(Des Moines, Iowa) – The National Weather Service office in Des Moines, in it’s latest update on Monday, said based on preliminary reports and completed storm surveys, severe storms that lifted northeast across western into central Iowa late in the afternoon into the evening of Friday, April 26, 2024, numbered at least 19. Damage to trees and homes has been reported in multiple counties from Crawford to Union and Ringgold up to around Polk and Jasper Counties.

Teams continue to evaluate damage. Additional tornado tracks and rating will be added in the coming days. A final tornado count will take days to a few weeks as we review radar data, examine hi-res satellite imagery, and look at videos.

• A tornado affecting parts of Shelby & Crawford Counties was rated EF-2, with winds of up to 112-mph and a width of 200-yard. It tracked 9..24-miles. A second tornado was rated EF-1, with winds of 107-mph, a track of 12.32-miles, and a width of 200-yards.
• One tornado hit part of Creston just before 7-p.m., Friday. It was rated an EF-2, with 125-mph winds. It traveled nearly 8.5-miles and was 350-yards wide. A second tornado near Creston was an EF-1 w/100-mph winds, and a width of 80-yards. It tracked for nearly 3-miles.
• Another tornado formed west of Afton and traveled 6.23-miles, with an estimated width of 150-yards and winds as high as 125-mph. EF-2 rating.
• A tornado that formed east of Afton was EF-2 that whipped across Union and into Madison County (13.91-miles), with winds of up to 130-mph. It was 150-yards wide.
• A Ringgold County tornado, near Tingley, was an EF-2 that was 100-yards wide, and traveled 10.31-miles.
• A second tornado near Mount Ayr was rated EF-1, with 100-mph winds, a track of 11.74-miles, and a width of 300-yards.

Learn about the other tornadoes covered by the NWS office in Des Moines, HERE.

(Omaha, NE) – The National Weather Service in Omaha has released a preliminary report on the storms that passed through eastern Nebraska and parts of western Iowa on April 26th. Officials broke down the data as follows:

• A tornado developed to the southeast of the I-29 / U.S. 275 interchange and tracked north-northeast before dissipating at the Pony Creek Park, between 4:52 and 4:57-p.m., Friday. It was rated an EF-1, with winds of up to 100 mph. The twister’s path ran for 2.7-miles, at a maximum width of 80-yards.
• A tornado that formed at 4:58-p.m. developed at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield and moved northeast to just east of Crescent, IA before dissipated 16. 1-miles later, just north of the Harrison-Pottawattamie County line at 5:27-p.m. It was an EF-3, with wind of up to 152-mph, and a width of 516 yards.
• Tornado  #3 developed at around 5:08-p.m. Friday, in rural southwestern Pottawattamie County and tracked north-northeast before dissipating 13.3-miles later to the northeast of McClelland. It was also rated EF-3, with winds topping out at 145-mph and a width of 800-yards.
• Tornado #4 formed east of McClelland at around 5:25-p.m., while the previous Treynor/McClelland tornado was in the process of dissipating. The tornado tracked 40.9-miles north-northeast through the eastern part of Minden, to the immediate east of Tennant, the west of Harlan, and the immediate east of Defiance before dissipating at around 6:30-p.m., just south of the Shelby-Crawford County line. It was an EF-3, with top wind speeds estimated at 160-mph, and a width of 1,700-yards (just under a mile wide). It was responsible for three injuries and one death.
• Tornado #5 in Shelby and Crawford Counties developed at around 6:28-p.m. over the V&W Petersen Wildlife Management Area and moved north to the immediate west of Manilla before dissipating at around 6:44-p.m. in rural Crawford County Iowa, east-southeast of Denison. It was rate an EF-2, with winds of up to 112-mph and a width of 200-yards. It’s path was estimated to be 9.2-miles long.
• Tornado #6 was an EF-1, with winds of up to 107-mph, a width of 100-yards, and a path of 12.3-miles. It developed to the immediate northeast of Defiance and tracked north-northeast into rural Crawford County east-southeast of Denison.
• Five other tornadoes have yet to be defined, according to the latest NWS data.