A heat wave over the Southwest will intensify late week, peaking and expanding into the Intermountain West and northern High Plains this weekend. Severe thunderstorms and heavy rain are expected over portions of the Plains and Mississippi Valley tonight, which will shift to parts of the Upper Midwest and mid-Mississippi Valley Friday. Monsoonal showers and flooding persist in the Desert Southwest. Read More >
Overview
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Severe storms lifted northeast across western into central Iowa late in the afternoon into the evening of Friday, April 26, 2024. Based on preliminary reports and completed storm surveys, there were at least 19 tornadoes in Iowa. Damage to trees and homes has been reported in multiple counties from Crawford to Union and Ringgold up to around Polk and Jasper Counties. Teams continue to evaluate damage. Additional tornado tracks and rating will be added in the coming days. A final tornado count will take days to a few weeks as we review radar data, examine hi-res satellite imagery, and look at videos.
For information on the storms in Nebraska and western Iowa, visit the page by NWS Omaha.
Page last updated: April 29, 2024 9:40 pm. |
 Afton, Iowa tornado captured by Dean Baron. |
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| Hazards for the Enhanced Risk on April 26th. | General timeline of the storms and tornadoes on April 26, 2024. |
Tornadoes
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Tornado - Creston #1
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Tornado - Afton (West)
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Tornado - Afton (East)
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Tornado - Maffit Reservoir
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Tornado - Monroe
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Tornado - Tingley
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Tornado - Mount Ayr
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Tornado - Osceola
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Tornado - Pleasant Hill
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Tornado - Manilla # 1
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Tornado - Manilla #2
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Tornado - Buck Grove
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Tornado - Creston #2
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Tornado - Redding
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Tornado - 12 Mile Lake
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Tornado - Beaconsfield
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Tornado - East Peru
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Tornado - Patterson
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Tornado - Reasnor
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Tornado - LOCATION
Track Map 
Downloadable KMZ File |
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Tornado - LOCATION
Track Map
Downloadable KMZ File |
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Tornado - LOCATION
Track Map
Downloadable KMZ File |
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Tornado - LOCATION
Track Map
Downloadable KMZ File |
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Tornado - LOCATION
Track Map
Downloadable KMZ File |
The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:
| EF0 Weak 65-85 mph |
EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph |
EF2 Significant 111-135 mph |
EF3 Severe 136-165 mph |
EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph |
EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph |
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Photos & Video
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| Tornado southeast of Creston, Iowa (Photo Credit: Jesse Risley. Used with permission) |
Tornado near Osceola, Iowa (Photo Credit: Clarence Smith. Used with permission) |
Large hail in Mount Ayr, Iowa (Photo Credit: Brittany Mastin. Used with permission) |
Caption (source) |
Radar
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| Radar animation from Friday evening. Courtesy Iowa Environment Mesonet (https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/) |
Storm Reports
