EF3 tornado, Weller to Albia, Iowa, June 22, 2015

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mphthis tornado

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

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

6. EF5over 200 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

EF3

Date

June 22, 2015

Touchdown

5:05 PM CDT (22:05 UTC)

Lifted

5:34 PM CDT (22:34 UTC)

On the ground

29 minutes

Path length

11.1 miles (17.9 km)

Path width

575 yards (526 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$150,000

Crop damage

$23,000

Counties

Marion, Lucas and Monroe counties

Touchdown point

41.166, -93.117

Lift-off point

41.058, -92.960

Record number

1506221605-01

33 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DMX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 142 mph.

• Continued path. Crossed road.
• Built in 1974. Estimated width 475 yards.
• 3 grain bins. 2 visible in pic
• significant roof cleanup complete

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

In the afternoon storms fired up ahead of and along a cold front that was entering Iowa from the northwest. Numerous storms had severe hail, produced damaging winds, and two tornadoes. The first tornado was on the ground for several miles tracking through portions of Marion, Lucas and Monroe Counties. The second tornado formed just west of Albia and struck the town of Albia damaging several homes and businesses. Flash flooding was also reported in Davis and Monroe Counties.

This powerful tornado entered from Lucas County. The tornado reached its peak intensity of EF-3 in NW Monroe County, where a house was completely swept off its foundation. Extensive tree damage was also noted in this area.

This tornado developed and intensified quickly just to the west of Albia where EF-2 damage occurred. The tornado dissipated as it swept into the SW corner of Albia, damaging several homes and businesses.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:56 UTC and running to 00:56 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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:07 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), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:07 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2015 tornado in IowaEvery tornado in Iowa since 1950Warnings in force in Iowa nowThe forecast where you are

26 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.