Iowa is facing at least two more rounds of severe storms over the next two days, with the first wave expected to build Sunday evening and reach western Iowa around 8 p.m. Sunday before spreading across the state into Monday morning. Light rain should move out of the state through Sunday morning, but the calmer stretch is expected to be brief.
The biggest threat Sunday is in western Iowa, where forecasters have placed that part of the state under an enhanced level 3 of 5 risk for severe weather. Much of central Iowa, including Ames and Des Moines, is at level 2. Tornadoes are possible, especially in western Iowa, and much of the state could see damaging winds with gusts up to 75 mph. Large hail is also possible, with far northwestern Iowa at risk of baseball-sized hail.
Then comes the second round. More storms are likely Monday afternoon and evening, and another area stretching from southwest Iowa up to near Mason City is under an enhanced level 3 of 5 risk. The Des Moines metro has a 10-14% chance of a tornado on Monday, while far southwestern Iowa around Red Oak has a 15-29% chance. Damaging winds and baseball-sized hail remain possible across much of Iowa, and flooding is also on the table as much of the state sits in a slight risk for excessive rainfall.
The threat arrives after two stormy days that already brought heavy rain to parts of Iowa, hail up to 2 inches in diameter and a possible tornado near Gravity in southwest Iowa. By 8 a.m. Sunday, the Des Moines airport had recorded 0.16 inches of rain, while reports collected through the Iowa Environmental Mesonet and the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow network showed 0.24 inches in Clive, 0.18 inches in Windsor Heights, 0.13 inches in Ankeny and 0.23 inches in Ames.
That means the state is not starting from zero. Soils in some areas are already wet, and another round of storms Monday could turn a wind-and-hail event into a flooding problem as well. For Iowa, the next 48 hours are less about whether storms will form than how hard they hit when they do.
