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Nora Springs, IA Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes

 
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The chance of earthquake damage in Nora Springs is about the same as Iowa average and is much lower than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in Nora Springs is higher than Iowa average and is much higher than the national average.

Topics:Earthquake IndexVolcano IndexTornado IndexOther Weather Extremes EventsVolcanos NearbyHistorical Earthquake EventsHistorical Tornado Events

Earthquake Index, #492

Nora Springs, IA
0.00
Iowa
0.00
U.S.
1.81

The earthquake index value is calculated based on historical earthquake events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the earthquake level in a region. A higher earthquake index value means a higher chance of an earthquake.

Volcano Index, #1

Nora Springs, IA
0.0000
Iowa
0.0000
U.S.
0.0023

The volcano index value is calculated based on the currently known volcanoes using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the possibility of a region being affected by a possible volcano eruption. A higher volcano index value means a higher chance of being affected.

Tornado Index, #342

Nora Springs, IA
250.94
Iowa
236.74
U.S.
136.45

The tornado index value is calculated based on historical tornado events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the tornado level in a region. A higher tornado index value means a higher chance of tornado events.

Other Weather Extremes Events

A total of 3,247 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of Nora Springs, IA were recorded from 1950 to 2010. The following is a break down of these events:

TypeCountTypeCountTypeCountTypeCountTypeCount
Avalanche:0Blizzard:33Cold:29Dense Fog:4Drought:9
Dust Storm:0Flood:372Hail:1,188Heat:9Heavy Snow:40
High Surf:0Hurricane:0Ice Storm:19Landslide:0Strong Wind:66
Thunderstorm Winds:1,173Tropical Storm:0Wildfire:0Winter Storm:68Winter Weather:31
Other:206 

Volcanos Nearby

No volcano is found in or near Nora Springs, IA.

Historical Earthquake Events

No historical earthquake events that had recorded magnitudes of 3.5 or above found in or near Nora Springs, IA.

No historical earthquake events found in or near Nora Springs, IA.

Historical Tornado Events

A total of 99 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near Nora Springs, IA.

