Alton, Iowa — Northwest Iowa had a somewhat surprising bout with severe weather on Friday night.
It’s not known at this time how many of these tornadoes were separate tornadoes and how many were different reports of the same tornado.
But it all started when a tornado was reported by a member of the public near Alton at about 5:46 PM. Three minutes later, at 5:49 PM, the National Weather Service received a report of a tornado a mile northeast of Orange City, which was called in by law enforcement. An officer also called in a funnel cloud, one mile south-southeast of Brunsville at three minutes before six. At 6:01 PM, a storm chaser called in a report of a tornado a mile northeast of Hospers. Also near Hospers, a storm spotter called in a report of a funnel cloud three miles east of that town at 6:05. Three minutes later a funnel cloud was reported by law enforcement a mile west of Meriden. At 6:36 PM another funnel cloud report was received from a spotter. This one was said to be six miles south of Alton. The final report in northwest Iowa was at 6:39 PM, of a tornado two miles north of Larrabee. It was reported by law enforcement that that storm lifted a roof off of a house.
Sioux County Emergency Management Director Nate Huizenga has also reported that a machine shed sustained major damage a mile south of Alton. No injuries were reported
Click here for a video of the tornado near Orange City. (Thanks Mike Hoffman)
