Scattered damage is reported across central and southern Iowa from last night’s severe weather, but no injuries. Meteorologist Karl Jungbluth, at the National Weather Service, says there were more than two-dozen tornado warnings issued and several funnel clouds were spotted.
“Iowa may’ve seen up to five tornadoes and those were from the Missouri Valley area out toward Omaha and the Creston area and Madison County,” Jungbluth says. “We have reports of damage out of Madison County near Winterset but other than that, it looks like it was pretty minor.”
In Madison County, he says a roof was blown off a house near the town of DeSoto and a farm outbuilding was wrecked near Winterset. There are reports of golf-ball sized hail and winds exceeding 60 miles an hour. Jungbluth says that storm system is well past Iowa now and the forecast has changed dramatically, now calling for wintery cold, not the warmth of spring.
“We’re done with that kind of weather for quite some time,” he says. “It’s going to be very chilly and windy, cloudy and dreary today with a couple of chances of snow later in the week and over the weekend.” While many parts of Iowa were in the 60s yesterday with the statewide high of 71 in Lamoni, high temperatures for the rest of the week will be in the 30s and 40s.