Distance (miles)DateMagnitudeStart Lat/LogEnd Lat/LogLengthWidthFatalitiesInjuriesProperty DamageCrop DamageAffected County
10.01980-05-29243°11'N / 93°12'W0.50 Mile30 Yards0025K0Cerro Gordo
11.71981-05-23243°16'N / 92°55'W43°18'N / 92°50'W3.80 Miles50 Yards00250K0Mitchell
13.01998-06-27242°59'N / 93°20'W43°04'N / 93°05'W12.50 Miles50 Yards00125K10KCerro Gordo
 Brief Description: Iowa was located in the warm sector of a developing storm system to the west. The warm front had moved to the northern Iowa border during the afternoon of the 27th with dew point temperatures in the mid 70s to around 80 blanketing the state in the warm sector. Initially, the airmass was capped, preventing thunderstorms from forming during the afternoon. Slightly cooler air moved in during the evening hours. In addition to the slightly cooler air moving in aloft, a cold front was poised over eastern Nebraska ready to move east into the state. Thunderstorms erupted rapidly by early evening with hail and high winds reported over northern Iowa. There were numerous reports of hail of an inch or larger in diameter, with a few reports of golf ball size hail. High winds were also a problem with many of the storms producing 60 to 70 MPH wind gusts. Reports of tree and power line damage were widespread. There were a few tornadoes as well. One tracked across open country in Cerro Gordo County before damaging a house south of Clear Lake. Another tornado touched down near Swaledale in Cerro Gordo County and passed southeast of Mason City. Much of the track was over open country, however one house was destroyed near Swaledale by this tornado. The longest track tornado moved across Butler and Bremer Counties. It also passed through open country, causing damage to crops and out buildings. In addition to these, there were a few brief touchdowns reported. Iowa soil remained very saturated with numerous rivers at or near flood stage. Heavy rainfall of near 4 inches in a couple hours time caused flash flooding in Cerro Gordo County. A widespread area of north central into northeast Iowa received heavy rainfall. Many areas picked up two to four inches of rain in a few hour period. This resulted in urban and small stream flooding, and ultimately general river flooding in the days that followed. As the storms moved through Worth County, lightning struck an outbuilding west of Kensett. The building was set on fire and destroyed.
14.21954-05-23243°17'N / 92°48'W000K0Mitchell
15.61967-04-30443°18'N / 93°10'W43°26'N / 92°58'W13.30 Miles400 Yards00250K0Worth
15.91964-08-27243°06'N / 92°42'W1.00 Mile77 Yards0025K0Floyd
16.41974-05-28343°20'N / 93°13'W43°22'N / 93°08'W3.80 Miles150 Yards032.5M0Worth
16.61968-05-15542°54'N / 92°53'W43°10'N / 92°33'W24.70 Miles600 Yards1345025.0M0Floyd
17.31966-06-11243°23'N / 92°54'W1.00 Mile250 Yards0025K0Mitchell
17.61967-04-30343°06'N / 93°25'W43°11'N / 93°18'W7.70 Miles250 Yards00250K0Cerro Gordo
17.81965-05-05443°17'N / 92°49'W43°23'N / 92°43'W8.20 Miles150 Yards0625K0Floyd
18.31971-07-12343°20'N / 93°02'W43°28'N / 92°47'W15.40 Miles833 Yards002.5M0Worth
19.71970-09-09242°54'N / 92°48'W42°56'N / 92°45'W1.90 Miles200 Yards0025K0Butler
19.81986-09-28243°09'N / 92°37'W0.20 Mile23 Yards02250K0Floyd
21.51968-05-15542°46'N / 93°07'W42°54'N / 92°53'W14.70 Miles600 Yards000K0Franklin
21.81998-06-27242°59'N / 93°26'W43°04'N / 93°23'W7.50 Miles50 Yards0050K2KCerro Gordo
 Brief Description: Iowa was located in the warm sector of a developing storm system to the west. The warm front had moved to the northern Iowa border during the afternoon of the 27th with dew point temperatures in the mid 70s to around 80 blanketing the state in the warm sector. Initially, the airmass was capped, preventing thunderstorms from forming during the afternoon. Slightly cooler air moved in during the evening hours. In addition to the slightly cooler air moving in aloft, a cold front was poised over eastern Nebraska ready to move east into the state. Thunderstorms erupted rapidly by early evening with hail and high winds reported over northern Iowa. There were numerous reports of hail of an inch or larger in diameter, with a few reports of golf ball size hail. High winds were also a problem with many of the storms producing 60 to 70 MPH wind gusts. Reports of tree and power line damage were widespread. There were a few tornadoes as well. One tracked across open country in Cerro Gordo County before damaging a house south of Clear Lake. Another tornado touched down near Swaledale in Cerro Gordo County and passed southeast of Mason City. Much of the track was over open country, however one house was destroyed near Swaledale by this tornado. The longest track tornado moved across Butler and Bremer Counties. It also passed through open country, causing damage to crops and out buildings. In addition to these, there were a few brief touchdowns reported. Iowa soil remained very saturated with numerous rivers at or near flood stage. Heavy rainfall of near 4 inches in a couple hours time caused flash flooding in Cerro Gordo County. A widespread area of north central into northeast Iowa received heavy rainfall. Many areas picked up two to four inches of rain in a few hour period. This resulted in urban and small stream flooding, and ultimately general river flooding in the days that followed. As the storms moved through Worth County, lightning struck an outbuilding west of Kensett. The building was set on fire and destroyed.
22.01967-04-30343°20'N / 93°12'W43°34'N / 93°04'W17.20 Miles800 Yards002.5M0Worth
22.11971-06-06242°52'N / 92°47'W42°54'N / 92°44'W1.30 Miles200 Yards01250K0Greene
23.51953-05-20342°33'N / 93°03'W43°12'N / 92°24'W55.60 Miles400 Yards000K0Hardin
23.71967-04-30443°27'N / 93°10'W43°30'N / 93°07'W3.00 Miles500 Yards012.5M0Worth
23.91964-08-29243°18'N / 93°26'W2.00 Miles100 Yards0025K0Worth
24.51953-05-10443°10'N / 93°30'W43°27'N / 93°23'W20.20 Miles33 Yards00250K0Cerro Gordo
25.01968-05-15543°10'N / 92°33'W43°13'N / 92°29'W4.10 Miles600 Yards000K0Chickasaw
25.11965-05-05443°23'N / 92°43'W43°23'N / 92°33'W7.90 Miles150 Yards0025K0Floyd
25.11961-09-01442°47'N / 93°00'W42°52'N / 92°33'W23.30 Miles27 Yards072.5M0Butler
25.21975-06-04242°51'N / 92°43'W0025K0Butler
25.21953-05-10443°04'N / 93°31'W43°10'N / 93°30'W6.40 Miles33 Yards03250K0Hancock
26.41964-08-29243°22'N / 93°27'W43°29'N / 93°17'W11.20 Miles150 Yards0025K0Worth
26.91973-09-26242°58'N / 93°29'W2.00 Miles100 Yards0025K0Cerro Gordo
27.41952-05-23242°45'N / 92°58'W000K0Butler
27.41967-04-30443°30'N / 93°07'W43°34'N / 93°07'W4.60 Miles33 Yards0025.0M0Freeborn
28.61959-05-10242°45'N / 93°20'W42°49'N / 93°14'W6.50 Miles300 Yards0025K0Franklin
30.31973-09-26243°01'N / 93°35'W1.00 Mile50 Yards0025K0Hancock
30.31971-07-12443°14'N / 92°27'W43°13'N / 92°23'W2.30 Miles1320 Yards042.5M0Howard
31.01999-08-09243°24'N / 93°31'W43°24'N / 93°31'W3.50 Miles40 Yards0050K5KWorth
 Brief Description: An unstable airmass was in place over Iowa during the afternoon and evening hours of the 9th. Satellite and sounding data suggested the atmosphere was capped at about 775 mb by a warm layer of air with temperatures as high as 18 C. or more. Thunderstorms had a hard time firing off. A cold front moved southeast into the state as rich low level air with dew point temperatures in the mid 70s preceded the front. While the front moved southeast, a speed max near 100 kts in strength moved into the north central U.S. This combined with an upper level short wave helped a few of the storms break the cap. The wind profile was favourable with a strong shearing environment. Thunderstorms moved into north central Iowa and became tornadic quickly. There was basically one cell that produced at least two tornadoes as it slipped southeast into Iowa. The first tornado touched down in Winnebago County near Scarville. The tornado moved southeast across the county and advanced into Worth County by a few miles. The tornado caused crop damage and some building damage along its path. The corner of a bank building was torn off in the town of Joice in Worth County for example. The same cell produced another brief tornado touchdown near Burchinal in Cerro Gordo County near the intersection of I-35 and County Highway B-43. No significant damage was reported with this tornado. As the large cell that produced the tornado moved on, the rear flank downdraft produced high winds once again in the Scarville area. Power lines were downed and a few buildings were damaged by the high winds in the town of Scarville. High winds also struck the airport in Mason City with a wind gust of 58 MPH.
31.41961-09-01442°52'N / 92°33'W42°53'N / 92°28'W3.30 Miles27 Yards002.5M0Bremer
31.41980-09-20243°26'N / 93°30'W43°27'N / 93°28'W002.5M0Worth
31.61993-08-09243°04'N / 92°27'W43°04'N / 92°20'W5.00 Miles55 Yards02500K50KChickasaw
31.81970-09-09242°51'N / 92°32'W42°53'N / 92°29'W2.30 Miles150 Yards0025K0Bremer
32.02004-06-11343°24'N / 92°33'W43°32'N / 92°33'W8.00 Miles150 Yards00190K30KHoward
