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Adair County Tornado rated EF-1

Weather

March 31st, 2020 by Ric Hanson

Officials with the National Weather Service, Monday, released preliminary information on four tornadoes that affected southwest and eastern Iowa, Saturday afternoon. The first touched down five miles southeast of Bridgewater was an EF-1, with winds of up to 95 miles per hour.  A storm survey team from the Weather Service determined the tornado developed at around 1:59-p.m. in far northern Adams County (about 8.6-miles north/northeast of Prescott), and caused minor damage to a farmstead before entering Adair County. Much of the twister’s path then remained across open farmland, but one farmstead outbuilding was hit.

The tornado – which was 80 yards wide at the maximum – traveled about 4.5-miles before it eventually lifted about 3-miles south of Fontanelle, at around 2:15 p.m., Saturday. No injuries were reported.  A second, unrated/unknown strength tornado, occurred later Saturday afternoon in Marshall County. The National Weather Service says it developed at around 4:26-p.m. about 2.5-miles south of Rhodes, and ended approximately 1.8-miles south of Rhodes about one minute later. It was a little over three-quarters of a mile wide at the most, and moved primarily through rural farmland. A third tornado happened six-miles south of Hudson, in Black Hawk County, and was also an unrated/unknown strength. It was about 40-yards wide at the maximum, and traveled about one-mile in a rural area before lifted approximately one-minute later, five-miles south of Hudson.

The fourth and final tornado, an EF-0, packed 85 mph winds and traveled just under two-miles. It started at around 5:49-p.m. three-miles northeast of Hudson and ended two-minutes later 1 mile south of Waterloo. It was about 50-yards wide at the maximum. Officials say it developed just south of Waterloo in a farm field and moved quickly northeast, where it removed and overturned the roof of an open pole barn and demolished a small, nearby garage.  The twister continued on a northeasterly path before dissipating in an open field just south of Highway 20.