Weather Alerts For Cedar Rapids, IA
Special Weather Statement
-# HEADLINE -------------------- Gusty Winds This Morning # SUMMARY -------------------- Strong south to southeast winds may develop on the northern and western edge of a cluster of showers and thunderstorms tracking across southeast Iowa into west-central Illinois. Winds could gust between 40 to 50 mph at times through the mid to late morning. Unsecured outdoor objects may be blown around and the strongest gusts could bring down tree branches. # DETAILS -------------------- ISSUED AT Monday, May 18, 2026 at 6:24 AM CDT ISSUED BY National Weather Service Quad Cities IA IL HEADER Special Weather Statement # AREAS AFFECTED -------------------- Cedar, Mercer, Stephenson, Benton, Buchanan, Bureau, Carroll, Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque, Henry IL, Iowa, Jackson, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Jones, Keokuk, Linn, Louisa, Muscatine, Putnam, Rock Island, Scott, Washington, Whiteside Including the cities of Independence, Manchester, Dubuque, Vinton, Cedar Rapids, Anamosa, Maquoketa, Marengo, Iowa City, Tipton, Clinton, Muscatine, Davenport, Bettendorf, Sigourney, Washington, Wapello, Galena, Freeport, Mount Carroll, Sterling, Moline, Rock Island, Geneseo, Princeton, Hennepin, and Aledo
Lightning Alert
-Closest strike: 24.41 miles Monitor Storms You are not at immediate risk, but frequently check WeatherBug to see if storms are moving towards you. Be aware that new storms can also form with little notice.
Severe Storm Risk
-There is a Slight Severe Storm Risk for your location. Continue reading for today's outlook from the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. -------------------- National Severe Storm Outlook THERE IS AN ENHANCED RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS/MIDDLE MISSOURI VALLEY SUMMARY Severe thunderstorms will continue tonight especially across Kansas into far eastern Nebraska and Iowa, northwest Missouri and southern Minnesota. This includes an increasing evening-time potential for damaging winds aside from continued tornado and large hail risks regionally. Central/southern Plains to Upper Midwest General regional trends will be for ongoing storms to continue to grow upscale with increasing damaging wind potential this evening. However, tornado potential (including a few strong) will continue with embedded/semi-discrete supercells this evening, including near the southern Minnesota warm frontal vicinity, and farther south-southwest across far eastern Nebraska/western Iowa and northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri, and perhaps with southern peripheral development near the dryline across southern Kansas. Scenario is supported by a moist/unstable air mass, along with dramatically strengthening south-southwesterly winds in the lowest 2-3 km AGL, a trend already noted in regional WSR-88D VWP data as supplemental to 00z observed soundings from Omaha/Topeka/Norman and Springfield, Missouri.