EF0 tornado, Grimes to Elkhart, Iowa, May 24, 2024

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 mph

   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

EF0

Date

May 24, 2024

Touchdown

4:53 AM CDT (09:53 UTC)

Lifted

4:57 AM CDT (09:57 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

3.2 miles (5.1 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

County

Polk County

Touchdown point

41.661, -93.706

Lift-off point

41.695, -93.665

Record number

2405240353-01

A strong QLCS moved across central Iowa during the early morning hours of May 24 producing widespread wind damage and five tornadoes.

This tornado crossed from Dallas County into Polk County just west of Grimes. The tornado proceeded east northeast across portions of western and northern Grimes before dissipating near the intersection of NW Beaverbrook Blvd and NE Park Street. Most of the damage within Grimes occurred to trees and roof shingles.

The path of this tornado started within Terra Parkin Johnston and moved northeast into a housing area before crossing over the Village Square Shopping Center. Most of the damage was done to trees with some minor damage to houses, mainly to shingles. The path continued northeast through Johnston with more tree damage before crossing the Des Moines River north of NW 66th Avenue. The tornado dissipated shortly thereafter near NW Fisher Lane.

Received reports of damage to an outbuilding near the beginning of this tornado with additional damage with a semi moved, outbuilding roof damage and trees partially knocked down. The brief tornado was east of Ankeny.

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

25 minutes of warning. NWS DMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 09:28 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 10:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 07:44 UTC and running to 11:07 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:52 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.

Ankeny (IKV), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 7 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:49 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 2024 tornado in IowaEvery tornado in Iowa since 1950Warnings in force in Iowa nowThe forecast where you are

42 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.