F0 tornado, Lytton, Iowa, June 23, 1998

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F0

Date

June 23, 1998

Touchdown

10:15 PM CDT (03:15 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Calhoun County

Touchdown point

42.480, -94.800

Lift-off point

42.480, -94.800

Record number

364

Once again, a warm frontal boundary was located to the south of Iowa with very warm and unstable air just to the south of the front. Dew point temperatures were in the low 70s in the warm air. This moisture was drawn north over the frontal boundary, into Iowa. A large mesoscale convective system developed over northwest Iowa and moved east during the evening hours. Initially, the system produced hail over an inch in diameter, but the main severe weather associated with the storms was high winds. Some building damage was reported in Palmer in Pocahontas County. A grain bin was damaged by high winds in Humboldt in Humboldt County. Windows were blown out at a mall department store in Webster County at Fort Dodge. Winds of 65 to 80 MPH were common in many areas. Wind damage on a farm near Clear Lake allowed a herd of cattle to escape. A man driving a van on U.S. highway 18 hit and killed six of the cattle. Damage from around the Clear Lake area was placed at nearly $1,000,000. High winds in Hancock County caused extensive damage on a farmstead north of Britt. The barn, several out buildings, and two cars were destroyed along with damage to the farm house as well. There was also one brief tornado touchdown in Calhoun County northeast of Lytton. Little damage occurred as it touched down in open country. As the storm advanced, high winds blew toward the Manson area. Damage was extensive from west of the town into the city of Manson. Numerous buildings were damaged by the high winds and several outbuildings and barns were nearly destroyed. The other major concern was with flooding. Iowa soil was nearly saturated at the time when heavy rainfall ensued. Rainfall of 3 to 4 inches in less than two hours was reported in Calhoun County. Numerous roads were closed by high water and knee deep water was reported in much of the town. Three to five inches of rain occurred in Sac and parts of Kossuth Counties as well. Most of the other areas where flash flooding was reported received 2 to 3 inches of rain in less than three hours. As thunderstorms moved across Carroll County, lightning struck a house in the town of Glidden. Appliances were damaged, power was knocked out, and part of the house was knocked off of its foundation.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

23 minutes of warning. NWS DMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:52 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:25 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 09:54 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 122 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:17 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in IowaEvery tornado in Iowa since 1950Warnings in force in Iowa nowThe forecast where you are

21 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.