 Brief Description: A small but intense supercell thunderstorm produced three tornadoes in northeast Iowa. The first tornado touched down about 4 miles southeast of New Haven (Mitchell County), south of 320th Street and between Walnut and Windfall Avenue. It tracked north, primarily in open fields, and lifted between 350th and 360th Street east of New Haven, or just west of Windfall Avenue. The tornado was rated an F1. The second tornado touched down just east of the Mitchell-Howard County line, about 4 miles south of Riceville (Howard County), and also moved straight north. It downed a few trees, but primarily crossed open fields until it reached the southeast side of Riceville. It damaged a few sheds and buildings in Riceville, with mainly tin roofing material and siding blown off. The tornado lifted in Riceville and was rated an F0. The third and most significant tornado formed about 2 miles north of Riceville, again just east of the Mitchell-Howard County line. The tornado tracked north, just east of the county line or Addison Avenue. It grew in strength and at one point was approximately 150 yards wide, hitting several homes and farms (F2 damage). One home lost the roof and all buildings. The tornado was so close to the county line that debris was thrown across Addison Avenue into Mitchell County at times. The dirt and young crops were scoured by the tornado. The tornado crossed into Minnesota just southwest of Le Roy (Mower County), hitting a home directly on the state line. The home, which was built in1900, and several buildings on the lot, were completely demolished (F3 damage).
32.21980-09-20243°19'N / 93°38'W43°26'N / 93°30'W10.20 Miles60 Yards002.5M0Winnebago
32.72001-05-01243°34'N / 93°17'W43°37'N / 93°10'W7.00 Miles440 Yards0020.0M0Freeborn
 Brief Description: Tornado first touched down on the western fringe of Glenville, and produced major damage, especially on the northwest side of Glenville. There were 25 homes that sustained major damage, and 70 with minor damage. Damage survey indicated F2 damage on northwest side of Glenville, with F1 damage along rest of path.
33.11968-05-15543°13'N / 92°29'W43°28'N / 92°20'W18.60 Miles600 Yards0123K0Howard
33.21994-07-07242°58'N / 92°29'W43°04'N / 92°16'W9.50 Miles100 Yards00500K5KChickasaw
33.71999-08-09243°28'N / 93°37'W43°23'N / 93°30'W8.00 Miles40 Yards00100K10KWinnebago
 Brief Description: An unstable airmass was in place over Iowa during the afternoon and evening hours of the 9th. Satellite and sounding data suggested the atmosphere was capped at about 775 mb by a warm layer of air with temperatures as high as 18 C. or more. Thunderstorms had a hard time firing off. A cold front moved southeast into the state as rich low level air with dew point temperatures in the mid 70s preceded the front. While the front moved southeast, a speed max near 100 kts in strength moved into the north central U.S. This combined with an upper level short wave helped a few of the storms break the cap. The wind profile was favourable with a strong shearing environment. Thunderstorms moved into north central Iowa and became tornadic quickly. There was basically one cell that produced at least two tornadoes as it slipped southeast into Iowa. The first tornado touched down in Winnebago County near Scarville. The tornado moved southeast across the county and advanced into Worth County by a few miles. The tornado caused crop damage and some building damage along its path. The corner of a bank building was torn off in the town of Joice in Worth County for example. The same cell produced another brief tornado touchdown near Burchinal in Cerro Gordo County near the intersection of I-35 and County Highway B-43. No significant damage was reported with this tornado. As the large cell that produced the tornado moved on, the rear flank downdraft produced high winds once again in the Scarville area. Power lines were downed and a few buildings were damaged by the high winds in the town of Scarville. High winds also struck the airport in Mason City with a wind gust of 58 MPH.
33.81995-07-27243°34'N / 92°44'W43°36'N / 92°41'W3.50 Miles40 Yards0005.0MMower
 Brief Description: A tornado touched down in Adams and moved northeast touching down several times. Several buildings were damaged or destroyed. Many trees uprooted. A church in Adams lost its steeple and bell tower.
34.51984-06-07243°38'N / 92°59'W43°39'N / 92°54'W5.00 Miles100 Yards072.5M0Mower
34.51994-07-19243°15'N / 92°26'W43°16'N / 92°15'W8.50 Miles40 Yards0050K5KHoward
34.72004-06-11343°30'N / 92°33'W43°33'N / 92°34'W4.00 Miles150 Yards003.0M20KMower
 Brief Description: A tornado crossed the Minnesota-Iowa state line just southwest of Le Roy (Mower County) causing considerable damage. One home right on the state line was completely destroyed, but there were no injuries or deaths. The tornado was approximately 150 yards wide at times and apparently reached F3 damage intensity right on the state line around 6:05 p.m. The tornado then started to weaken, but did heavy damage to a grain company (Koch Industries)(F2 damage) about 2 miles west of Le Roy and continued north, crossing Highway 56 just before 6:10 p.m. The tornado lifted approximately 4 miles northwest of Le Roy in open fields. There were also brief tornado touch downs (all rated F0) near Dexter (Mower County) and Le Roy, as well as areas along the Mower-Fillmore County line west of Spring Valley (Fillmore County).
34.81953-05-20343°12'N / 92°24'W43°26'N / 92°19'W16.50 Miles400 Yards000K0Chickasaw
35.41967-04-30243°38'N / 92°56'W43°40'N / 92°51'W3.80 Miles33 Yards0025.0M0Mower
35.51966-10-14542°48'N / 93°39'W42°55'N / 93°32'W9.70 Miles1000 Yards617225.0M0Wright
35.72001-05-01243°39'N / 93°08'W43°40'N / 93°03'W5.00 Miles250 Yards002.0M0Freeborn
 Brief Description: Shortly after the Glenville tornado dissipated, another tornado formed 4 miles southwest of Oakland and dissipated about 1/2 mile before it would have crossed Interstate 90, which law enforcement had barricaded. Major damage to 3 farmsteads, minor damage to 8 others per damage survey.
35.71982-05-17343°35'N / 93°17'W43°42'N / 93°08'W10.00 Miles100 Yards00250K0Freeborn
36.11961-08-04243°40'N / 92°57'W2.00 Miles600 Yards02250K0Mower
36.61977-07-16242°48'N / 92°29'W42°48'N / 92°26'W1.90 Miles20 Yards00250K0Bremer
36.72009-06-17243°43'N / 93°01'W43°38'N / 92°54'W10.00 Miles120 Yards002.0M30KMower
 Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A tornado caused damage on the north and northeast side of the city of Austin. Specific reports included minor tree damage, as well as debris blown into fences and bent poles on the northwest side of Austin. Several power poles were snapped off or bent along Highway 218 on the north side of the city. Several metal work buildings were heavily damaged along 243rd St, along with numerous trees and some minor roof damage to nearby homes. Large debris, such as metal dumpsters, were tossed large distances. There was straight-line wind damage noted south of the tornado path, or along Highway 218 and 4th St NW. Several homes had minor damage, with numerous trees blown over or sheared off along 236th and 237th Street directly north of downtown Austin. There was considerable damage done in Todd Park, including athletic equipment, small buildings and hundreds of trees toppled and uprooted. The north side of the park, including the northern softball fields had the most damage. There was also considerable tree damage along 21st St NE or 555th Ave, which continued into the Austin Country Club. Minor damage was noted about a half mile east of the Austin airport and about 2 miles southeast of the airport. One minor injury was reported when a man sustained scrapes and bruises when he took shelter in a shed that rolled over twice. EPISODE NARRATIVE: Severe thunderstorms were triggered along a warm front during the evening of June 17. One of the storms produced two known tornadoes, one that initially touched down near the Dodge and Mower County line, northwest of the city of Austin. The tornado then moved through far north sections of Austin to areas about 3 miles east of Austin. The worst tornado damage was considered EF2 about 3 miles north of downtown near the intersection of 243rd and 4th street northwest. The bulk of the remaining damage was considered EF0 and EF1. The tornado was on the ground from approximately 8:00 p.m. until 8:23 p.m. Path length was about 10 miles long and had a maximum width of 120 yards. Another small tornado touched down southeast of this track in open country in rural Mower County.
37.01965-05-05443°23'N / 92°33'W43°23'N / 92°09'W19.90 Miles200 Yards0525K0Howard
37.41990-08-02243°16'N / 93°49'W43°16'N / 93°39'W7.00 Miles63 Yards00250K0Winnebago
37.71967-04-30243°13'N / 93°48'W43°14'N / 93°42'W4.30 Miles300 Yards002.5M0Hancock
38.01998-06-27242°35'N / 92°56'W42°41'N / 92°32'W20.50 Miles75 Yards0010K2KButler
