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NWS preliminary data rates most western IA tornadoes as EF-3

News, Weather

April 30th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Omaha, NE) – The National Weather Service in Omaha has released a preliminary report on the storms that passed through eastern Nebraska and parts of western Iowa on April 26th. Officials broke down the data as follows:

  • A tornado developed to the southeast of the I-29 / U.S. 275 interchange and tracked north-northeast before dissipating at the Pony Creek Park, between 4:52 and 4:57-p.m., Friday. It was rated an EF-1, with winds of up to 100 mph. The twister’s path ran for 2.7-miles, at a maximum width of 80-yards.
  • A tornado that formed at 4:58-p.m. developed at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield and moved northeast to just east of Crescent, IA before dissipated 16. 1-miles later, just north of the Harrison-Pottawattamie County line at 5:27-p.m. It was an EF-3, with wind of up to 152-mph, and a width of 516 yards.
  • Tornado  #3 developed at around 5:08-p.m. Friday, in rural southwestern Pottawattamie County and tracked north-northeast before dissipating 13.3-miles later to the northeast of McClelland. It was also rated EF-3, with winds topping out at 145-mph and a width of 800-yards.
  • Tornado #4 formed east of McClelland at around 5:25-p.m., while the previous Treynor/McClelland tornado was in the process of dissipating. The tornado tracked 40.9-miles north-northeast through the eastern part of Minden, to the immediate east of Tennant, the west of Harlan, and the immediate east of Defiance before dissipating at around 6:30-p.m., just south of the Shelby-Crawford County line. It was an EF-3, with top wind speeds estimated at 160-mph, and a width of 1,700-yards (just under a mile wide). It was responsible for three injuries and one death.
  • Tornado #5 in Shelby and Crawford Counties developed at around 6:28-p.m. over the V&W Petersen Wildlife Management Area and moved north to the immediate west of Manilla before dissipating at around 6:44-p.m. in rural Crawford County Iowa, east-southeast of Denison. It was rate an EF-2, with winds of up to 112-mph and a width of 200-yards. It’s path was estimated to be 9.2-miles long.
  • Tornado #6 was an EF-1, with winds of up to 107-mph, a width of 100-yards, and a path of 12.3-miles. It developed to the immediate northeast of Defiance and tracked north-northeast into rural Crawford County east-southeast of Denison.
  • Five other tornadoes have yet to be defined, according to the latest NWS data.