Home / Iowa / Monroe

EF3 tornado in Monroe County, Iowa

Tornado June 22, 2015 · Monroe County, Iowa

EF3

Rating

11.1 mi

Whole path

575 yd

Path width

$150K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Marion County → Lucas County → Monroe County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 575 yards (0.33 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This powerful tornado entered from Lucas County. The tornado reached its peak intensity of EF-3 in NW Monroe County, where a house was completely swept off its foundation. Extensive tree damage was also noted in this area.

The wider storm

In the afternoon storms fired up ahead of and along a cold front that was entering Iowa from the northwest. Numerous storms had severe hail, produced damaging winds, and two tornadoes. The first tornado was on the ground for several miles tracking through portions of Marion, Lucas and Monroe Counties. The second tornado formed just west of Albia and struck the town of Albia damaging several homes and businesses. Flash flooding was also reported in Davis and Monroe Counties.

Began near Weller (41.1450, -93.0991).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF2 Monroe County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 580233. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.