EF3 Tornado — Adams, Iowa

2024-05-21 · near Dickieville, Adams, Iowa

Event narrative

The tornado entered into Adams County from Montgomery County. This tornado remained in rural areas of western and northern Adams County until lifting north of the town of Carl near the Adair County line. The tornado impacted a house on the north side of 200th street shortly after entering the county removing much of the roof with general collapse of the structure. A large hog confinement facility near the intersection of 190th and Aspen was severally damage with most buildings destroyed. EF3 damage occurred to a house along 175th Street near Cherry Avenue with all wall removed except a couple of the interior walls. The outbuildings at this location were all destroyed as well. Another house along 150th Street near Dogwood Avenue had all but a few interior walls removed with EF3 damage as well. All outbuildings were destroyed at this site as well. The tornado turned slightly to the right at this point with only limited interaction with building sites but plenty of tree damage for the remainder of it path.

Wider weather episode

PLEASE NOTE, for hail, wind, heavy rain and flooding, please see separate Storm Data entry for May 20-22.

Numerous tornadoes occurred on this day with numerous injuries and four fatalities at Greenfield in Adair County.

Multiple rounds of thunderstorms brought torrential rainfall, damaging winds, hail and destructive tornadoes to the state. These thunderstorms were the result of a low pressure system which lifted north into the area on the night of May 20th, 2024, producing slow moving storms that dropped 2 to 4 inches of rainfall. This resulted in flash flooding over portions of northern and central Iowa through the morning of May 21st, 2024.

Following the heavy rainfall through the morning, skies cleared out ahead of an approaching cold front. By the afternoon hours of May 21st, 2024, this cold front produced a line of strong thunderstorms which produced multiple strong tornadoes throughout the state, including one which led to significant damage in the town of Greenfield, IA, among other locations. This line of storms also produced damaging winds, leading to widespread tree damage and power outages throughout the forecast area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.0107, -94.9280)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1170282. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.