EF1 tornado in Wright County, Iowa

This tornado went through three counties including Wright, Franklin and Cerro Gordo. The tornado touched down just north of Rowan and moved northeast through rural eastern Wright county before crossing into Franklin County several miles northwest of Alexander. The tornado produced little damage in Wright County although some tree damage occurred just prior to crossing into Franklin County. This tornado was also found in high resolution satellite imagery.

December 15, 2021 was an unprecedented and historic event for the state of Iowa and the central US. It featured the first-ever December derecho observed anywhere in the United States and the first Moderate Risk of severe thunderstorms issued by the NWS Storm Prediction Center in December for Iowa. Unofficially, it set the new single-day Iowa records for the most tornadoes and the most EF-2/F-2 or stronger tornadoes since 1950. Finally, it will break the all-time December record high temperature for Iowa.

Tornadoes: There were 63 confirmed tornadoes that occurred in Iowa, 21 of which were rated EF-2. Sixty three is unofficially the most tornadoes in Iowa in a single day with the previous being 35 tornadoes on August 31, 2014. Further, 21 EF-2 tornadoes is unofficially the most EF-2/F-2 or stronger tornadoes in a single day with the previous being 16 tornadoes on June 7, 1984. Prior to this event, a total of 5 tornadoes had occurred in Iowa in December since 1950 with all of them in southeastern Iowa.

Thunderstorm Wind: Numerous straight line wind gusts were also associated with these thunderstorms, some in excess of 80 mph. During the event, nearly the entire state of Iowa was under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning at some point. Audubon reported the highest gust in Iowa at 88 mph. This storm also met the criteria for a 'derecho'', which makes it the first derecho on record in the month of December anywhere in the United States. Finally, we had an unofficial gust of 108 mph recorded by a mesonet station near Sheffield, Iowa associated with one of the tornadic circulations.

Environmental Wind: After the line of storms had passed, numerous strong, non-thunderstorm wind gusts over 70 mph occurred overnight. The top three non-thunderstorm wind gusts were 83 mph in Decatur City, 81 mph in Marshalltown, and 80 mph in Johnston. The Des Moines International Airport recorded a 74 mph non-thunderstorm wind gust, which is the highest non-thunderstorm wind gust at this location since 1970.

Temperatures: In addition to the severe weather and strong non-thunderstorm winds, the temperatures were remarkable and record setting. Numerous record daily highs were broken by many degrees. In addition and preliminarily, the all-time December record high temperature for Iowa of 74 degrees that was set in Thurman, IA on December 6, 1939 was broken with four sites reaching 75 degrees (Oskaloosa, Muscatine, Iowa City, and Ottumwa).

For detailed environmental analysis, including soundings, please view the various local NWS office event review pages: NWS Des Moines, NWS Sioux Falls, NWS Omaha, NWS Wichita, NWS Pueblo, NWS Twin Cities, NWS Quad Cities, NWS Hastings, NWS La Crosse, NWS Green Bay, or NWS Milwaukee.