At least 7 fatalities in Central Iowa have been blamed on a destructive EF3 tornado.
(AccuWeather.com) - Severe weather erupted during the weekend across multiple states over the middle of the nation. Iowa was the hardest hit -- and by Monday places ravaged by tornadoes had picked up accumulating snowfall.
Officials said at least seven people were killed in Iowa due to an outbreak of severe weather that unleashed more than two dozen tornadoes, including one EF3 twister. By Monday morning, the weather pattern had shifted to a wintry one and residents in several of the hard-hit were dealing with fresh snowfall.
A confirmed tornado tore through the Des Moines area on Saturday as a potent storm system made its way through the Midwest. At least seven fatalities were reported between two Iowa counties after a large and damaging tornado caused significant damage to the towns of Winterset, Iowa, and Patterson, each located to the southwest of Des Moines, making this the deadliest tornado to hit Iowa since 2008, according to reporting from the Des Moines Register.
As of Sunday morning, preliminary results from Saturday night suggest that at least EF3 tornado damage had been caused by the deadly storm. It indicated wind speeds of 136 to 165 mph.
After the severe weather system cleared out, winter weather quickly swept in behind it and from Sunday night into Monday morning, Des Moines picked up 5 inches of snow. Places surrounding Des Moines picked up anywhere from 3 to 5 inches of snow and temperatures were in the low 20s throughout much of the area early Monday.
As of early Sunday morning, there were a total of 42 preliminary tornado reports, largely sent in from Iowa. Damage reports began to flood in with some reports citing snapped trees, downed power lines and extensive barn and home damage.
Even during the early morning hours on Sunday, tornado warnings were still being issued across central Indiana as storms rolled eastward.
Power outages across Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana added up to more than 70,000 early Sunday morning as a result of the storms and damaging winds shifting through the region, according to poweroutage.us. Power was gradually restored to residents across Iowa throughout the night and outages declined to about Saturday evening to just above 2,000 by early Sunday morning.
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