Severe weather triggered several Tornado Warnings on Tuesday from Kansas through southeastern Iowa, with several of the twisters captured on video.
The Storm Prediction Center said atmospheric ingredients were great enough to trigger several tornadoes, including at least one that was cone-shaped in southeastern Iowa.
According to Chad Hahn, a warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Des Moines, Iowa, the threat was the Hawkeye State’s first widespread severe weather threat of the year.
Damage was reported in communities such as Mediapolis, Pleasant Grove and Salem in Iowa, where a FOX Weather Storm Tracker captured exclusive video of at least one commercial building being damaged in the high winds.
Several homes were also reported damaged in nearby New London, Iowa.
Early Tuesday morning, an American Airlines flight from Kansas City to Chicago returned to the airport due to a possible lightning strike.
The flight landed safely at Kansas City International Airport and taxied to the gate under its own power.
The airline told FOX Weather that a maintenance team is inspecting the aircraft, and all customers have been accommodated on alternate flights.
In Clay County, Missouri, there was also damage to trees near the Camp Branch area of Smithville Lake, according to National Weather Service storm reports.
A mobile home was flipped over, but no injuries were reported. Significant damage was reported to Kansas City Trapshooters Association facilities in Smithville, Missouri.
The NWS office in Topeka, Kansas, said it received several reports of damage across Osage County, to the south of Topeka.
A survey team determined that the tornado was on the ground for 20 minutes and damaged several buildings. At least two people were injured by the twister when their RV was flipped over.
As the storms continued moving east, an emergency manager reported a tornado in Platte County, Nebraska, 3 miles southwest of Platte Center.
The manager also reported that the tornado roped out before touching down again.
Another tornado was confirmed within a Tornado Warning just east of Minburn, Iowa, in Dallas County.
There was damage to an outbuilding and sheet metal was scattered in fields, according to NWS storm reports.
More than 20,000 electric outages were reported on Tuesday evening across four states, with Missouri leading the way with more than half the outages, according to PowerOutage.us.
During Tuesday’s activity, the NWS office that services the Quad Cities had to briefly transfer forecasting responsibilities to the NWS office in Des Moines as a tornado-warned thunderstorm approached the NWS facility.
After the storm passed, there was no reported damage to the weather office and staff took over responsibility for issuing warnings for eastern Iowa and western Illinois.
The SPC received more than a dozen reports of tornadoes from Tuesday’s event with more than 100 reports of damaging wind and hail, with most located in Missouri and Iowa.
Wednesday’s severe threat shifts east
Day three of severe storms will see the action shift to the southern Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley.
Scattered thunderstorms are possible across parts of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.
The SPC issued a Level 2 out of 5 risk for portions of Indiana, Ohio and southern Michigan.
The timing for storms begins Wednesday afternoon and will continue into the evening hours.
The highlighted area may experience a mix of severe hazards, including hail, wind, heavy rain and tornadoes.
