Thunderstorm Wind — Benton, Iowa

2021-12-15 · near Walford, Benton, Iowa

Event narrative

A semi-trailer was blown over during severe thunderstorm winds. The driver was thrown from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.

Wider weather episode

An intense storm system brought record warmth, high winds, and a serial derecho though Iowa and the Upper Midwest on December 15th. This storm system produced a line of severe storms which continually produced damaging winds and tornadoes from Nebraska through much of Iowa. In eastern Iowa and Illinois, no tornadoes occurred, but widespread severe wind gusts occurred with brief heavy rain.

Strong winds occurred through the day along with the record high temperatures. After the storms moved through, those winds peaked at 60 to 80 mph for several hours in the late evening.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.8800, -91.8600)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 993812. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.