National Weather Service Quad Cities is a National Weather Service 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
Operations for the Quad Cities office of the Weather Bureau began on May 24, 1871, as a weather service office on the third floor of the First National Bank building in Davenport, Iowa. Over the following years, the office changed location to the Masonic Temple on April 1, 1890, the second floor of the Post Office on November 3, 1896, the Union Bank building on September 4, 1931, and the third floor of the Post Office on September 26, 1933, before settling at the Moline Airport (later Quad Cities International Airport) in Moline, Illinois on October 1, 1936, where over the coming years it would move within the site of the airport.[3]
A WSR-74 radar unit was commissioned on August 30, 1977, which was dedicated September 13, 1977.[3] On October 27, 1993, construction on a new facility for a weather forecast office in the Quad Cities began near Davenport Municipal Airport, and the Quad Cities weather service office began the process of relocating back to Davenport, while formally accepting weather forecast office status. Part-time operations at the new office began in September 1994, and a WSR-88D radar was installed on November 2 of that year. Full-time operations at the forecast office began on February 20, 1995.[3]
Shortly thereafter, on March 1, 1995, the Quad Cities office's county warning area expanded from 12 to 34 counties – 21 in Iowa and 13 in Illinois. A full team of forecasting staff was achieved in October 1998, with the arrival of five new Senior Forecasters. On November 17, 1999, the weather forecast office in St. Louis, Missouri, 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.[3]
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 80 mph (130 km/h) across a large area of its county warning area, as well as gusts to 140 mph (230 km/h) 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] In 2024, the office issued their record highest amount of severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings, with 352 severe thunderstorm warnings issued and 66 tornado warnings issued during the spring and summer season.[6]
The forecast office itself has been affected by multiple storm events, including an F1 tornado that forced open the west entrance door and numerous windows while also moving furniture within the facility,[7] a 77 mph (124 km/h) wind gust that peeled part of the office's roof on August 20, 2003, and the aforementioned August 2020 derecho that caused the loss of utility power, which mandated the temporary use of backup generators in the meantime.[3]
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:[8]
