F0 tornado, Alburnett, Iowa, May 31, 2000

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

May 31, 2000

Touchdown

11:38 AM CDT (16:38 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

10 yards (9 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$50,000

County

Linn County

Touchdown point

42.150, -91.620

Lift-off point

42.150, -91.620

Record number

861

Mesoanalysis during the early morning depicted an outflow boundary extending from Central Illinois into Central Iowa with a cold front extending from Northeast Iowa into Eastern Nebraska, intersecting the outflow interface near Des Moines. An elevated bow MCS (Mesoscale Convective System) developed between Mason City and Marshalltown, and raced eastward into Eastern Iowa during the late morning and early afternoon. This system packed high winds and heavy rain as it swept across Eastern Iowa, mainly along and north of Interstate 80. Winds were measured at 60 to 70 mph over portions of the area, knocking down trees and limbs. Recent rains had already saturated the ground throughout Northeast and East Central Iowa. Additional heavy rain with this system forced creeks and streams out of their banks in Buchanan County, washing out several roads. The Little Wapsipinicon River at Fairbank was also sent out of it's banks. Doppler radar estimated rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour. The heavy rain also caused Duck Creek in Davenport to rise to bankfull in areas, and flooded portions of the bike path and surrounding areas near Brady Street. The bow MCS also spawned two weak tornadoes, one which touched down briefly at Alburnett in Linn County, and the other at Center Junction in Jones County.

A tornado touched down at Alburnett causing damage. The center section of the horse barn roof at Strand Arabian Stables was torn off. Sheet metal from the horse barn roof littered surrounding yards, and one woman was cut by the sheet metal. She was taken to St. Luke's Hospital where she was treated and released. There were about 45 horses on the grounds of the stables when the tornado hit, but incredibly none were hurt. A barn also collapsed along Lafayette Road. Ten cows were inside the barn, and one was killed. Damage was also found along East Otter Road. A house had it's roof damaged and siding taken off, and a small shed was destroyed. A minivan was pushed off of a driveway and had it's windows broken out. A garage door was also pushed in on a garage.

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

14 minutes of warning. NWS DVN issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:24 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:00 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 16:49 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.

Cedar Rapids (CID), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:36 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 2000 tornado in IowaEvery tornado in Iowa since 1950Warnings in force in Iowa nowThe forecast where you are

2 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.