Northwest Iowa — Parts of northwest Iowa experienced severe weather on Monday night.
According to the National Weather Service, the storms entered our area from the south, with the first report being a tornado that was spotted by law enforcement two miles north of Granville at 4:41 PM.
Tornado sirens were sounded in Hospers at about 4:44 PM.
Hail estimated at an inch in diameter was reported by a spotter three miles south-southeast of Matlock at 5:42 PM. That spotter also reported winds estimated at 45 miles per hour.
At 5:58 PM, hail that was estimated at an inch in diameter was reported by a spotter five miles west of Ashton, into Lyon County. That report was followed by another report of inch-sized hail in the same area about seven minutes later. That report came from five miles west-northwest of Ashton. Just a few minutes later, another spotter report came in of inch-sized hail five miles south of Little Rock. About 6:20 PM, that same size of hail was repoted six miles north-northeast of Sibley. The report notes that most of the hail in that area was pea to dime sized, with a few quarter size.
About 6:55 PM, the Weather Service received a spotter report of hail estimated at 0.88 inches in diameter from five miles south-southwest of Paullina.
Along with the severe weather came the threat of flooding in some communities. Sioux County Emergency Management Director Nate Huizenga says Orange City received two inches of rain on top of 0.8″ received earlier in the day.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Philip Schumacher reported that stations in Sheldon and Ocheyedan also reported receiving upwards of two inches of rain. A flash flood warning was issued for Sioux, O’Brien and Plymouth counties until 9:30 PM. The rain was quite spotty, however, as Rock Rapids, while they received 0.4″ overnight Sunday into Monday received no rain on Monday evening.
