My area is now in a tornado watch alert, not yet a tornado warning alert. The radar seems to show most of the heaviest storms moving past us just to the West. But I can tell you that when my Son and I just went outside to batten down all our pool/lawn stuff the air feels prime for something bad. It is super humid and the winds go from zero to 60 mph, then back in just a minute.
@Tom_S said:
Ron is in Ames. Not sure if they saw any damage.
A tornado passed by us about 15 miles away to the south. It was radar indicated and in open country. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if it did any damage. We had a fast 3/4" of rain and some wind but no damage. Outside of Greenfield Iowa getting clobbered I haven't seen any other damage reports yet but this line of storms probably did plenty. I think a lot of people lost power in the Des Moines area. There could be flooding issues because IA has had a lot of rain lately.
This is the latest storm news from Des Moines. The video of the truck blowing over was taken on highway 30 between Ames and Nevada which is 10 miles away.
I covered lots of bad stuff in my days as TV news photog. Accidents, murders, even bodies with bullet holes in the street. The only time I ever teared up was while we interviewed a mother holding a toddler in the little town of Worthington. They were tucked under the branches of a pine tree to stay out of the rain. She was still in shock as she described coming out of the basement after the tornado, only to find their house was completely gone.
@Tom_S said:
I covered lots of bad stuff in my days as TV news photog. Accidents, murders, even bodies with bullet holes in the street. The only time I ever teared up was while we interviewed a mother holding a toddler in the little town of Worthington. They were tucked under the branches of a pine tree to stay out of the rain. She was still in shock as she described coming out of the basement after the tornado, only to find their house was completely gone.
Reeds an awesome chaser. It always sounds like he’s panicking but he says that he is his adrenaline is so high that almost feels like he’s gonna have a heart attack. Crazy job.
That twister had a long track. Near Corning there was an auto fatality. I presume this vehicle started on the roadway from where the picture was taken. Photo courtesy of an old softball teammate.
The storm Ron referred to above also flipped a couple semis at the rest area north of Ankeny on I-35. Only heavy rain and typical storm wind here, thankfully.
It may not have been one of the giants that they tend to put into ef5 cetegory. However, I'm hearing the mobile doppler they put out got very detailed scans and indicated a potential peak wind speed of around 290mph?!
@DrewsBrews said:
It may not have been one of the giants that they tend to put into ef5 cetegory. However, I'm hearing the mobile doppler they put out got very detailed scans and indicated a potential peak wind speed of around 290mph?!
The tornado that hit Greenfield has been given a preliminary rating of EF3 (136-165 mph winds). 4 people died and dozens were injured of which 4 were life flighted to Des Moines. This is a satellite view.
They upgraded the Greenfield tornado to an EF4 (166-200mph). It was traveling at 60mph so it took about a minute to do the damage it did in Greenfield. It was on the ground for 44 miles.
This link has the storm paths and numbers for all the Iowa tornadoes on the 21st. If you click on the images they will expand. Click on them again they will shrink.
This is the track of the storm that passed near Ames. I put a little yellow square in west Ames where we live. Ames to Nevada is 10 miles so it was at least 20 miles from us. This is the storm that blew over semis on highway 30, totaled homes and downed power poles.
There is more severe weather on the way tonight and SW Iowa is under the gun for possible tornadoes again and the front coming through could produce high winds into our area and will hit us just before sun up.
We woke up to sirens at 5am with a radar indicated tornado passing just south of our house. There were multiple tornado watches issued at the same time. There are no reports of tornado damage this morning but 50,000 people are without power. The storms have moved east and are still causing problems.
@Ron_E said:
They upgraded the Greenfield tornado to an EF4 (166-200mph). It was traveling at 60mph so it took about a minute to do the damage it did in Greenfield. It was on the ground for 44 miles.
This link has the storm paths and numbers for all the Iowa tornadoes on the 21st. If you click on the images they will expand. Click on them again they will shrink.
This is the track of the storm that passed near Ames. I put a little yellow square in west Ames where we live. Ames to Nevada is 10 miles so it was at least 20 miles from us. This is the storm that blew over semis on highway 30, totaled homes and downed power poles.
There is more severe weather on the way tonight and SW Iowa is under the gun for possible tornadoes again and the front coming through could produce high winds into our area and will hit us just before sun up.
Ron
I saw a stormchaser on X say that the Greenfield storm and this storm were from the same cell. I apparently took a little damage hiatus from around Stuart to Waukee, but he traced out the line all the way from Adams County to near Zearing.
In the 'vacation spots' thread I mentioned a couple of rare music stores which I explored during our visit to the US in 2005. I bought quite a few CDs, but also noticed how many bootlegs had really tasteless titles:
'My Brain Hurts' - Led Zeppelin
'Mercury Poisoning' - Queen
'Bedspring Symphony' - Rolling Stones
'Rock Out, C*ck Out' - Rolling Stones
and the award for worst of the lot went to 'Let's Drop Some 'Ludes and Vomit with Jimi' - Jimi Hendrix
Comments
My area is now in a tornado watch alert, not yet a tornado warning alert. The radar seems to show most of the heaviest storms moving past us just to the West. But I can tell you that when my Son and I just went outside to batten down all our pool/lawn stuff the air feels prime for something bad. It is super humid and the winds go from zero to 60 mph, then back in just a minute.
