Thunderstorms produced damaging winds and two brief tornadoes in Lyon, Clay, and Dickinson Counties in northwest Iowa from the late evening hours of June 17th to a little after midnight on June 18th.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS FSD wrote it up.
Thunderstorms produced damaging winds and two brief tornadoes in Lyon, Clay, and Dickinson Counties in northwest Iowa from the late evening hours of June 17th to a little after midnight on June 18th.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 17, 3:27 PM CST, 7 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 427 PM CDT TUE JUN 17 2014 .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY) ISSUED AT 315 PM CDT TUE JUN 17 2014 WE HAVE AN ENVIRONMENT OVER THE AREA PARTIALLY SUITABLE FOR STORM DEVELOPMENT EXCEPT FOR THE CAP...WHICH WILL BE SLOW TO BE BROKEN OUTSIDE OF THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF THE AREA...AND THAT AREA SEEMS TOO FAR SOUTH TO GET MUCH. IN FACT...WITH STORM INITIATION DELAYED... POSSIBLY UNTIL CLOSE TO 00Z/7 PM CDT...BOTH STORM COVERAGE AND THE TIME DURATION OF THE THREAT WILL BE LIMITED. MOST OF THE THREAT SHOULD BE OVER AROUND 1 AM AS DISTINCT SHORT WAVE PULLS EAST NORTHEAST OF THE AREA. THIS SHORT WAVE SEEMS TO BE THE MAIN REASON WE WILL GET ENOUGH LIFT ANYWHERE TO BREAK THE CAP. POPS WILL BE MAXIMIZED AT HIGH CHANCE EAST CENTRAL...OR IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE AREA NEAR THE MN/IA BORDER. ALL THIS SAID...THE CONDITIONAL PROBABILITY OF SEVERE STORMS IS PRETTY HIGH...AND THE RISK OF HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND EVEN A TORNADO WITH STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP WILL STILL EXIST. LOCAL HEAVY RAIN IS STILL A THREAT...BUT GIVEN THE EXPECTED LIMITED COVERAGE...MODEST MOVEMENT OF CELLS...AND THE LIMITED TIME...DO NOT PLAN ON A FLASH FLOOD WATCH DESPITE THE OBVIOUS RECORD SOGGINESS. THE WARM AND HUMID INFLOW WILL CONTINUE...AND LOW TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE IN THE UPPER 60S TO LOWER 70S. WEDNESDAY SHOULD START RAIN FREE FOR THE MORNING INTO THE START OF THE AFTERNOON...WILL NOT SAY DRY SINCE IT WILL BE SO HUMID. THE APPROACHING MAJOR TROUGH AND SURFACE SYSTEM WILL BEGIN TO TRIGGER STORMS PROBABLY AROUND MID AFTERNOON...WITH STORMS SLOWLY EXPANDING IN COVERAGE AT THE END OF THE DAY. DESPITE THE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE...STRONG WARMING AND HEATING SHOULD KEEP LOW CLOUDS TO LESS THAN TODAY AND ALLOW FOR HEATING TO THE 80S WEST AND NORTH TO THE LOWER 90S SOUTHEAST. .LONG TERM...(WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY) ISSUED AT 315 PM CDT TUE JUN 17 2014 STILL QUITE A BIT OF UNCERTAINTY ON HOW THE PRECIPITATION WILL UNFOLD MOVING INTO WEDNESDAY EVENING AND NIGHT. FAIRLY STRONG WAVE ROTATES THROUGH THE AREA FROM THE MAIN UPPER LOW OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES. SURFACE LOW LIFTS NORTHEAST ACROSS OUR WESTERN FORECAST AREA WITH ATTENDANT COLD FRONT GRADUALLY SHIFTING EASTWARD THROUGH THE FORECAST AREA INTO THURSDAY MORNING. THE MAIN QUESTION IS WHERE THIS BOUNDARY SETS UP AND HOW FAR EAST IT ADVANCES THROUGH THURSDAY. THUNDERSTORMS BECOME LIKELY LATE WEDNESDAY EVENING INTO THE EARLY MORNING HOURS. THE AREA APPEARS TO BE WELL CAPPED EVEN WITH HOT SURFACE TEMPERATURES...BUT THINK THAT THIS SHOULD BE OVERCOME BY THE STRONG WAVE AND FRONTAL BOUNDARIES. STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP SHOULD GO SEVERE WITH VERY HIGH INSTABILITY AND STEEP LAPSE RATES...HOWEVER SHEAR INITIALLY IS MARGINAL. BETTER DIRECTIONAL SHEAR DEVELOPS LATE EVENING AND EARLY MORNING BUT THE LOW LEVEL JET NEVER REALLY REVS UP OVER OUR AREA. EXPECT VERY LARGE HAIL...STRONG WINDS AS THE MAIN THREAT WITH A SMALL THREAT FOR TORNADOES EARLY IN THE EVENING. AROUND MIDNIGHT AND INTO THE EARLY MORNING...THE THREAT WILL TRANSITION MORE TO STRONG WINDS. HEAVY RAINFALL WILL AGAIN BE A CONCERN AND WILL NEED TO BE WATCHED CLOSELY GIVEN THE RECENT FLOODING ISSUES AND PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES UP ABOVE 1.5 ONCE AGAIN. WILL HOLD OFF ON ANY ADDITIONAL HEADLINES UNTIL THERE IS A BIT MORE CERTAINTY. FURTHER OUT CERTAINTY REMAINS QUITE LOW. A SLOW MOVING UPPER LOW GRADUALLY MEANDERS ALONG THE CANADIAN BORDER THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK INTO THE WEEKEND. THIS WILL KEEP THE PATTERN FAIRLY ACTIVE WITH QUASI-ZONAL FLOW LOCKED OVER THE REGION AND SEVERAL WAVES TRACKING ACROSS THE NORTHERN PLAINS. DID NOT ALTER THE ALLBLEND POPS WHICH BRING IN LOW END CHANCES OF PRECIPITATION TO SOME PART OF THE FORECAST AREA NEARLY EVERY PERIOD. TEMPERATURES COOL A BIT BEHIND THE FRONT ON THURSDAY AND HOLD NEAR OR JUST ABOVE AVERAGE INTO THE EXTENDED. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON) ISSUED AT 1240 PM CDT TUE JUN 17 2014 AREAS OF CEILINGS 1-3K FEET SHOULD LIFT TO 3-4K FEET OR BECOME SCATTERED CLOUDS BY 21Z. OTHERWISE GENERALLY VFR THROUGH 18/06Z BUT WITH ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING AFTER 21Z. STORMS SHOULD END BY 18/06Z. HAVE NOT MENTIONED STORMS AT THIS TIME IN TAFS DUE TO EXPECTED LOW COVERAGE AND TAF MENTIONING CRITERIA. 18/06Z-15Z VFR WITH AREAS OF CEILINGS 1-2K FEET AND VISIBILITIES 3-5SM/BR...18/15Z-18Z CONDITIONS AGAIN BECOMING VFR WITH HEATING. && .FSD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...NONE. MN...NONE. IA...NONE. NE...NONE. && SHORT TERM... LONG TERM... AVIATION...
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 739 PM CDT TUE JUN 17 2014 IAZ001>003-012>014-020>022-031-032-MNZ080-081-089-090-097-098- NEZ013-014-SDZ055-056-061-062-065>071-190045- LYON-OSCEOLA-DICKINSON-SIOUX-OBRIEN-CLAY-PLYMOUTH-CHEROKEE- BUENA VISTA-WOODBURY-IDA-MURRAY-COTTONWOOD-NOBLES-JACKSON- PIPESTONE-ROCK-DIXON-DAKOTA-LAKE-MOODY-MCCOOK-MINNEHAHA- HUTCHINSON-TURNER-LINCOLN-BON HOMME-YANKTON-UNION- 739 PM CDT TUE JUN 17 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST IOWA...SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...NORTHEAST NEBRASKA...EAST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA AND SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT WIDESPREAD RIVER AND OVERLAND FLOODING WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TODAY DUE TO ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL SINCE MONDAY AFTERNOON. IN ADDITION TO AREAL FLOOD WARNINGS ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH THIS EVENING...RIVER FLOOD WARNINGS REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR MANY RIVER AND CREEKS. THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING THROUGH AROUND MIDNIGHT...WITH A SEVERE THREAT MAINLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 90. THE PRIMARY SEVERE THREATS WILL BE LARGE HAIL UP TO GOLF BALL SIZE...AS WELL AS WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH AND AN ISOLATED TORNADO. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WOULD ALSO BE POSSIBLE...ALTHOUGH ANY STORM WILL BE FAST MOVING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL INCREASE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON INTO WEDNESDAY NIGHT. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE...WITH ADDITIONAL AREAS OF HEAVY RAIN ALSO A CONCERN IN ALREADY FLOODED LOCATIONS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION LIKELY BETWEEN 7 PM AND MIDNIGHT SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 90. MNZ071-072-SDZ038>040-050-052>054-057>060-063-064-190045- LINCOLN-LYON-BEADLE-KINGSBURY-BROOKINGS-GREGORY-JERAULD-SANBORN- MINER-BRULE-AURORA-DAVISON-HANSON-CHARLES MIX-DOUGLAS- 739 PM CDT TUE JUN 17 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...EAST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA AND SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING THROUGH AROUND MIDNIGHT...WITH A SEVERE THREAT MAINLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 90. THE PRIMARY SEVERE THREATS WILL BE LARGE HAIL UP TO GOLF BALL SIZE...AS WELL AS WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH AND AN ISOLATED TORNADO. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WOULD ALSO BE POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL INCREASE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON INTO WEDNESDAY NIGHT. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE...WITH ADDITIONAL AREAS OF HEAVY RAIN ALSO A CONCERN IN ALREADY FLOODED LOCATIONS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION POSSIBLE BETWEEN 8 PM AND MIDNIGHT SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 90.
The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:27 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A brief tornado caused no reported damage.
A brief tornado damaged a few outbuildings.
Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including large limbs blown down.
Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including up to 12 inch diameter limbs blown down.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Iowa, 2014Warnings in Iowa, June 2014
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 521194, 521197, 521198, 521200, 521202, 521203.