather forecast and alert …

In association with this week’s Severe Weather Awareness Week in Iowa, the Iowa Weather Network has teamed up with WeatherRadios.com to help you keep you and your family safe this severe weather season!  You can enter NOW to enter a drawing for one of two Weather Radios that were provided by WeatherRadios.com. There will be two …

With Severe Weather Awareness Week beginning today, each day we will be focusing on different topics. Today, our main focus is flash flooding. Each year, more deaths occur due to flooding than from any other thunderstorm related hazard, resulting in more than 140 fatalities each year. Most flash floods are caused by slow moving thunderstorms, …