Hail and Damaging Winds in Iowa, April 10, 1995

Thunderstorms produced large amounts of, and large sized hail during this event. Hail ranged in size from dime to golf ball. No damage was reported.

The weather situation was similar to that of the past few days. A strong arctic high pressure cell was centered to the north of Iowa over southern Manitoba, Canada as a stationary front extended east to west-south of Iowa. A strong southerly flow of very unstable air rode over the top of the arctic air mass. Due to the strong gradient and directional shear, helicity values just prior to the thunderstorm development were as high as 1175 m2-s-2 in the surface to three km layer. Thunderstorms erupted rapidly during the late evening hours and quickly became severe. Hail was the main severe weather feature with the storms. Although most were just below severe criteria as the crossed from Missouri into Iowa, many areas reported a hail accumulation of up to an inch of pea- to marble-size hail. A few storms were severe over southeast and east-central Iowa. Golf ball-size hail pelted Lee County west of Fort Madison, with dime-size hail extending northeast into the Quad-Cities area. Golf ball-size hail was also reported in the western part of the city of Burlington. Considerable damage was done as the storm passed over a car dealership. Six hundred twenty cars were damaged by the hail. Strong winds accompanied the storms in Dixon, causing minor damage. High winds toppled a light pole and caused some minor damage in Clinton County at Clinton. Damage was also reported in Cedar County at Tipton when thunderstorm winds tore part of a roof off a hardware store in town. In Jefferson County, lightning struck a propane tank in Fairfield. The tank was set on fire and some damage was also reported in the house.