Northwest Iowa — An evening that was forecast to see a SLIGHT chance of precipitation turned into severe thunderstorms last night (Tuesday, May 14th) around northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota.
At 7:121 last evening the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for northeastern Lyon, and Osceola counties in Iowa, as well as Nobles County Minnesota. The warning stated that winds of 60 mph, along with quarter-size hail could be expected. That Severe Thunderstorm Warning remained in effect until 7:45 last evening.
The severe weather cell was on the western end of a large area of showers that stretched as far east as Kossuth County. The severe cell itself covered a fairly small area, but radar showed extreme intensity in that cell, which was moving southeast at about 30 mph.
At 7:37 the cell had made its way far enough into Iowa to prompt another Severe Thunderstorm Warning, this time for western Osceola and northern O’Brien counties. That warning also suggested that high winds and quarter-size hail could be expected in the warning area. The warning was in effect until 8:15 last night. Radar indicated that the most intense area of the storm would pass between Sheldon and Sanborn.
As the system moved further into Iowa the strong cell lessened in intensity quite rapidly, and the Severe Thunderstorm Warning was allowed to expire at 8:15.
A listener at Ashton reported a lot of hail in that area, and a listener just north of the Sheldon airport reported brief heavy rain, and some penny-sized hail in that area. As far as rain totals, here in downtown Sheldon we not only escaped the severe cell of the storm, but saw absolutely no precipitation fall last evening.
Listener photos from Tuesday night may be viewed below.
Listener submitted photo of hail that fell near Ashton Tuesday evening
Listener submitted photo of small hail that fell just north of the Sheldon Airport
