The alert came about 4 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 28, when the Montezuma Volunteer Fire Department, as well as other departments in the area, received a warning for severe weather.
This particular alert included a tornado warning for the New Sharon and Montezuma area.
Because of the potential for threatening weather, members of the Montezuma Volunteer Fire Department were called out as storm spotters for the outlying area of Montezuma, said J.R. Shearer, fire chief for the Montezuma department.
Many members of the local fire departments are trained yearly by the National Weather Service (NWS) as storm spotters.
“From the initial page at 4:02 p.m. until 5 p.m., our spotters encountered a tornado southwest of Montezuma moving northeast,” he said. “It was bouncing up and down but never really stayed on the ground long enough to create much damage.”
According to the Des Moines office of the NWS, the tornado hit the ground approximately four miles northwest of New Sharon and dispersed approximately 5.5 miles southwest of Montezuma.
While the Montezuma and New Sharon areas were under a tornado warning, the Montezuma Volunteer Fire Department also sent informational pages to other fire departments with updates on the situation.
Four tornado warnings were issued along a line of storms that went from the Montezuma area north past the Waterloo area.
According to the Des Moines office of the National Weather Service (NWS), the tornado had wind speeds from 70 to 75 miles an hour with a path length of 1.5 miles and a 10-yard-wide width.
There were no injuries or fatalities from the tornado which was rated an EF-0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:
►EF-0 is considered weak (winds 65 to 85 mph)
►EF-1 is also weak (winds 86 to 110 mph)
►EF-2 is considered strong (111 to 135 mph)
►EF-3 is also strong (136 to 165 mph)
►EF-4 is considered violent (166 to 200 mph)
►EF-5 is also violent (more than 200 mph)
While tornadoes in November in Iowa are not that common, they do happen.
According to a report in the Des Moines Register, since 1980, 41 tornadoes have hit Iowa’s surface in November, according to data recorded by the NWS through 2015.
The last time multiple tornadoes (19, to be exact) were reported in November in Iowa was Nov. 11, 2015, ranking seventh in Iowa for one-day activity since 1980, the data shows. A string of 12 tornadoes rampaged through central Iowa on Nov. 12, 2005.
By: Dann Hayes, dhayes1@registermedia.com
2:43 p.m. CST November 29, 2016
