EF0 tornado in Jasper County, Iowa

Tornado developed southeast of Prairie City and tracked to the southeast. Remained in rural areas producing crop and tree damage before dissipating.

A setup for some rotating storms was in place over much of central and southern Iowa. A low pressure system situated northwest of the state slid to the northeast throughout the day, eventually moving into western and central Minnesota. Given its fairly mature frontal situation, an occluded front dropped into northwest Iowa with the warm front extending E/SE from central Iowa and the cold front dropping back to the SW. At the surface within the warm sector observations were favorable with temperatures into the mid 80s and dew points in the low to mid 70s. Looking in more detail, lifted condensation levels were quite low with values under 750 meters, MUCAPE values were modest in the 1000-3000 J/kg range, effective bulk shear was in excess of 40 kts, and effective storm relative helicity was around 200 m2/s2 to name a few. Resulting composite indices correctly highlighted an increased chance for supercells and tornadic potential as seen with supercell composite values in excess of 12 and significant tornado parameter values in the 3 to 5 range in the afternoon. All of which taking into account the general setup, understandably unable to account for storms potentially tapping into additional shear and helicity generated from rooting themselves along outflow boundaries.

The result was a sizable tornado outbreak across Iowa, including more than a dozen confirmed tornadoes. The tornadoes of most note occurred in the NE Des Moines Metro (specifically Bondurant), Pella, and Marshalltown. The Bondurant area actually experienced two tornadoes, which were concurrently on the ground, but fortunately only one actually caused damage (EF2) within town. The Pella tornado tacked on the north side of town, directly hitting the Vermeer plant, causing EF3 damage. The Marshalltown tornado entered the town from the NW and tracked into the downtown area before exiting and weakening east of town. Widespread damage was experienced in Marshalltown including to the Lennox plant and the County Courthouse. All in all, while numerous injuries were experienced and millions of dollars of damage, no direct fatalities were reported from the tornadoes.