Power Outage in Indianola, IA

The tornado began in eastern Warren county east of Liberty Center. It tracked northeast for approximately 15 miles, ending in western Marion County just south of Pleasantville. Based on eyewitness accounts and video evidence, its likely this tornado was intermittent, and not a fully continuous path. This portions of the path is in Warren county with a separate entry for Marion county portion of the path. ||Damage along the tornado path occurred to several homes, outbuildings, and farm equipment. The most intense damage occurred to a home and garage which suffered significant damage to exterior walls and roofing structure. However, the home appeared to suffer a garage door failure and broken windows, which allowed the structure to pressurize and blow outward. Additionally, minor to moderate tree and shelter belt damage, along with several downed power poles occurred along the path.

In the 3300 block of Nixon St, a power pole was snapped and fell on a residential garage. A large tree was also damaged, breaking away a limb greater than 6 inches in diameter. Time estimated from radar.

Iowa DOT reports tree and power line damage along Highway 92. Time estimated from radar.

Public reported large trees down, damage to vehicles, and power lines down near Boston Ave in Indianola.

Weather station at Simpson College measured an 88 mph wind gust before power was lost during the storm.

Emergency manager reported a power line down and tree limbs down. This is a delayed report.

Trained spotter reported a downed power pole over Highway 92 blocking westbound traffic. Damage done by straight line winds and time estimated by radar.

Emergency manager reported wind gusts to 60 mph along with nickel sized hail. The city of Ackworth was also reported to have lost power.

Trees and power lines down. Winds estimated 60 to 70 MPH and blew for several minutes.

Trees and power lines were blown down on Highway 92. Extensive damage was also reported in town.

Tornado spotted by the Norwalk Fire Department, law enforcement, Warren County Emergency Manager, and trained spotters. Touched down near Norwalk, then tracked southeast into northeast Norwalk, then east-southeast of Norwalk. Damage was done to several buildings. One house had the roof taken off. Numerous trees and power lines were downed.

A cold front sagged south across the state during the previous night and became stationary east-west over far southern Iowa. The airmass became very unstable during the afternoon as temperatures soared into the low to mid 90s. Dew points pooled over southwest into west central Iowa and were in the upper 70s to low 80s across the area. This lead to CAPE values in excess of 7000 J/kg and a lifted index of -12 C. Needless to say, considerable moisture was available with precipitable water values in the 2 to 2.25 inch range. Thunderstorms developed over Nebraska and moved into Iowa during the afternoon. A strong bow echo developed and advanced east-southeast across the west central, then across the south west into the south central counties of the state. Some of the storms produced hail, but the hail was below severe levels. In spite of the available cape in the -10 to -30 C. layer of the atmosphere being in the 600 to 900 J/kg range, hail was suppressed once again by the high freezing levels. Freezing levels were between 14,500 and 15,000 feet. The LCL was a relatively low 750 to 1000 meters, however downdraft CAPE was very high, between 1200 and 1600 J/kg. Winds dominated the event as the storms advanced rapidly eastward in a shear environment of 40 to 50 kts. There were numerous reports of trees toppled and power line damage. Wind gusts of 60 to 70 MPH were common. Some of the higher gusts came from the Adair area. Mesonet sites reported wind gusts of 66 to 71 MPH in the area.

Moist and unstable air lifted north into Iowa during the day on the 3rd. Dew points 24 hours prior to the event ranged from the upper 20s to the low 50s across the state. During the night of the 2nd and day of the 3rd, dew point temperatures rose into the mid 60s to low 70s. Surface temperatures rose into the 80s to low 90s across the state. This produced CAPE values in the 2000 to 4000 J/kg across the state by the mid afternoon hours. A warm front inched into southern Iowa during the afternoon while at the same time a cold front was dropping southeast across the state from the northwest. A small area of high CAPE values over 5000 J/kg was present over south central Iowa. Thunderstorms erupted just south of the Des Moines metropolitan area by the mid afternoon hours. The cluster moved south during the afternoon and exited the state by evening. The severe weather event of the day was hail. Large hail developed within 10 to 15 minutes of the first echo. Numerous areas reported hail in excess of an inch in diameter, with several reports lager than golf ball in size. Hail 4 inches in diameter pounded the town of Truro in Madison County, causing extensive damage. Three inch diameter hail fell in Marion County in rural Otley. Extensive damage occurred in the town of Osceola with two and one half inch diameter hail falling there. There was little in the way of wind damage from the storms. A few reports were received, mainly toward the end of the event as the storms began to collapse. During the early part of the event, high winds south of New Virginia in Warren County toward Osceola in Clarke County caused damage in a two to three mile wide area. Trees were downed, several road signs were blown over, and some light structural damage was reported across the area. Late in the storms life cycle, 65 MPH winds were reported in Decatur City of Decatur County. A collapsing cell caused damage south of Kellerton in Ringgold County just before the storms moved out of the state. Trees and power lines were downed and a grain bin was blown 300 meters off of its foundation. During the 15 minute event, a motor home was rolled over by the high winds as well.