EF3 Tornado — Lucas, Iowa

2022-03-05 · near Derby, Lucas, Iowa

Event narrative

This tornado formed as two other tornadoes dissipated in southern Lucas county. The tornado moved to the northeast across rural areas of southern into central Lucas county primarily in wooded areas and cropland with little damage. Of note however, was a satellite tornado observed in chasing video (in seperate Storm Data entry) which developed north of the main tornado and moved south toward the main circulation, doing a complete revolution around the main tornado before being absorbed. Shortly afterwards, the tornado crossed State Highway 14 south of Chariton destroying a conservation center which was rated EF3. The tornado continued to the northeast removing a roof from a house along 235th Trail and passed through an open field before entering Red Haw State Park. The tornado ripped through a campground in the park with one fatality and one injury occurring. The tornado exited the park and crossed Highway 34 east of Chariton with numerous outbuildings and power poles damage or destroyed. The tornado then remained in rural wooded areas and cropland for the rest of its path with little additional damage noted.

Wider weather episode

On March 5, 2022 a total of 15 tornadoes occurred across the state of Iowa as a warm front lifted across the area. Supercells initially developed across southwest Iowa in the vicinity of the triple point of the surface low with strong, rotating updrafts. Longevity was initially lacking with the storms, producing funnel clouds, brief tornadoes, and hail in southwest Iowa. As the cells moved northeast and matured, larger hail began to fall with golf ball sized hail falling in Adams county and baseball sized hail into Adair county. Following this period of large hail the storms produced a tornado which would remain on the ground for just over 70 miles, carving a path across central Iowa from southwest of Winterset to just northeast of Newton. The tornado peaked in Winterset, Iowa, producing EF-4 damage with wind speeds estimated near 170 mph. The tornado continued across the southern portion of the Des Moines metro area and to Newton. This is the furthest north EF-4 tornado in the CONUS this early in the year on record, the first EF-4 tornado in Iowa since October 4, 2013 which occurred in Woodbury and Cherokee Counties, and is the second longest tornado in Iowa since 1980, behind the longest occurring on June 7, 1984 at a length of 117 miles across southern Iowa. As the storm skimmed the southern Des Moines metro, cells across south central became tornadic, producing several destructive tornadoes including an EF-3 tornado in Chariton, Iowa. This heartbreaking day resulted in seven fatalities, six in Winterset and one in Chariton, making it the deadliest tornado outbreak in Iowa since 2008. At 15 tornadoes, this is also one of the earliest outbreaks of this magnitude to occur so early in the season.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.9405, -93.3854)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1007112. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.