 Brief Description: Iowa was located in the warm sector of a developing storm system to the west. The warm front had moved to the northern Iowa border during the afternoon of the 27th with dew point temperatures in the mid 70s to around 80 blanketing the state in the warm sector. Initially, the airmass was capped, preventing thunderstorms from forming during the afternoon. Slightly cooler air moved in during the evening hours. In addition to the slightly cooler air moving in aloft, a cold front was poised over eastern Nebraska ready to move east into the state. Thunderstorms erupted rapidly by early evening with hail and high winds reported over northern Iowa. There were numerous reports of hail of an inch or larger in diameter, with a few reports of golf ball size hail. High winds were also a problem with many of the storms producing 60 to 70 MPH wind gusts. Reports of tree and power line damage were widespread. There were a few tornadoes as well. One tracked across open country in Cerro Gordo County before damaging a house south of Clear Lake. Another tornado touched down near Swaledale in Cerro Gordo County and passed southeast of Mason City. Much of the track was over open country, however one house was destroyed near Swaledale by this tornado. The longest track tornado moved across Butler and Bremer Counties. It also passed through open country, causing damage to crops and out buildings. In addition to these, there were a few brief touchdowns reported. Iowa soil remained very saturated with numerous rivers at or near flood stage. Heavy rainfall of near 4 inches in a couple hours time caused flash flooding in Cerro Gordo County. A widespread area of north central into northeast Iowa received heavy rainfall. Many areas picked up two to four inches of rain in a few hour period. This resulted in urban and small stream flooding, and ultimately general river flooding in the days that followed. As the storms moved through Worth County, lightning struck an outbuilding west of Kensett. The building was set on fire and destroyed.
38.22001-09-06242°42'N / 92°34'W42°47'N / 92°25'W10.00 Miles100 Yards00100K10KBremer
 Brief Description: Tornado moved in from Butler County and touched down again, mostly in open field. A car and garage was damaged in Bremer County. A strong upper level low pressure lifted northeast out of the southern Plains during the afternoon of the 6th. During the heating of the afternoon, thunderstorms erupted in the unstable air. The freezing level was around 15,000 feet, so hail was not a great threat. Surface dew point temperatures were in the upper 60s to low 70s with precipitable water values around 1.75 inches. Thunderstorms fired southwest of the Des Moines metropolitan area. A tornado touched down in rural Madison County. The tornado was about 60 feet wide and produced a half mile long path of damage in open country. As the storms moved northeast they continued to intensity. One cell dropped a tornado at the Glen Oaks Golf Course in West Des Moines, causing some minor damage there. The tornado tracked northeast and flipped a semi tractor-trailer truck in Interstate 35 resulting in one injury. It continued northeast and hit an apartment complex causing damage to the building and destroying an 8-car garage. The path was more intermittent as it continued northeast into the city. There were numerous reports of trees and power lines being downed. The tornado lifted as the event transitioned into a high wind event. The storms produced wind damage in Johnston as it moved through the area. High winds of 80 to 85 MPH occurred in northern Polk and southern Story Counties before they weakened. A grain bin was flattened, along with tree and crop damage, as the storm moved through the Elkhart area. Just northwest of that, in Slater, high winds took the roof off of a house in southern Story County. One person in the house was injured. The storms continued to track northeast, eventually dropping another tornado in Butler and Bremer Counties. The tornado had a somewhat intermittent track touching down south of Shell Rock and lifting northeast of Waverly. For the most part the tornado tracked through corn fields there. One farmstead was hit in Butler County. A grain bin was destroyed and blown one quarter of a mile across a field, another was blown off its foundation, a shed was destroyed, and crops were damaged. In Bremer County, one car and a garage were damaged along the tornadoes path. Another farmstead was hit north of Waverly. Part of a machine garage was destroyed and blown about 30 feet off of its foundation.
38.51953-05-10443°27'N / 92°24'W43°30'N / 92°23'W1.90 Miles33 Yards020K0Howard
38.51990-06-28342°38'N / 93°10'W42°33'N / 93°03'W7.00 Miles90 Yards002.5M0Franklin
39.11971-07-12443°13'N / 92°23'W43°05'N / 92°05'W17.50 Miles1320 Yards002.5M0Chickasaw
39.21956-07-17243°04'N / 92°16'W43°02'N / 92°13'W2.30 Miles200 Yards010K0Chickasaw
39.41971-05-31242°33'N / 93°02'W42°36'N / 92°57'W4.50 Miles300 Yards00250K0Hardin
40.11963-05-09243°13'N / 93°55'W43°17'N / 93°40'W13.10 Miles400 Yards00250K0Hancock
40.11951-06-25243°13'N / 93°48'W0.80 Mile500 Yards080K0Hancock
40.21998-06-27242°40'N / 92°34'W42°42'N / 92°29'W5.00 Miles75 Yards003K1KBremer
 Brief Description: Iowa was located in the warm sector of a developing storm system to the west. The warm front had moved to the northern Iowa border during the afternoon of the 27th with dew point temperatures in the mid 70s to around 80 blanketing the state in the warm sector. Initially, the airmass was capped, preventing thunderstorms from forming during the afternoon. Slightly cooler air moved in during the evening hours. In addition to the slightly cooler air moving in aloft, a cold front was poised over eastern Nebraska ready to move east into the state. Thunderstorms erupted rapidly by early evening with hail and high winds reported over northern Iowa. There were numerous reports of hail of an inch or larger in diameter, with a few reports of golf ball size hail. High winds were also a problem with many of the storms producing 60 to 70 MPH wind gusts. Reports of tree and power line damage were widespread. There were a few tornadoes as well. One tracked across open country in Cerro Gordo County before damaging a house south of Clear Lake. Another tornado touched down near Swaledale in Cerro Gordo County and passed southeast of Mason City. Much of the track was over open country, however one house was destroyed near Swaledale by this tornado. The longest track tornado moved across Butler and Bremer Counties. It also passed through open country, causing damage to crops and out buildings. In addition to these, there were a few brief touchdowns reported. Iowa soil remained very saturated with numerous rivers at or near flood stage. Heavy rainfall of near 4 inches in a couple hours time caused flash flooding in Cerro Gordo County. A widespread area of north central into northeast Iowa received heavy rainfall. Many areas picked up two to four inches of rain in a few hour period. This resulted in urban and small stream flooding, and ultimately general river flooding in the days that followed. As the storms moved through Worth County, lightning struck an outbuilding west of Kensett. The building was set on fire and destroyed.
40.71982-05-17243°13'N / 93°49'W43°15'N / 93°48'W2.00 Miles80 Yards00250K0Hancock
40.81984-06-07243°12'N / 93°49'W43°17'N / 93°48'W5.00 Miles127 Yards002.5M0Hancock
41.01982-05-17243°15'N / 93°48'W43°27'N / 93°45'W11.00 Miles80 Yards00250K0Winnebago
41.51999-07-02242°34'N / 92°53'W42°33'N / 92°47'W4.50 Miles35 Yards0025K1KButler
 Brief Description: A very active weather pattern was in place over the central U.S. A strong west-northwest wind flow was in place over the state. Meanwhile a warm front was lifting north from the southern Plains. The warm front separated the cooler and dry air to the north from very humid air to the south. Dew point temperatures in the air to the south of the front were in the mid 70s to low 80s. Precipitable water values were near 2 inches as well. A meso scale convective system formed over north central Nebraska and south central South Dakota during the previous night. The remains of this system drifted into west central Iowa during the predawn hours. One cell became severe during the morning. This was to be the pattern for much of the rest of the day as the cells that formed became super cellular, with each supercell lasting about 2 hours. By the early afternoon hours, surface based CAPE values were approaching 6000 J/kg just to the south of the thunderstorm genesis region. Once the storms formed they became supercells quickly. Very strong sheer was in place with strong southeast surface winds veering to westerly winds in the mid levels. Even though freezing levels were in excess of 15,000 feet, the storms were prolific hail producers. WSR-88D VIL values with many of the supercells exceeded 90 kg/m/m. There was also some high winds with the storms at times as many of the cells were rotating as was seen with WSR-88D imagery. The first high winds occurred early in the severe