A tornado passed by us about 15 miles away to the south. It was radar indicated and in open country. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if it did any damage. We had a fast 3/4" of rain and some wind but no damage. Outside of Greenfield Iowa getting clobbered I haven't seen any other damage reports yet but this line of storms probably did plenty. I think a lot of people lost power in the Des Moines area. There could be flooding issues because IA has had a lot of rain lately.
Ron
Glad you are ok Ron.
This is the latest storm news from Des Moines. The video of the truck blowing over was taken on highway 30 between Ames and Nevada which is 10 miles away.
https://kcci.com/article/severe-thunderstorm-watch-issued-for-southwest-iowa/60838526
Ron
Greenfield got hammered
You can clearly see the path through Greenfield in the drone footage. It looks like some of those houses were shredded!!
I covered lots of bad stuff in my days as TV news photog. Accidents, murders, even bodies with bullet holes in the street. The only time I ever teared up was while we interviewed a mother holding a toddler in the little town of Worthington. They were tucked under the branches of a pine tree to stay out of the rain. She was still in shock as she described coming out of the basement after the tornado, only to find their house was completely gone.
Jesus.
This is storm chaser footage of the Greenfield tornado going through a wind farm.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=R_ZDVYzIhgc
That is crazy! That's a storm chaser's wet dream, right there.
Reeds an awesome chaser. It always sounds like he’s panicking but he says that he is his adrenaline is so high that almost feels like he’s gonna have a heart attack. Crazy job.
https://www.jfcomponents.com/
That twister had a long track. Near Corning there was an auto fatality. I presume this vehicle started on the roadway from where the picture was taken. Photo courtesy of an old softball teammate.
The storm Ron referred to above also flipped a couple semis at the rest area north of Ankeny on I-35. Only heavy rain and typical storm wind here, thankfully.
Oh Wow that's aweful!
We got nothing compared to that (a few small tree branches down). So sorry for those that lost so much life and property.
It may not have been one of the giants that they tend to put into ef5 cetegory. However, I'm hearing the mobile doppler they put out got very detailed scans and indicated a potential peak wind speed of around 290mph?!
290 would put it in a very elite class.
I was lucky again and the bad storms went around us. I'm past ready for the bad storms to be over.
Thanks for the concern!
Jim
The tornado that hit Greenfield has been given a preliminary rating of EF3 (136-165 mph winds). 4 people died and dozens were injured of which 4 were life flighted to Des Moines. This is a satellite view.
Ron
They upgraded the Greenfield tornado to an EF4 (166-200mph). It was traveling at 60mph so it took about a minute to do the damage it did in Greenfield. It was on the ground for 44 miles.
This link has the storm paths and numbers for all the Iowa tornadoes on the 21st. If you click on the images they will expand. Click on them again they will shrink.
https://weather.gov/dmx/2024-May-21-Iowa-TornadoesWindsFlooding
This is the track of the storm that passed near Ames. I put a little yellow square in west Ames where we live. Ames to Nevada is 10 miles so it was at least 20 miles from us. This is the storm that blew over semis on highway 30, totaled homes and downed power poles.
There is more severe weather on the way tonight and SW Iowa is under the gun for possible tornadoes again and the front coming through could produce high winds into our area and will hit us just before sun up.
Ron
We woke up to sirens at 5am with a radar indicated tornado passing just south of our house. There were multiple tornado watches issued at the same time. There are no reports of tornado damage this morning but 50,000 people are without power. The storms have moved east and are still causing problems.
Ron
I saw a stormchaser on X say that the Greenfield storm and this storm were from the same cell. I apparently took a little damage hiatus from around Stuart to Waukee, but he traced out the line all the way from Adams County to near Zearing.
Maybe that's why they're finding photos from Greenfield at a Boone golf course 80 miles away.
I'm extremely happy that I escaped the storm again. Enough crappy weather!
Houston got hit by a derecho. We have been lucky, nothing crazy here.
I demo'ed an old dehumidifier for parts today. Does anyone want the compressor for vacuum bagging?
I saw one of these tribute bronco’s today- kinda cool. (Not being chased by police nor helicopters 😆)
Those Bronco's are all over the roads this weekend around here . . .
Awful storms and loss of life, very glad to know MAC members in Iowa and elsewhere are OK.
Will check with our relatives in Iowa City to make sure they're Ok
Geoff
Meh it's a ford.
Yes I drive one right now, but I realy dont like it.. Especially dislike working on it. and the engine is even pointing the "right" direction.
2.7 ltr twin turbo 330hp / 415 torques
And so much better ride than my old Jeep Cherokee - whose engine died.
Guessing we all may have favored auto manufacturers. Not my father’s ford - hopefully…
In the 'vacation spots' thread I mentioned a couple of rare music stores which I explored during our visit to the US in 2005. I bought quite a few CDs, but also noticed how many bootlegs had really tasteless titles:
'My Brain Hurts' - Led Zeppelin
'Mercury Poisoning' - Queen
'Bedspring Symphony' - Rolling Stones
'Rock Out, C*ck Out' - Rolling Stones
and the award for worst of the lot went to 'Let's Drop Some 'Ludes and Vomit with Jimi' - Jimi Hendrix
Anyone else have some nominations?
Geoff