Two tornadoes confirmed in Iowa Monday afternoon

Storm Clouds north of Ely on Monday. Unseasonably heat climate introduced tornadoes and hail to Jap Iowa. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)

A semitractor-trailer truck and a passenger car have been blown off the roadway close to mile marker 223 on Interstate 80 within the rural Williamsburg space round 2 p.m., when the twister touched down Monday. No accidents have been reported. (Iowa County Sheriff’s Workplace photograph)

Two tornadoes touched down in Iowa Monday afternoon. They have been the primary January tornadoes Iowa has seen in additional than 50 years, in line with the Nationwide Climate Service Quad Cities Workplace.

The primary twister touched down two miles northeast of Williamsburg at 2:01 p.m. and lasted till 2:09 p.m. It traveled northeast for 4.7 miles, with a peak wind pace of 90 mph.

It was rated a 1, or EF1, on the Enhanced Fujita scale. The twister prompted minor harm to a cattle shelter and tree harm at a farmstead west of Freeway 151. It additionally blew a semi-trailer over on Interstate 80, in line with NWS Meteorologist Tim Gross.

The second twister, noticed by a storm chaser, touched down solely briefly. It was noticed north of Ely, and didn’t trigger any observable harm, Gross stated. It was rated EFU as a result of its peak wind pace and path size and width are unknown.

The tornadoes have been brought on by a mix of things which can be uncommon for this time of yr, Gross stated. The skies began to clear within the early afternoon, inflicting the temperature to extend to round 50 levels Fahrenheit in some areas. There was a low strain system within the space on the similar time, inflicting elevated wind shear.

“All of those components got here into place on the actual time that we have been growing some very low-topped thunderstorms,” Gross stated. “It’s a very uncommon occasion. One thing that you simply don’t usually see, after all, in January.”

Along with the twister, there have been studies of hail in Jap Iowa, together with 1 inch in Homestead, and three/4 of an inch close to Shueyville. Quarter-inch hail was reported in Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, Lisbon and Manchester.

The final time Iowa noticed a twister in January was Jan. 24, 1967. A number of tornadoes, rated F2 and better, have been reported on that day throughout northern Missouri, Jap Iowa, northwest and central Illinois, in line with the NWS.

The Gazette reported {that a} 3-year-old, Bryon Swyter, was killed when a twister wrecked his mother and father’ residence in rural Fort Madison. His mother and father and 2-year-old brother, in addition to three different individuals have been injured within the storm.

Cedar Rapids was spared from the brunt of the 1967 storms, in line with The Gazette archives. The town skilled report excessive temperatures of just about 60 levels Fahrenheit, and noticed rain and hail.

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