Tornado-warned storms return to flooded Midwest
Severe thunderstorms roared through the Midwest on July 2, prompting tornado warnings in places like Iowa.
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00:00Aside from the tropics, we are tracking a tornado threat through eastern parts of Iowa.
00:04Here we have the area around the northern part of Iowa.
00:08We have a confirmed tornado. This just went over to confirmed here in real time,
00:12just right now near Iowa City. And the area off to the east
00:16in the radar site from Davenport is going to give us a good view of this.
00:20And again, just a new report of radar confirmed tornado
00:24here for Cedar County, Johnson County, also into areas
00:28around Washington County of Iowa and Muscatine County
00:32of Iowa. So Iowa City is the biggest city in this area.
00:36And the radar signature here is showing strong movement away from the radar
00:40site in the red and green is the opposite of that. So the
00:44most likely area of a tornado would be very close to Iowa City. So if you're in Iowa City,
00:48take shelter. If you're in Iowa City or points south to near Kelowna
00:52near West Liberty. This is also a destructive severe thunderstorm warning
00:56that is running concurrent with this. So there's some fierce straight line winds, but also
01:00the risk of a tornado. And again, here just looking at the leading edge
01:04of this here, we are facing some very strong wind racing into
01:08West Liberty, but also the risk is there for a tornado on the north side of that.
01:12So again, this may be a bookend vortex that we often face
01:16when we have screaming straight line winds that really accelerate
01:20and then kind of on the backside, almost like a wingtip vortex there.
01:24You might see with an airplane, the risk is there for a tornado near Iowa City.
01:28So elsewhere, we do have some other strong storms. And
01:32as I pull this map southward, we can bring up the more comprehensive
01:36radar view down into areas near Ottumwa. Severe thunderstorms into
01:40Mercer County of Missouri. Other areas here facing some strong storms near
01:44St. Joseph, Missouri. Also into Wichita. Also the destructive
01:48thunderstorm warning here into parts of northern Oklahoma and Grant and Alfalfa County.
01:52So we do have a lot of different concerns here on the map. And
01:56overall, the risk continues for this storm to produce a lot of
02:00damage. Trailer blown over on Highway 22 near Kelowna in
02:04Iowa. And that was at 543, so
02:08about a half hour ago, a little less than that, 543 central time.
02:12So again, some indications of some severe damage being dealt by this storm.
02:16And as I turn the reports off, you can see that we are dealing with again
02:20a storm continuing to move east with the risk of an isolated tornado here.
02:24Radar confirmed tornado is what the National Weather Service is indicating
02:28here. With this eastbound storm, an aggressive one, moving through
02:32Iowa City. And just wanted to look at the most recent radar frame here for the
02:36velocity scan. Still showing us some very strong
02:40movement away from the radar site, but screaming inbound wind here. And that
02:44risk of a tornado is present near Iowa City and moving to
02:48the east with some strong straight line winds off to the south. So it does look like
02:52a bookend vortex type situation. Screaming straight line winds and the risk
02:56of a tornado on the north side of this here near Iowa City.
03:00As we take a look at the bigger picture here, our ongoing watches continue.
03:04We have a severe thunderstorm watch or two and a tornado watch that does continue
03:08here into parts of eastern Iowa, northern Missouri, and down into Kansas
03:12as well. And damaging wind, flooding are the biggest concerns here, but also
03:16the risk of a tornado is present.