Preliminary Local Storm Report...Summary National Weather Service Des Moines IA 1139 PM CDT Fri Apr 26 2024 ..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON... ..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE.... ..REMARKS.. 0616 PM Hail 5 N New Market 40.80N 94.91W 04/26/2024 E1.00 Inch Taylor IA Cocorahs Delayed report. 0658 PM Tornado 2 W Manilla 41.89N 95.27W 04/26/2024 Crawford IA Storm Chaser Storm chaser shared a picture of a tornado just west of Manilla. 0704 PM Tornado 2 WSW Creston 41.05N 94.40W 04/26/2024 Union IA Trained Spotter Tornado on the ground, heading northeast. 0709 PM Tornado Creston 41.06N 94.36W 04/26/2024 Union IA Emergency Mngr Tornado with debris near the hospital in Creston. 0710 PM Tornado 3 NE Lenox 40.91N 94.52W 04/26/2024 Adams IA Emergency Mngr near 205th and Highway 25. 0715 PM Tornado 6 NE Creston 41.13N 94.29W 04/26/2024 Union IA Emergency Mngr Tornado reported to the southwest of Macksburg. 0725 PM Tornado 4 WNW Afton 41.05N 94.27W 04/26/2024 Union IA Dept of Highways Power poles with debris on US Highway 34 between Creston and Afton. Highway is closed. 0728 PM Tornado 4 WNW Afton 41.06N 94.27W 04/26/2024 Union IA Trained Spotter Trained spotter reported tornado on the ground east of Creston. Time and location estimated from radar. 0728 PM Hail 2 SSW Delphos 40.64N 94.36W 04/26/2024 E1.00 Inch Ringgold IA Trained Spotter 0731 PM Tornado 2 NW Afton 41.05N 94.22W 04/26/2024 Union IA Emergency Mngr 0745 PM Hail Mount Ayr 40.71N 94.24W 04/26/2024 M3.00 Inch Ringgold IA CO-OP Observer Corrects previous hail report from Mount Ayr. 0747 PM Tornado 1 E Mount Ayr 40.71N 94.21W 04/26/2024 Ringgold IA Trained Spotter Delayed report. Report of tornado between Mt Ayr and Kellerton. Exact location estimated from radar. 0754 PM Tornado 2 W Afton 41.03N 94.23W 04/26/2024 Union IA Law Enforcement Large tornado near Afton moving northeast. Debris field reported with damage. 0758 PM Tornado 5 W East Peru 41.24N 94.02W 04/26/2024 Madison IA Emergency Mngr Tornado near Word of Life Church. 0815 PM Tornado 2 NE Patterson 41.37N 93.85W 04/26/2024 Madison IA Public Delayed report. Video submitted via social media. Briefly touched down and lifted west of Martensdale. Location estimated from radar. 0818 PM Tornado 2 S Patterson 41.32N 93.88W 04/26/2024 Madison IA Trained Spotter Reported to the south of Patterson. 0819 PM Tornado 4 W Cumming 41.48N 93.84W 04/26/2024 Madison IA Mesonet Tornadic debris signature noted on radar. 0836 PM Tornado Osceola 41.03N 93.77W 04/26/2024 Clarke IA Broadcast Media Damage reported near Osceola. Trees and power lines down. Time estimated from radar. 0854 PM Tornado 4 NW Pleasant Hill 41.63N 93.56W 04/26/2024 Polk IA Emergency Mngr Structure damage to a home with possible injury. 0859 PM Tornado Pleasant Hill 41.59N 93.51W 04/26/2024 Polk IA Trained Spotter Power flashes reported near Pleasant Hill. TDS also noted on radar. 0941 PM Tornado Monroe 41.52N 93.10W 04/26/2024 Jasper IA Emergency Mngr Reports of damage in Monroe. Time estimated from radar. 1118 PM Funnel Cloud 3 NNW Bondurant 41.73N 93.49W 04/26/2024 Polk IA Trained Spotter Location estimated from radar based on time of report. 0740 PM Funnel Cloud 1 W Kent 40.95N 94.47W 04/26/2024 Union IA Public 0836 PM Hail 2 NW Cumming 41.50N 93.78W 04/26/2024 E1.00 Inch Warren IA Public Report from mPING: Quarter (1.00 in.). 0856 PM Tornado 3 SE Des Moines 41.55N 93.57W 04/26/2024 Polk IA Public Reported by General Public. 1103 PM Tornado 4 S Osceola 40.97N 93.80W 04/26/2024 Clarke IA Public
Environment
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| Figure 1: Surface pressure (black lines), temperature (red dashed), dewpoints (color fill, dashed blue lines), and winds (barbs) from 5p to 10p Low pressure lifts northeast towards Sioux City with the warm front moving northeastward into central Iowa and the dryline/cold front advancing eastward into Iowa. |
Figure 2: Mixed Layer CAPE (red lines) and CIN (color shade) 5pm to 10pm A ribbon of instability pushed into southern and central Iowa with little in the way of inhibition (CIN). |
Figure 3: Effective Storm Relative Helicity (ESRH) 5pm to 10pm Detailed Definition |
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| Figure 4: 0-500m SRH 5pm to 10pm Plenty of low level SRH was available that allowed storms to rotate. |
Figure 5: Lifting Condensation Level Height 5pm to 10pm This is a proxy for cloud base height. Values below 1000m favor tornadoes as cloud bases are lower to the ground. |
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| Figure 7: 23z/6pm RAP analysis sounding at Carroll near the time storms were moving into Crawford County producing tornadoes. [full res] This sounding has good low level shear and while instability is meager and does not look surface based, this is likely not what the storms moving into Crawford County realized. |
Figure 8: 00z/7pm RAP analysis sounding at Creston near the time storms were moving into Union County producing tornadoes. [full res] This sounding shows an environment favorable for tornado producing storms with plenty of instability and low level shear. |
Figure 9: 01z/8pm RAP analysis sounding at Des Moines near the time storms were moving into Polk County producing tornadoes. [full res] This sounding shows an environment favorable for tornado producing storms and while the shear is not quite as good as Creston, there is still sufficient instability and low level shear. |
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