Severe weather reports and radar imagery for March 23, 2009

On March 23, 2009 a line of severe thunderstorms moved from eastern Nebraska into southeastern South Dakota and northwestern Iowa.  One tornado was confirmed with this line of storms.  It was an EF1 tornado 5 miles southwest of Springfield, South Dakota.  The radar picture below, taken at 4:08 pm CDT, shows the circulation associated with the tornado as it crossed the Missouri River southwest of Springfield.

Wind damage was also reported from Akron, Iowa to Hawarden, Iowa.  A storm survey done showed that winds of 80 to 100 mph occurred as the squall line moved to the north.  Evidence of wind damage is seen near the intersection of Highway 12 and 104th Street near Akron, Iowa.  The pictures below show several trees which lost branches along the east side of Highway 12.

At this time, the radar imagery showed a bowing segment in the squall line near Akron.  In addition, the radar estimated wind speeds around 100 mph at 4000 feet above the ground.

The squall line surged north producing damage around Chatsworth.  By 609 pm CDT, the damaging winds had reach the Hawarden area.  The radar showed wind speeds estimated around 85 mph near Hawarden.

Numerous trees and buildings were damaged in Hawarden.  Below are pictures of damage taken by the Hawarden Civil Defense Directory, Jeff Nohava and also be the National Weather Service.

Photo by Jeff Nohava.

Tin from this shed was stripped from the south side of the roof and folded over to the north side of the roof.  A couple of strips of tin were completely torn from the roof and one piece of tin was lodged into the trees to the north as shown in the photo below.

Photo by Jeff Nohava.

Photo by Jeff Nohava

A grain bin was blown from a grain elevator to the south.  It hit the red shed on the south side and then was carried over the shed and landed in the alley on the other side of the shed.

Photo by Jeff Nohava

This photo shows evidence of straight-line winds.  In the foreground a small branch was snapped and is now pointing to the north.  In the background, a shed was blown over to the north.  This suggests that damaging winds from the south.

As seen in the picture above, several large branches were broke off of this tree.  In addition to these large branches, numerous small branches were also torn from the tree.  In the pictures below, one can see several of these small branches were embedded in the siding of a house which was located to the north of the tree.  The impact of the branches was so strong that it broke through the vinyl siding and become embedded in the insulation behind the siding.

Here is a radar loop of the reflectivity and velocity data near Akron and Hawarden, Iowa.   The loop is from 5:45 pm - 6:18 pm CDT.

There were also numerous reports of damaging winds from 60 to 80 mph.  The strongest wind report was 81 mph at the airport in Spencer, Iowa.  In addition, 70 mph winds were reported near Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  The strong winds were observed by the radar as they moved across northern Lincoln County, South Dakota toward Sioux Falls.  The radar picture below shows radar detected wind speeds of 90 mph approaching the southwest side of Sioux Falls.  There was a bulge in the line of thunderstorms where the winds were strongest.

Winds around 70 mph were also reported south of Freeman, South Dakota.  These winds resulted in some damage to trees and buildings across the area as well as two reports of trucks overturned by the winds.

Below is a map summarizing the severe weather reports around the area.

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
249 PM CDT TUE MAR 24 2009

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0400 PM     HAIL             4 ESE FAIRFAX           43.01N 98.81W
03/23/2009  E0.75 INCH       GREGORY            SD   PUBLIC

            50 MPH WINDS

0415 PM     TORNADO          5 SW SPRINGFIELD        42.81N 97.97W
03/23/2009                   BON HOMME          SD   PUBLIC

            EF1 DAMAGE TO MACHINE SHED.

0427 PM     HAIL             1 W AVON                43.01N 98.08W
03/23/2009  M0.75 INCH       BON HOMME          SD   LAW ENFORCEMENT

0430 PM     TSTM WND DMG     PLATTE                  43.39N 98.84W
03/23/2009                   CHARLES MIX        SD   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            NUMEROUS TREE LIMBS AND BRANCHES DOWN.

0510 PM     TSTM WND DMG     OLIVET                  43.24N 97.67W
03/23/2009                   HUTCHINSON         SD   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            TREE BRANCHES DOWN.

