Forecasters say there’s an elevated risk of severe weather late this afternoon and tonight for much of the state, especially western and central Iowa. Meteorologist Cory Martin, at the National Weather Service, says that includes the potential for large hail, high winds and tornadoes.
“After we had a break yesterday, it’s going to pick right back up today,” Martin says. “We’ll be looking at storms firing across eastern Nebraska into western Iowa here by mid-afternoon and they’ll be rolling across the state as we go through the evening hours.”
Last Friday’s storm system spun off at least 19 tornadoes in Iowa, including several large EF3s, but Martin does not anticipate a repeat today.
“Fortunately this time around, we’re not expecting a tornado outbreak like we saw last Friday, but that doesn’t mean you should let your guard down,” Martin says. “We’re still looking at storms capable of producing large hail, damaging winds. We may see hail exceeding two inches in diameter and maybe a few wind gusts exceeding 70 miles an hour.”
Much of the state remains in drought and Martin says the much-needed rain will likely continue through the rest of the week.
“It looks like the severe weather chance is going to diminish, but as we get into tomorrow afternoon and evening, we’re looking at more showers and storms developing and continuing through much of the day on Thursday,” Martin says, “and then we’ll be looking at chances for scattered storms sticking around with us through the weekend.”
The governor has signed disaster proclamations for nine counties following the weekend’s severe storms.
(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)