Historic December Storm Causes Widespread Damage Across Iowa

A line of storms swept across the state of Iowa Wednesday, December 15th. This line of storms spawned multiple tornadoes and caused straight-line winds to gust in excess of 70-mph.

Prior to Wednesday, the National Weather Service had only issued a couple of tornado warnings in Iowa dating back to 1950. On Wednesday, they issued more than a dozen. There were numerous confirmed tornadoes that caused damage near Neola, Bayard, Jefferson, Cresco, and Rudd, Iowa to name a few of the communities hardest hit.

On Thursday, Governor Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for 43 counties in response to Wednesday’s severe weather across Iowa.

The governor’s proclamation allows state resources to be utilized to respond to and recover from the effects of this severe weather and activates the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program for qualifying residents, along with the Disaster Case Management Program, for the following counties: Allamakee, Appanoose, Audubon, Bremer, Buena Vista, Butler, Calhoun, Cass, Cerro Gordo, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Davis, Fayette, Floyd, Greene, Guthrie, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Harrison, Howard, Ida, Kossuth, Lucas, Madison, Marshall, Mills, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery, O’Brien, Page, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Sac, Shelby, Union, Washington, Webster, Winnebago, Winneshiek, Wright, and Worth. 

In addition to the line of strong storms, a high wind warning was in effect as winds behind the line of storms were gusting in excess of 70 to 80-mph. This in itself caused damage across the state.

Our ISCN storm chaser teams were out in the thick of the action Wednesday evening broadcasting live from under the storm as seen in this video. Many ISCN followers were reporting that the ISCN Weather app was alerting them of the dangerous storms approaching their area, which allowed them to seek shelter and stay safe before the storm arrived.