event as 64 MPH winds blasted into the Dow City area of Crawford County. Winds of 66 MPH were recorded at the Denison Municipal Airport as the storm moved through. Damage was reported in many areas of the county. During the day there were also other spotty reports of wind damage, however most of the were were in the 40 to 50 MPH range. A few other cells did produce severe criteria winds as they moved into the central and northeast counties of the state with wind damage reported in Hardin, Hamilton, and Boone Counties. These storms developed during the period of time the weather system was changing from a supercell type system into more of a multi-cell system. The main severe weather event of the day was the hail. Hail reports of one inch up to golf ball size were too numerous to mention. Some of the hail was larger than tennis balls. Baseball size hail fell in Guthrie County, into Adair and Dallas Counties as one of the cells advanced east-southeast. The largest hail actually fell east of Casey in Guthrie County. Softball size hail fell there, smashing windshields on numerous cars. Needless to say, crop damage was widespread from west central into central Iowa along the paths of the two to three supercells that moved through the area. Scattered crop damage occurred with the multi-cellular storms over central into northeast Iowa as well. An example of the damage caused by the hail came by way of a report from Crawford County. Reports indicated hail damaged 80,000 to 100,000 acres of crops with widespread damage. Roads and ditches sustained between $150,000 and $200,000 in damage. Tree removal in the county was #30,000, with $100,000 damage to homes and businesses in the county. By the early evening, the weather system had made a transition from severe weather to heavy rain. Intense rainfall occurred over northeast Iowa. Flash flooding was widespread over northern Grundy, southern Butler, southern Bremer, and most of Black Hawk Counties. A large swath of 6 to 8 inch rainfall occurred over the Beaver Creek basin, causing flash flooding in the area and an eventual flood of near record proportions. County officials reported the flooding as very serious with countless roads and highways under water. Cars were stranded and thousands of basements were flooded by the onslaught of heavy rain. One report indicated several head of cattle lost as they were drown by the flood waters in Grundy County. No doubt, this was not the only case of livestock loss due to the flooding. Another report from the Dewar area, east of Waterloo, indicated about a block of railroad was washed out. Damage there was reported to 33 houses, a car repair shop, and a tavern. Rainfall was in excess of three inches per hour in many areas. The heaviest rainfall officially was around 9 inches. Some unofficial reports in the Cedar Falls area included up to 9 inches of rainfall in a 90 minute period. The observer at Parkersburg picked up 6.55 inches of rain in under 3 hours. A bucket survey in the area showed rainfall of 11 to 14 inches at a few locations in Butler County. The heavy rain occurred as a series of storms formed and trained over the same areas. The complex of thunderstorms that developed was a back developing complex. Late in the life of the system, one of the storms became severe. This storm displayed a meso circulation on the WSR-88D in Johnston, IA, though it was not all that well formed. The storm was the last in the series of storms and layed down a path of damage. The swath was about 13 miles long, extending across southern Butler and northern Grundy Counties. The damage path looked to be more downburst in nature, though there were reports of a tornado imbedded in the flow pattern. The situation was not all that different from the meso cyclone/tornado system that moved through Boone, Dallas, and Polk Counties about a year earlier on 29 June 1998. The tornado caused damage to several farmsteads along the road. The worst hit was on farmstead where all of the farm buildings were destroyed and only the superstructure of the farmhouse remained. Debris was wrapped up in trees for many miles along the path. One other tornado did occur earlier in the day. The tornado came from one of the supercells over western Iowa. A relatively small tornado touched down in Audubon County west of Hamlin. There was little damage reported with this tornado.
41.71990-06-28342°33'N / 93°03'W42°32'N / 93°01'W2.00 Miles90 Yards002.5M0Hardin
41.82008-05-25242°33'N / 92°52'W42°33'N / 92°51'W1.00 Mile75 Yards00300K2KGrundy
 Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: This was the initial tornado touchdown point. The tornado continued on into Butler County. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A very intense upper low was located over the southwest U.S. and lifted northeast during the weekend of the 24th into the morning of the 26th. The seasons first strong push of deep moisture moved into Iowa on the 25th with surface temperatures warming into the mid 80s and dew points surging into the upper 60s to low 70s. Precipitable water values were near 1.5 inches. The dry slot pushed north across the area the previous night as the warm front lifted north. The primary surface low was located over northern Minnesota. A cold front extended south from the low into northwest Iowa. The airmass became very unstable by the mid afternoon hours. MUCAPE rose to between 4000 and 5000 J/kg. Lifted indices fell to -8 to -11 C. There was a considerable amount of both DCAPE at 1000-1500 J/kg and cape in the -10 to-30 C. layer of the atmoshpere, between 400 and 600 J/kg. The freezing level was around 13,200 feet. The environment was quite sheared with effective shear in the 40 to 50 kt range. LCL values were between 1000 and 1500 meters. The airmass was initially capped. During the late afternoon hours, a small cluster of thunderstorms formed over north central into northeast Iowa. The storms became severe very quickly. Initially, the storms dropped hail up to golf ball in size. One became a strong super cell and produced a major tornado. This cell, in addition to being tornadic, also produced hail of baseball to softball in size and winds in excess of 90 MPH. The tornado track was from approximately 2 miles south of Aplington to Parkersburg, then continued to New Hartford and across northern Black Hawk County. The average path width ranged from 0.6 to 0.7 miles near Parkersburg to just north of New Hartford. The path constricted to near one quarter mile wide east of New Hartford to north of Waterloo. The width then increased to near 1.2 miles wide north of Dunkerton before dissipating near the Black Hawk and Buchanan County line. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 43 miles. In addition to the main tornado, a satellite tornado was observed by storm chasers and one off duty NWS employee. It was located south of the main tornado and was on the ground for a little over a mile in Grundy County. Initial reports indicated 9 fatalities with 7 in Parkersburg (pop 1889) and 2 in New Hartford (pop 637). There were at least 50 injuries, with 4 of those in critical condition. Two of the fatalities occurred a few days after the tornado from injuries sustained in the tornado. The last fatality occurred on 7 Nov. A 61 year old female sustained injuries in the stairwell of her home when a 2 x 4 was thrown through her right side lung. She was hospitalized and died several months later of complications. Significant structural damage occurred across the southern end of Parkersburg and along a path to just north of New Hartford. Numerous structures completely destroyed from Parkersburg to near New Hartford. The tornado continued eastward to just north of the Waterloo and Cedar Falls area. Significant damage also occurred north of Dunkerton where the tornado increased to its greatest path width. This storm also produced substantial straight line wind damage along the southern periphery of the storm just south of the tornado track. News accounts indicated that a receipt from Parkersburg was found around 1915 CST 3 miles north of Prairie du Chien, WI, 109 miles to the northeast. Receipits were also found in Clayton County at Elkader, and full scrapbook pages and photos were found in far northeast Bremer County at Sumner. Preliminary estimates that straight line winds of 90 to 100 MPH occurred with this storm. At 1637 CST, the Waterloo Airport recorded a 93 MPH wind gust. Survey results suggest that straight line wind damage was the cause of the severe damage at the recreational vehicle dealership north of Cedar Falls. At least 627 homes were damaged, including 288 homes destroyed in Parkersburg, 88 in New Hartford, 15 in Hazelton and another 50 in Black Hawk County. In addition, 58 had major damage, 33 had moderate damage, 2 were inaccessible, and 93 damaged but able to be occupied. There were also 21 businesses destroyed. Governor Chet Culver declared both Butler and Black Hawk disaster areas with both