0522 PM     TSTM WND GST     2 S JACKSON             42.42N 96.57W
03/23/2009  E60.00 MPH       DAKOTA             NE   EMERGENCY MNGR

            TREE BLOWN DOWN

0522 PM     HAIL             5 S HUBBARD             42.32N 96.59W
03/23/2009  M0.75 INCH       DAKOTA             NE   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            DEPUTIES REPORTED DIME SIZE HAIL BETWEEN HUBBARD,
            EMERSON, AND HOMER NEBRASKA.

0527 PM     TSTM WND GST     8 S FREEMAN             43.24N 97.42W
03/23/2009  E70.00 MPH       HUTCHINSON         SD   BROADCAST MEDIA

            LARGE TREE BRANCHES BLOWN DOWN

0538 PM     HAIL             VERMILLION              42.78N 96.93W
03/23/2009  M0.75 INCH       CLAY               SD   PUBLIC

            LOCALIZED STREET FLOODING.

0538 PM     TSTM WND DMG     1 NW JEFFERSON          42.62N 96.58W
03/23/2009                   UNION              SD   EMERGENCY MNGR

            SEMI TRUCK OVERTURNED AT WEIGH STATION.

0600 PM     TSTM WND DMG     CHATSWORTH              42.92N 96.51W
03/23/2009                   SIOUX              IA   TRAINED SPOTTER

            TREES BLOWN DOWN...CAMPER TURNED OVER...SHINGLES STRIPPED
            OFF ROOF

0600 PM     TSTM WND GST     1 NE AKRON              42.84N 96.54W
03/23/2009  E60.00 MPH       PLYMOUTH           IA   PUBLIC

            DAMAGE TO HOUSE...OUTBUILDINGS...GARAGE AND TREE LIMBS OF
            VARIOUS SIZES SNAPPED OFF

0608 PM     HAIL             SALIX                   42.31N 96.29W
03/23/2009  M0.75 INCH       WOODBURY           IA   TRAINED SPOTTER

0612 PM     HAIL             2 W SALIX               42.31N 96.33W
03/23/2009  M0.75 INCH       WOODBURY           IA   TRAINED SPOTTER

            THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH.

0619 PM     TSTM WND GST     HAWARDEN                43.00N 96.48W
03/23/2009  M62.00 MPH       SIOUX              IA   COUNTY OFFICIAL

            TREE BRANCHES BLOWN DOWN DAMAGE TO ROOF OF HOUSE

0630 PM     TSTM WND DMG     HULL                    43.19N 96.13W
03/23/2009                   SIOUX              IA   TRAINED SPOTTER

            METAL BUILDING ROOF BLOWN ONTO HIGHWAY 18.

0630 PM     TSTM WND DMG     1 NNE TEA               43.46N 96.83W
03/23/2009                   LINCOLN            SD   AMATEUR RADIO

            5 INCH TREE LIMBS DOWN.

0633 PM     TSTM WND GST     3 N TEA                 43.50N 96.83W
03/23/2009  E70.00 MPH       LINCOLN            SD   EMERGENCY MNGR

            THUNDERSTORMS WINDS UP TO 70 MPH AT 57TH AND TEA ELLIS
            ROAD. SOME DEBRIS WAS OBSERVED.

0646 PM     TSTM WND DMG     3 SW SIOUX FALLS        43.51N 96.77W
03/23/2009                   MINNEHAHA          SD   EMERGENCY MNGR

            STREET LIGHT BLOWN OUT IN SW SIOUX FALLS.

0707 PM     HAIL             4 W SHELDON             43.18N 95.92W
03/23/2009  M0.75 INCH       SIOUX              IA   TRAINED SPOTTER

0755 PM     TSTM WND DMG     3 N CHEROKEE            42.79N 95.55W
03/23/2009                   CHEROKEE           IA   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            STRONG THUNDERSTORM WINDS BLEW A SEMI TRUCK OVER 3 MILES
            NORTH OF CHEROKEE IOWA.

0842 PM     TSTM WND GST     3 WNW SPENCER           43.17N 95.20W
03/23/2009  M81.00 MPH       CLAY               IA   OFFICIAL NWS OBS

0851 PM     TSTM WND GST     4 NW SPENCER            43.19N 95.21W
03/23/2009  E70.00 MPH       CLAY               IA   TRAINED SPOTTER