Power Outage in Forest City, IA

Trees 12 inches in diameter down and power lines down. A few trees uprooted. Time estimated from radar.

KAAL-TV viewer shared picture of Casey's Gas Station overhang shelter blown over. Forest City AWOS was not providing reports at the time. Powerlines were also reported blown down across US 69 near Leland.

A weak tornado developed northeast of Forest City staying in rural areas. The tornado was captured on video from several different angles. While the condensation funnel did not extend to the ground for much of its path, video clear shows debris and dust being picked up by the surface circulation. The tornado snapped power transmission poles along with damage to crops as it remained over agricultural land for the duration of its path.

County dispatch reported multiple broken windows, power lines down, and trees downed in town. Time estimated from radar and this is a delayed report.

Several power lines down and tree limbs down throughout town.

Power poles were downed near Forest City.

Power lines were downed.

A cold front entered northwest Iowa during the early morning hours of the 2nd. The airmass was relatively unstable with CAPE in the 2000 to 3000 J/kg range and lifted indices of -5 to -8 C. A considerable amount of downdraft CAPE was available with values ranging from 1100 to 1500 J/kg. The atmosphere was moderately sheared with 30 to 45 kts of shear available. CAPE in the -10 to -30 C layer of the atmosphere was between 400 and 800 J/kg, however the freezing level of 16,500 feet limited hail growth in many of the storms. Precipitable water values were around 1.8 inches as a low level jet of 40 to 50 kts drew moisture northeast into the state. A large supercell developed over northwest Iowa. The storm tracked east across the northwest into the north central counties. It produced hail of 1.5 inches in diameter in Palo Alto County, and 61 MPH winds in Hancock County. As the storms moved into Worth County, strong winds downed tree branches and power lines with winds of around 60 MPH reported. There were numerous reports of 40 to 50 mph winds and pea to dime size hail along its track. The storm produced very strong winds east of Northwood in Worth County. High winds flattened corn crops and also bent the propeller tip of a wind generator.