Strong thunderstorms which crossed the Missouri River from Nebraska into western Iowa, Wednesday evening caused some minor tree damage in Crawford County. The National Weather Service said today (Thursday), a number of trees in a grove north of Ricketts where either downed, or lost large limbs, when estimated winds gusting up to 65-miles per hour blew through the area. The winds, which occurred at around 7:10-p.m, also caused the formation of a “gustnado,” a short-lived, low-level rotating cloud. They typically last for anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, and are often confused with tornados. The difference is, the rotating column of air does not extend upward, into the thunderstorm cloud base.

The storm also produced nickel-sized hail a few minutes after the winds occurred.