JACKSON COUNTY, Iowa — Severe storms rolled through the News 8 viewing region Tuesday evening, prompting multiple tornado warnings and watches across the area.
As of Wednesday evening, the National Weather Service Quad Cities has confirmed two tornadoes in eastern Iowa. One was spotted just southeast of Cedar Rapids near the town of Ely. Closer to home, an EF1 tornado developed near Preston and Spragueville in Jackson County.
NWS says it developed about two miles northeast of Spragueville before traveling south/southwest around a mile, hitting two farmsteads in its path before lifting up in a field of crops.
A barn and trees were damaged at the first farm, with an outbuilding sustaining significant damage at the second. Current estimates say wind speeds reached 100 mph and the tornado spanned around 50 yards.
Experts believe it was a landspout tornado, or a non-supercell tornado. These weather phenomena have a "narrow, rope-like condensation funnel" and at times can be translucent or even transparent, according to NWS.
In addition to the tornado, straight-line winds exceeding 65 mph were observed from Iowa City through Muscatine and into the southwest part of the Quad Cities metro. Some rotation was also noted.
Rain totals got as high as 3.3 inches in Clinton County and 2.78 inches across the river in Henry County, Illinois, NWS reports.
News 8 viewers capture Tuesday's storms
Severe storms roll through News 8 viewing region on June 25, 2024
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