First Iowa 2022 Severe Weather Event Was a Deadly One

Forecasts for Iowa and severe weather had been predicted some three days in advance of the deadly EF4 tornado that would eventually take the lives of six people in Winterset, a town in Madison County, and one near Chariton, in Lucas County on Saturday, March 5, 2022. Storm Prediction Center (SPC) categorical, tornado, wind and hail outlooks are shown above, posted at 10:29 pm CST that morning.

As hours progressed and storms began to fire up in southwest Iowa, other SPC postings appeared, such as Mesoscale Discussion (MD) 194 at 1:20 pm, Tornado Watch 27 at 2:05 pm, and MD Discussion 195 at 3:46 pm.

Also of interest to Eastern Iowa, was this ominous Thunderstorm Outlook posted at 2:17 pm.

 

As evening approached and darkness began to fall, advancing storm strengths were still holding up. I set up my spotting location at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids. The above image looks northwest at a tornado-warned area some 35 miles distant at 7:08 pm CST. 1.6 second exposure at f/3.5, ISO 500, 18mm focal length.

Radarscope video frame capture comparable to the photo above it, showing tornado-warned polygons to my west and northwest, and my location icon colored in blue. 

7:09 pm. Looking northwest.

7:10 pm. Looking west.

7:12 pm. Looking southwest.

7:14 pm. Looking southwest. Lightning illuminated. I made no severe weather reports here as conditions remained below reporting criteria as the storms passed through. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

GoProHero4 video frame stills from around 7:30 pm, looking in the same direction and showing lightning flashes. 

Scary looking Radarscope radar image capture from about 4:30 pm on March 5, showing a very pronounced hook echo signature (circled) where the tornado resided. Thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of those who lost their lives there!