A family driving down a road in Woodbury County, Iowa, recorded with their phone camera the moment a tornado briefly touched down a few feet ahead of them.
In a clip less than a minute shared with KTIV News 4, the car belonging to the Oleson family can be seen driving southbound on I-29 near Sergeant Bluff, when a tornado suddenly appears within a mile in front of the vehicle.
85K views, 426 likes, 11 likes, 346 comments, 1.8K shares, Facebook Watch KTIV News 4 videos: TORNADO VIDEO: This video was shot on I-29 southbound near Sergeant Bluff, Iowa. The video shows…
The camera then follows the tornado, which is rapidly advancing towards the car and passing it on the left, a thick, swirling column of gray air that looks dangerous. The family and their vehicle appear unharmed and spared from the tornado, but KTIV News 4 did not provide more information on the Olesons.
Severe weather was reported in the Big Sioux River basin that stretches through Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and South Dakota on Thursday, with damaging winds moving through the region throughout the afternoon.
KTIV News 4 reported that winds were blowing up to 80 miles per hour and wreaking havoc in their path, damaging buildings and knocking out power lines in nearby northeast Nebraska. In South Dakota, wind gusts reached a record speed of 107 miles per hour.
4:25 p.m. CDT, 2 NW Tripp [Hutchinson Co, SD] MESONET reports TSTM WND GST of M107 MPH. MESONET STATION 26 SD RWIS TRIPP. https://t.co/lGLZ5TzpNw
—IEMBot FSD (@iembot_fsd) May 12, 2022
A severe thunderstorm watch was in effect for eastern Nebraska and western Iowa through 10 p.m. Thursday, the areas hardest hit by the line of fast-moving storms that battered the upper Midwest in the evening.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that a person was killed Thursday night in Kandiyohi County after a grain silo blown over by high winds crashed into a car, killing the passenger.
Residents of Iowa have reported evidence of “haboobs,” intense dust storms caused by air movement before a thunderstorm.
The weather is expected to improve on Friday, although southeast Siouxland could experience a few storms on Saturday, according to KTIV News 4.
The Des Moines Weather Service reported that gusts of 20 to 30 miles per hour were still common Friday morning in central Iowa, but the worst was over.
[5/13 259a] Showers with a few rumbles of thunder are centered roughly along the Highway 71 corridor. While the strongest winds have passed, gusts of 20-30 mph are still common in central Iowa this morning. #iawx pic.twitter.com/zsZ0tNzaxF
— NWS Des Moines (@NWSDesMoines) May 13, 2022
Iowa was hit by a record-breaking heat wave this week, with hot, humid weather gripping the southeastern part of the state on Wednesday and Thursday. The weather forecast expects temperatures to change over the weekend, with a cold front making itself felt on Saturday.
Other high temperature records were broken in Iowa on Thursday, with Waterloo reporting 94 degrees, beating the old record of 89 set in 1900, and Mason City recording 94 degrees, four degrees higher than the previous record reported in 1907 .
