Mile-wide tornado hits Iowa; softball-sized hail shreds Nebraska homes
Hail as large as softballs shredded homes and tornadoes, one a mile wide, highlighted the severe weather in Iowa and Nebraska Thursday evening.
Multiple tornadoes that caused extensive damage were reported in several communities around Omaha, Nebraska, on April 17.
A small but intense cluster of thunderstorms struck eastern Nebraska and western Iowa Thursday evening, April 17, with destructive winds up to 86 mph, grapefruit-sized hail and multiple tornadoes.
Mile-wide tornado not as wide as initially thought
An initial National Weather Service (NWS) survey of an EF-1 tornado in Imogene, Iowa indicated a path width of 1.77 miles, but this was later revised to 1.11 miles after additional damage thought to be from the tornado was found to be unrelated straight-line winds. While the former length would have placed the twister as the widest in Iowa history, the revised number leaves it at number six for the state.
Softball-sized hail shredded the siding off a nearby home, leaving behind a trail of splintered panels and exposed insulation and walls.
Just northwest of Irvington, Nebraska, which is northwest of Omaha, drone video showed several homes missing their roofs, with debris scattered around them. The Irvington Fire Department said on Facebook that no immediate reports of injuries or casualties were reported.
The National Weather Service has surveyed damage of at least EF3 strength on the Enhanced Fujita Scale north of the Irvington area. The initial tornado track stretches from the Douglas-Washington county line in Nebraska into western Iowa.
Severe thunderstorms swept through the central U.S. on April 17, packing wind, hail, tornadoes and more.
A tornado emergency, the most severe type of tornado warning, was issued for Essex, Iowa, at 8:51 p.m. CDT. The wind snapped power poles and trees just west of the town.
AccuWeather Meteorologist and Storm Chaser Tony Laubach's car windshield was smashed in by baseball-sized hail just outside of Fremont, Nebraska, as he was reporting for the AccuWeather Network.
Severe storms led to intense hail in parts of Nebraska on the evening of April 17, cracking numerous windshields, including our own Tony Laubach’s.
In York, Nebraska, a bystander was caught in a dusty gustnado. A gustnado is a type of tornado that forms when the edge of the downdraft of a severe thunderstorm -- a gust front -- causes the air to spin, from the ground up. A gustnado does not connect to a cloud as it would with a larger, supercell tornado.
Damaging winds whipped up dust and large debris in York, Nebraska, as a dust storm approached on April 17.
A wind gust of 86 mph was clocked at Coburg, Iowa, while an 82-mph gust was recorded in Fremont, Nebraska. The National Weather Service will continue to investigate the damage for additional and updated tornado tracks this week.
Additional rounds of severe thunderstorms are predicted through the weekend, threatening areas from Texas to Ohio.
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