given the State Declaration. A Federal Disaster Declaration occurred two days later for both Butler and Black Hawk Counties. The tornado was rated a low end EF5 by a Quick Response Team (QRT) in portions of Parkersburg and north of New Hartford with peak winds estimated at 205 MPH. For historical reference, the last F5 tornado to hit Iowa was on 13 June 1976 in Boone and Story Counties in the town of Jordan, with a 21 mile path length. The last F4 tornado to hit Iowa was in Union, Madison, and Dallas Counties with a 56 mile path length on 8 April 1999. There was one other smaller tornado during the evening. A tornado touched down in Clarke County and was on the ground for a short time southeast of Osceola. After the initial thunderstorm area developed over north central and northeast Iowa, a large complex developed over southeast Nebraska. The two areas of storms filled in to form a squall line by the mid evening hours. The complex over Nebraska then pushed east and northeast along the squall line. A considerable amount of severe weather was generated during the evening as this occurred. Along the squall line, high winds and hail were common with the dominant mode of severe weather being hail of up to golf ball in size. As the MCS out of Nebraska advanced east, a tail extending south from the centroid took on a bow echo configuration and raced east across Iowa at 65 MPH. Very high winds occurred with this feature with numerous locations reporting winds of 65 to 85 MPH. Some of the higher winds included an 85 MPH wind gust in the Winterset area and numerous reports of 75 to 85 MPH winds from Madison, Dallas, Warren and Polk Counties. Lightning struck a house in Ankeny. The house was set on fire by the strike.
42.11984-06-07243°17'N / 93°48'W43°28'N / 93°46'W13.00 Miles127 Yards002.5M0Winnebago
42.21967-04-30443°34'N / 93°26'W43°51'N / 93°14'W21.70 Miles100 Yards53525.0M0Freeborn
42.51980-09-20242°56'N / 94°00'W42°58'N / 93°37'W19.30 Miles33 Yards002.5M0Hancock
43.41999-07-02242°34'N / 92°49'W42°32'N / 92°39'W8.50 Miles50 Yards0075K3KGrundy
 Brief Description: A very active weather pattern was in place over the central U.S. A strong west-northwest wind flow was in place over the state. Meanwhile a warm front was lifting north from the southern Plains. The warm front separated the cooler and dry air to the north from very humid air to the south. Dew point temperatures in the air to the south of the front were in the mid 70s to low 80s. Precipitable water values were near 2 inches as well. A meso scale convective system formed over north central Nebraska and south central South Dakota during the previous night. The remains of this system drifted into west central Iowa during the predawn hours. One cell became severe during the morning. This was to be the pattern for much of the rest of the day as the cells that formed became super cellular, with each supercell lasting about 2 hours. By the early afternoon hours, surface based CAPE values were approaching 6000 J/kg just to the south of the thunderstorm genesis region. Once the storms formed they became supercells quickly. Very strong sheer was in place with strong southeast surface winds veering to westerly winds in the mid levels. Even though freezing levels were in excess of 15,000 feet, the storms were prolific hail producers. WSR-88D VIL values with many of the supercells exceeded 90 kg/m/m. There was also some high winds with the storms at times as many of the cells were rotating as was seen with WSR-88D imagery. The first high winds occurred early in the severe event as 64 MPH winds blasted into the Dow City area of Crawford County. Winds of 66 MPH were recorded at the Denison Municipal Airport as the storm moved through. Damage was reported in many areas of the county. During the day there were also other spotty reports of wind damage, however most of the were were in the 40 to 50 MPH range. A few other cells did produce severe criteria winds as they moved into the central and northeast counties of the state with wind damage reported in Hardin, Hamilton, and Boone Counties. These storms developed during the period of time the weather system was changing from a supercell type system into more of a multi-cell system. The main severe weather event of the day was the hail. Hail reports of one inch up to golf ball size were too numerous to mention. Some of the hail was larger than tennis balls. Baseball size hail fell in Guthrie County, into Adair and Dallas Counties as one of the cells advanced east-southeast. The largest hail actually fell east of Casey in Guthrie County. Softball size hail fell there, smashing windshields on numerous cars. Needless to say, crop damage was widespread from west central into central Iowa along the paths of the two to three supercells that moved through the area. Scattered crop damage occurred with the multi-cellular storms over central into northeast Iowa as well. An example of the damage caused by the hail came by way of a report from Crawford County. Reports indicated hail damaged 80,000 to 100,000 acres of crops with widespread damage. Roads and ditches sustained between $150,000 and $200,000 in damage. Tree removal in the county was #30,000, with $100,000 damage to homes and businesses in the county. By the early evening, the weather system had made a transition from severe weather to heavy rain. Intense rainfall occurred over northeast Iowa. Flash flooding was widespread over northern Grundy, southern Butler, southern Bremer, and most of Black Hawk Counties. A large swath of 6 to 8 inch rainfall occurred over the Beaver Creek basin, causing flash flooding in the area and an eventual flood of near record proportions. County officials reported the flooding as very serious with countless roads and highways under water. Cars were stranded and thousands of basements were flooded by the onslaught of heavy rain. One report indicated several head of cattle lost as they were drown by the flood waters in Grundy County. No doubt, this was not the only case of livestock loss due to the flooding. Another report from the Dewar area, east of Waterloo, indicated about a block of railroad was washed out. Damage there was reported to 33 houses, a car repair shop, and a tavern. Rainfall was in excess of three inches per hour in many areas. The heaviest rainfall officially was around 9 inches. Some unofficial reports in the Cedar Falls area included up to 9 inches of rainfall in a 90 minute period. The observer at Parkersburg picked up 6.55 inches of rain in under 3 hours. A bucket survey in the area showed rainfall of 11 to 14 inches at a few locations in Butler County. The heavy rain occurred as a series of storms formed and trained over the same areas. The complex of thunderstorms that developed was a back developing complex. Late in the life of the system, one of the storms became severe. This storm displayed a meso circulation on the WSR-88D in Johnston, IA, though it was not all that well formed. The storm was the last in the series of storms and layed down a path of damage. The swath was about 13 miles long, extending across southern Butler and northern Grundy Counties. The damage path looked to be more downburst in nature, though there were reports of a tornado imbedded in the flow pattern. The situation was not all that different from the meso cyclone/tornado system that moved through Boone, Dallas, and Polk Counties about a year earlier on 29 June 1998. The tornado caused damage to several farmsteads along the road. The worst hit was on farmstead where all of the farm buildings were destroyed and only the superstructure of the farmhouse remained. Debris was wrapped up in trees for many miles along the path. One other tornado did occur earlier in the day. The tornado came from one of the supercells over western Iowa. A relatively small tornado touched down in Audubon County west of Hamlin. There was little damage reported with this tornado.
43.42008-05-25542°33'N / 92°51'W42°34'N / 92°33'W16.00 Miles1235 Yards95075.0M75KButler
 Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: First EF5 tornado in Iowa since 13 June 1976. Nine deaths and 50 injuries occurred in Butler County. Tornado moved out of Butler County and continued in Black Hawk County. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A very intense upper low was located over the southwest U.S. and lifted northeast during the weekend of the 24th into the morning of the 26th. The seasons first strong push of deep moisture moved into Iowa on the 25th with surface temperatures warming into the mid 80s and dew points surging into the upper 60s to low 70s. Precipitable water values were near 1.5 inches. The dry slot pushed north across the area the previous night as the warm front lifted north. The primary surface low was located over northern Minnesota. A cold front extended south from the low into northwest Iowa. The airmass became very unstable by the mid afternoon hours. MUCAPE rose to between 4000 and 5000 J/kg. Lifted indices fell to -8 to -11 C. There was a considerable amount of both DCAPE at 1000-1500 J/kg and cape in the -10 to-30 C. layer of the atmoshpere, between 400 and 600 J/kg. The freezing level was around 13,200 feet. The environment was quite sheared with effective shear in the 40 to 50 kt range. LCL values were between 1000 and 1500 meters. The airmass was initially capped. During the late afternoon hours, a small cluster of thunderstorms formed over north central into northeast Iowa. The storms became severe very quickly. Initially, the storms dropped hail up to golf ball in size. One became a strong super cell and produced a major tornado. This cell, in addition to being tornadic, also produced hail of baseball to softball in size and winds in excess of 90 MPH. The tornado track was from approximately 2 miles south of Aplington to Parkersburg, then continued to New Hartford and across northern Black Hawk County. The average path width ranged from 0.6 to 0.7 miles near Parkersburg to just north of New Hartford. The path constricted to near one quarter mile wide east of New Hartford to north of Waterloo. The width then increased to near 1.2 miles wide north of Dunkerton before dissipating near the Black Hawk and Buchanan County line. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 43 miles. In addition to the main tornado, a satellite tornado was observed by storm chasers and one off duty NWS employee. It was located south of the main tornado and was on the ground for a little over a mile in Grundy County. Initial reports indicated 9 fatalities with 7 in Parkersburg (pop 1889) and 2 in New Hartford (pop 637). There were at least 50 injuries, with 4 of those in critical condition. Two of the fatalities occurred a few days after the tornado from injuries sustained in the tornado. The last fatality occurred on 7 Nov. A 61 year old female sustained injuries in the stairwell of her home when a 2 x 4 was thrown through her right side lung. She was hospitalized and died several months later of complications. Significant structural damage occurred across the southern end of Parkersburg and along a path to just north of New Hartford. Numerous structures completely destroyed from Parkersburg to near New Hartford. The tornado continued eastward to just north of the Waterloo and Cedar Falls area. Significant damage also occurred north of Dunkerton where the tornado increased to its greatest path width. This storm also produced substantial straight line wind damage along the southern periphery of the storm just south of the tornado track. News accounts indicated that a receipt from Parkersburg was found around 1915 CST 3 miles north of Prairie du Chien, WI, 109 miles to the northeast. Receipits were also found in Clayton County at Elkader, and full scrapbook pages and photos were found in far northeast Bremer County at Sumner. Preliminary estimates that straight line winds of 90 to 100 MPH occurred with this storm. At 1637 CST, the Waterloo Airport recorded a 93 MPH wind gust. Survey results suggest that straight line wind damage was the cause of the severe damage at the recreational vehicle dealership north of Cedar Falls. At least 627 homes were damaged, including 288 homes destroyed in Parkersburg, 88 in New Hartford, 15 in Hazelton and another 50 in Black Hawk County. In addition, 58 had major damage, 33 had moderate damage, 2 were inaccessible, and 93 damaged but able to be occupied. There were also 21 businesses destroyed. Governor Chet Culver declared both Butler and Black Hawk disaster areas with both given the State Declaration. A Federal Disaster Declaration occurred two days later for both Butler and Black Hawk Counties. The tornado was rated a low end EF5 by a Quick Response Team (QRT) in portions of Parkersburg and north of New Hartford with peak winds estimated at 205 MPH. For historical reference, the last F5 tornado to hit Iowa was on 13 June 1976 in Boone and Story Counties in the town of Jordan, with a 21 mile path length. The last F4 tornado to hit Iowa was in Union, Madison, and Dallas Counties with a 56 mile path length on 8 April 1999. There was one other smaller tornado during the evening. A tornado touched down in Clarke County and was on the ground for a short time southeast of Osceola. After the initial thunderstorm area developed over north central and northeast Iowa, a large complex developed over southeast Nebraska. The two areas of storms filled in to form a squall line by the mid evening hours. The complex over Nebraska then pushed east and northeast along the squall line. A considerable amount of severe weather was generated during the evening as this occurred. Along the squall line, high winds and hail were common with the dominant mode of severe weather being hail of up to golf ball in size. As the MCS out of Nebraska advanced east, a tail extending south from the centroid took on a bow echo configuration and raced east across Iowa at 65 MPH. Very high winds occurred with this feature with numerous locations reporting winds of 65 to 85 MPH. Some of the higher winds included an 85 MPH wind gust in the Winterset area and numerous reports of 75 to 85 MPH winds from Madison, Dallas, Warren and Polk Counties. Lightning struck a house in Ankeny. The house was set on fire by the strike.
43.52010-06-17243°30'N / 93°43'W43°31'N / 93°43'W1.00 Mile50 Yards000K0KFaribault
 Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A damage survey, plus photo and video evidence from storm chasers, showed that this tornado formed south-southwest of Kiester, near the intersection of 20th Street and 570th Avenue, then wrapped around another tornado (which developed about one mile west of Kiester) and dissipated. While southwest of Kiester, it did EF-2 damage to a couple farmsteads, including tree damage and destruction of several grain bins. EPISODE NARRATIVE: Several strong storms developed in west-central Minnesota during the mid afternoon hours of June 17th. These storms quickly become severe and produced softball size hail northwest of Alexandria and a tornado near Leaf Valley that became the EF-4 that moved through Wadena, Minnesota. By the late afternoon, numerous thunderstorms developed across southern Minnesota along the leading edge of extreme instability. Numerous funnel cloud reports and a few brief tornado touchdowns were noted prior to 5 pm, but once the low level shear (0-1 km) increased significantly from 15 knots, to over 35 knots, strong tornadoes developed along the Iowa border. These storms along the Iowa border produced a series of long-lived tornadoes near Albert Lea, Minnesota. Very large hail also accompanied some tornadoes along with flash flooding.
43.71965-05-05243°30'N / 92°36'W43°48'N / 92°22'W23.60 Miles33 Yards0025K0Mower
43.91953-05-10243°45'N / 93°12'W43°48'N / 93°04'W6.90 Miles67 Yards633K0Freeborn
44.11982-05-17343°42'N / 93°08'W43°51'N / 93°10'W10.00 Miles100 Yards00250K0Freeborn
44.22010-06-17243°31'N / 93°43'W43°33'N / 93°42'W3.00 Miles50 Yards000K0KFaribault
 Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A damage survey, plus photo and video evidence from chasers, showed this tornado developed just west of Kiester, moved north and struck the northwestern edge of Kiester, producing widespread tree damage and rated EF-1 at this point. It continued north as a multiple vortex tornado, doing EF-2 damage to a grove of trees. Farther north, several trees and grave stones were knocked over in a cemetery. It then turned and moved north-northeast before dissipating to the northeast of Kiester. It should be noted that another tornado which developed south-southwest of Kiester (see entry for 1710 to 1716 CST) wrapped around this tornado and dissipated west of Kiester. EPISODE NARRATIVE: Several strong storms developed in west-central Minnesota during the mid afternoon hours of June 17th. These storms quickly become severe and produced softball size hail northwest of Alexandria and a tornado near Leaf Valley that became the EF-4 that moved through Wadena, Minnesota. By the late afternoon, numerous thunderstorms developed across southern Minnesota along the leading edge of extreme instability. Numerous funnel cloud reports and a few brief tornado touchdowns were noted prior to 5 pm, but once the low level shear (0-1 km) increased significantly from 15 knots, to over 35 knots, strong tornadoes developed along the Iowa border. These storms along the Iowa border produced a series of long-lived tornadoes near Albert Lea, Minnesota. Very large hail also accompanied some tornadoes along with flash flooding.
44.41966-10-14243°39'N / 93°36'W43°39'N / 93°31'W2.70 Miles33 Yards013K0Freeborn
45.11968-05-15243°20'N / 92°11'W43°17'N / 92°06'W4.70 Miles250 Yards0025K0Howard
45.12010-06-17343°45'N / 93°14'W43°49'N / 93°10'W5.00 Miles600 Yards000K0KFreeborn
 Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: As the Lerdal tornado began to dissipate, it rotated around this new one west of Hollandale. This new EF-3 tornado went on to obliterate a farmstead, with virtually every outbuilding destroyed, and the farm house leveled. It continued northeast and took the roof off a house and destroyed a greenhouse. Just before dissipating, it hit one more farmstead near County Roads 30 and 35, causing damage to outbuildings, minor damage to the house, and uprooting and breaking a couple dozen trees. Video filmed by storm chaser. EPISODE NARRATIVE: Several strong storms developed in west-central Minnesota during the mid afternoon hours of June 17th. These storms quickly become severe and produced softball size hail northwest of Alexandria and a tornado near Leaf Valley that became the EF-4 that moved through Wadena, Minnesota. By the late afternoon, numerous thunderstorms developed across southern Minnesota along the leading edge of extreme instability. Numerous funnel cloud reports and a few brief tornado touchdowns were noted prior to 5 pm, but once the low level shear (0-1 km) increased significantly from 15 knots, to over 35 knots, strong tornadoes developed along the Iowa border. These storms along the Iowa border produced a series of long-lived tornadoes near Albert Lea, Minnesota. Very large hail also accompanied some tornadoes along with flash flooding.
45.81984-06-07243°19'N / 93°58'W43°27'N / 93°45'W13.00 Miles150 Yards002.5M0Winnebago
45.91973-09-26242°49'N / 93°48'W1.00 Mile100 Yards0025K0Wright
46.11952-07-27243°43'N / 93°29'W1.50 Miles133 Yards0425K0Freeborn
46.61984-06-07343°40'N / 93°21'W43°53'N / 93°20'W14.00 Miles100 Yards01225.0M0Freeborn
46.82010-06-17443°34'N / 93°38'W43°48'N / 93°31'W17.00 Miles1760 Yards1140K0KFreeborn
 Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: The tornado initially moved northeast to approximately 3.5 miles west of Conger, where at about (43.6156, -93.6015), it began to move more to the east-northeast. West of Armstrong, at about (43.6597, -93.4938), it began tracking nearly due north to just west of Manchester, where at about (43.7357, -93.4801), it began to move to the north-northwest, before dissipating 1.5 miles west of Hartland. Accounting for the changes in direction of this track, the actual path length covered by the tornado was 19.95 miles. Near 180th Street and County Road 2, a home was likely in the outer circulation of the tornado, as it sustained some roof and siding damage. A barn was also destroyed to its brick foundation and a car was also flipped over lengthwise. Some evidence of tree debarking was noted. The tornado continued to the northeast and caused extensive crop damage approximately 500 yards in width. Near County Roads 17 and 63, the tornado intensified to produce EF-3 damage, impacting a farmstead and causing the complete destruction of three swine barns and the loss of 12 head of swine. Two empty grain bins were completely blown away at this location. The house at this location had some roof damage but appeared to be northwest of the main tornado path. Approximately 100 feet northeast of the house, a 150 foot tripod style wind turbine tower was twisted and toppled. This location also marked the beginning of crops being completely raked, with only stalks of corn left, and soybean fields being almost unrecognizable. After passing through this farmstead the tornado took a more easterly path across County Road 63, and maintained EF-3 strength. After passing County Road 63, another farmstead was hit, and two empty harvester silos were toppled. The tornado continued to the northeast across County Road 4, where continued raking of the fields was noted with significant deposition of debris along the tornado path. Numerous trees were toppled at County Road 89 where it turns to the north. The tornado continued to the north-northeast, grew to 1000 yards, and around 1750 LST impacted a farmstead along County Road 12 two miles north of Conger, where EF-4 damage was observed. The house at this location was completely destroyed, as was the barn and several other buildings. Extensive tree damage was noted with nearly all branches being removed from the trunks. Debarking of trees was widespread at this location. A car was also tumbled a distance of 3200 feet, coming to rest in a field east of County Road 12. The tornado continued to the northeast across County Road 69 and County Road 46, where it weakened slightly to EF-3 intensity. As it crossed County Road 46, a house was rotated off the foundation. The tornado was approximately 700 yards wide at this point. To the north-northeast, a swine barn was destroyed with sheet metal being carried off to Interstate 90. At this same time, a satellite tornado developed and caused damage in the town of Armstrong (see separate entry). The main tornado continued to the north-northeast and was 500 yards in width. The tornado crossed County Road 74 and caused EF-2 damage to three farmsteads. One farmstead with a manufactured home was hit, resulting in one fatality and one severe injury. The tornado crossed Interstate 90 just west of County Road 14 as it grew to one third of a mile in width and re-strengthened to EF-3 intensity. Several farmsteads saw significant damage between Sugar Lake and County Road 14, with a house and two barns completely destroyed. From this point the tornado continued to the north, growing to one mile in width. Around 1800 LST, a house and barn were destroyed approximately one mile west of Manchester on County Road 25, where extensive tree and structural damage was also noted at several properties in the area. Additionally, west of this tornadic damage, a separate area of tree and structural damage was caused by strong thunderstorm winds associated with a rear flank downdraft (see separate entry). About one mile north, the tornado weakened slightly to EF-2 Intensity, where it damaged three full grain bins near County Road 29. The tornado was approximately 1300 yards at this point. Further north, at County Road 95, the tornado continued to weaken, although a farmstead still received EF-1 damage to trees and structures. Finally, the tornado continued north and began to narrow and weaken. It dissipated west of Hartland. One person was killed and 14 injured from this tornado. EPISODE NARRATIVE: Several strong storms developed in west-central Minnesota during the mid afternoon hours of June 17th. These storms quickly become severe and produced softball size hail northwest of Alexandria and a tornado near Leaf Valley that became the EF-4 that moved through Wadena, Minnesota. By the late afternoon, numerous thunderstorms developed across southern Minnesota along the leading edge of extreme instability. Numerous funnel cloud reports and a few brief tornado touchdowns were noted prior to 5 pm, but once the low level shear (0-1 km) increased significantly from 15 knots, to over 35 knots, strong tornadoes developed along the Iowa border. These storms along the Iowa border produced a series of long-lived tornadoes near Albert Lea, Minnesota. Very large hail also accompanied some tornadoes along with flash flooding.
47.02010-06-17343°42'N / 93°25'W43°51'N / 93°19'W11.00 Miles1320 Yards000K0KFreeborn
 Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: Touchdown was near the intersection of Freeborn County Roads 14 and 20. Multiple farmsteads experienced significant structural and tree damage, including one house completely destroyed and several others heavily damaged. Many outbuildings were destroyed, hundreds of trees uprooted and snapped, with some partially debarked. It then moved into Steele County, southwest of Ellendale, where it began moving to the north-northwest. EPISODE NARRATIVE: Several strong storms developed in west-central Minnesota during the mid afternoon hours of June 17th. These storms quickly become severe and produced softball size hail northwest of Alexandria and a tornado near Leaf Valley that became the EF-4 that moved through Wadena, Minnesota. By the late afternoon, numerous thunderstorms developed across southern Minnesota along the leading edge of extreme instability. Numerous funnel cloud reports and a few brief tornado touchdowns were noted prior to 5 pm, but once the low level shear (0-1 km) increased significantly from 15 knots, to over 35 knots, strong tornadoes developed along the Iowa border. These storms along the Iowa border produced a series of long-lived tornadoes near Albert Lea, Minnesota. Very large hail also accompanied some tornadoes along with flash flooding.
48.21965-05-05443°23'N / 92°09'W43°25'N / 92°05'W3.30 Miles200 Yards0025K0Howard
48.51966-04-19242°51'N / 92°07'W42°55'N / 92°07'W4.60 Miles250 Yards0025K0Bremer
49.81964-04-26242°36'N / 93°44'W42°39'N / 93°39'W4.70 Miles300 Yards0025K0Wright
50.01991-05-17242°35'N / 93°41'W42°37'N / 93°38'W2.50 Miles60 Yards0025K0Wright


* The information on this page is based on the global volcano database, the U.S. earthquake database of 1638-1985, and the U.S. Tornado and Weather Extremes database of 1950-2010.


 
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