Power Outage in Sioux Center, IA

Six to nine inch diameter tree limbs taken down with power outages in Rock Valley. Property damage costs are rough estimates.

Three power poles blown over and power lines down.

Ice accumulated to one-quarter to one-third inch, mainly across the northern half of the county, and mainly from late evening on April 10 through early morning April 11. As winds increased early April 11 with gusts reaching 45 to 50 mph at times, power poles and transmission lines bore the brunt of the worst conditions. Twenty power transmission poles were snapped between Sioux Center and Orange City due to the weight of the ice accumulation and stress of the high winds. Property damage costs include damage to utilities.

Scattered trees and power lines down across the entire town.

Hazardous travel conditions producing several minor accidents resulted from a period of light freezing rain which brought ice accumulations up to two tenths of an inch. Light snowfall followed with less than an inch accumulation. Several power outages were reported around the Sioux City metro area.

Freezing rain of one to two tenths of an inch caused icy roads, and accumulated on trees, power lines, and other surfaces. Sioux Center reported 0.20 inch of rain during a time when temperatures were at or below freezing. Law enforcement agencies reported a few vehicles accidents on the ice, but no known injuries, with traffic being light because of the holiday, business closings, and activity cancellations. Light winds prevented significant damage to trees and power lines.

High winds from a westerly direction followed a low pressure system which had brought Christmas Day rain and thunderstorms. There were several reports of power lines, branches, and a few large limbs down, and resulting power outages. At least 1000 electric customers were temporarily without power. Traffic lights and some signs were damaged. The winds included a measured gust of 63 mph at Orange City Airport.

Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several branches blown down. Tree debris damaged power lines and caused a power outage.

Westerly winds behind a cold front reach sustained speed of 40 to 45 mph for a few hours. The high winds caused spotty power line and traffic light damage.

An extended period of precipitation began with freezing rain quickly producing heavy ice accumulations, ranging up to between a quarter and half inch. The precipitation then changed to sleet and then snow, with sleet and snow accumulations reaching 5 inches at Rock Valley. Many branches, limbs, whole trees, and power lines were downed by the weight of ice and accompanying wind, especially over the northern part of the county. Both urban areas and rural electric cooperatives suffered major power line damage. Trees and tree debris blocked many roads, and damaged several vehicles and homes. Major power outages were reported, affecting thousands of people. The winter precipitation made travel impossible in many areas, resulting in schools and businesses being forced to close.

Thunderstorm winds caused an unknown amount of tree and power line damage.

Freezing rain produced around a half inch of glaze accumulation, with similar sleet accumulations over the glaze. Travel and walking surfaces were made very icy, and the ice accumulations caused damage to trees and power lines. The amount of damage was not known, but was suspected to be especially heavy over the southern two thirds of the county.

Freezing rain produced ice accumulations of around a quarter inch in the southern part of Sioux County, with lesser accumulations to the north. Travel and walking were made extremely hazardous and difficult. Damage to trees and power lines was reported, and there were scattered power outages.

A tornado damaged numerous trees, including large trees uprooted, blew windows out of a home, destroyed a metal shed, blew two windows and part of a wall out of a metal building, damaged at least three grain bins, destroyed or damaged numerous outbuildings and small sheds, blew down or snapped off at least 15 power poles, bent a metal light pole, tipped one wagon and blew the top off another, blew down a barb wire fence and pushed fence posts almost to the ground, destroyed a hog barn, and flattened corn stubble, before crossing the county line into Lyon County. Contents inside several damaged or destroyed buildings and sheds were also damaged, especially on one farm where damaged buildings housed a farm and trucking business.

Thunderstorm winds caused tree and power line damage, including at least one large tree blown down. A resulting power outage lasted for several hours.

A tornado blew down power lines and poles, caused tree damage, flattened corn, and destroyed two machine sheds on a farm. Equipment inside the machine sheds was damaged.

A historic late-season, multi-day winter storm developed rapidly across the central Plains on Wednesday, April 10. This system spiraled several periods of precipitation through the region. The leading precipitation on April 10 was a mix of rain, freezing rain and sleet from far eastern South Dakota through the Interstate 90 areas of southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa, changing to snow to the north and west. There were even a few elevated thunderstorms which occurred overnight on April 10-11 and produced some near severe hail, which actually occurred after some initial wintry precipitation. Significant icing was centered around 30 miles either side of the Interstate 90 corridor, with as much as a third to three-quarters inch ice accumulation. ||Heavy snowfall developed from the early morning of April 11 and continued into the early morning of April 12 across much of southeast South Dakota into northern portions of southwest Minnesota, which accumulated to 1 to 2 feet during the storm. The most persistent snowfall occurred for areas west to north of Sioux Falls, but even there, a brief period of freezing rain or sleet occurred at some point ahead of the main upper trough passage. ||The other aspect of this storm was the intense winds, which gusted at the peak from 40 to 60 mph, producing widespread blizzard conditions across southeast South Dakota and southwest Minnesota. Considerable power outages occurred as transmission lines succumbed to the ice accumulation and wind. At the peak, electric companies and cooperatives estimated as many as 25,000 customers were without power. Many areas were without power for a day or two due to the intensity of the storm.||In fact, the strong winds lofted dust from the Texas/Oklahoma panhandles which caused some of the snowfall toward the latter portions of the event to fall with a brownish color. Ironically, the blizzard postponed the statewide tornado warning drill which was a part of Minnesota Severe Weather Awareness Week.

Thunderstorm winds caused damage to trees and power lines. The amount of damage was not known.