EF1 tornado in Polk County, Iowa

QLCS system was passing through central Iowa and produced a series of three tornadoes in close proximity to one another between the Des Moines metro area and Ames. This was the first tornado of the group and also the strongest. It touched down south of Madrid, Iowa and moved quickly northeast. It encountered a farmstead shortly after forming snapping tree trunks and flipping a 5th wheel camper producing EF1 damage. The tornado then remained in open farmland and crossed into Boone County.

Showers and thunderstorms developed along a cold front in the early morning hours, with quarter sized hail and a few stronger winds gusts reported in central Iowa around sunrise. This pushed east of the area by mid morning and temperatures warmed. This allowed for deep mixing and non-thunderstorm associated wind gusts of 50 to over 60 mph occurred across the area through the afternoon. In the evening a secondary front passed across the state, with daytime heating allowing for more robust convection to develop. The bowing, linear storm system primarily produced a swath of wind gusts and damage, however a few smaller hail reports were made.