National Weather Service Quad Cities, Iowa/Illinois Explained

Agency Name:National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office
Quad Cities
Picture Width:325px
Picture Caption:The counties in Iowa (21), Illinois (13), and Missouri (2), highlighted in white, served by the Quad Cities WFO
Jurisdiction:Federal Government of the United States
Headquarters:9040 N Harrison Street
Davenport Municipal Airport
Davenport, IA 52806-7326
Employees:19
Chief1 Position:Meteorologist in Charge
Chief2 Name:Rich Kinney
Chief2 Position:Warning Coordination Meteorologist
Agency Type:Meteorological
Parent Agency:National Weather Service

National Weather Service Quad Cities is a National Weather Service forecast office. weather forecast office based in Davenport, Iowa.[1] It is tasked with providing weather and emergency information to 21 counties in east-central and southeast Iowa, 13 counties in northwest and west-central Illinois, and two counties in extreme northeast Missouri.[2]

History

The Quad Cities Weather office was established on May 24, 1871, starting out on the third floor of the First National Bank building at Second and Main Streets in Davenport. The office would move around Davenport several times over the course of the next sixty-five years before relocating across the state line to the Moline airport (now known as Quad Cities International Airport) in October 1936.

In October 1993, construction on a new facility for the Quad Cities office began near Davenport Municipal Airport, and the Quad Cities NWS began the transition from Moline back to Davenport, a move that was completed by February 1995. The following month, the Quad Cities office's county warning area expanded to 34 counties – 21 in Iowa and 13 in Illinois. In November 1999, the St. Louis NWS office transferred responsibility for Clark and Scotland counties in extreme northeast Missouri to the Quad Cities weather office, bringing the total number of counties in the Quad Cities office's county warning area to its present number of 36.

In June 2017, the Quad Cities office moved into a new facility, also on the grounds of Davenport Municipal Airport.[3]

Significant events

National Weather Service Quad Cities has overseen many significant weather events since its foundation, including the August 2020 Midwest derecho, which brought powerful winds over 80mph across a large area of its county warning area, as well as gusts to 140mph to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.[4] The office earned an NWS Director's Award in 2024 for its work forecasting and issuing watches and warnings during the Tornado outbreak of March 31 – April 1, 2023.[5]

NOAA Weather Radio

The Quad Cities forecast office operates the following eleven NOAA Weather Radio transmitters to broadcast weather forecasts, watches, warnings, and other relevant emergency information to persons in its county warning area, as well as adjacent counties served by other NWS forecast offices:

Frequency (MHz) Service area of transmitter
162.475 MHz Cedar Rapids and Iowa City areas
162.450 MHz portions of northeast Iowa
162.400 MHz Dubuque area
162.400 MHz portions of southeast Iowa
162.450 MHz Freeport area
162.500 MHz portions of west-central Illinois
162.425 MHz extreme east-central Iowa
162.450 MHz extreme northeast Missouri, extreme southeast Iowa, extreme west-central Illinois
162.425 MHz portions of northwest Illinois
162.550 MHz Quad Cities metropolitan area
162.525 MHz Burlington area

References

  1. Web site: US Department of Commerce. NOAA. About the NWS Quad Cities Forecast Office. 2020-08-18. www.weather.gov. EN-US.
  2. Web site: US Department of Commerce. NOAA. Quad Cities, IA/IL. 2020-08-18. www.weather.gov. EN-US.
  3. Web site: About the NWS Quad Cities Forecast Office .
  4. Web site: Midwest Derecho - August 10, 2020, Updated: 10/8/20 12 pm . National Weather Service Quad Cities, IA/IL . 8 October 2020 .
  5. Web site: About the NWS Quad Cities Forecast Office .

External links