***Official 2023 Weather Thread***

From the Ames History Museum...

Today in local history: on June 13, 1976 at around 3:35 in the afternoon the small town of Jordan, in Boone County, was nearly wiped off the map. The F5 tornado’s 200mph winds destroyed 67 homes, 375 farm buildings, the Jordan elevator, the old Jordan School (shown here), and left a 26-mile-long path of destruction. Story City also had many destroyed buildings. Estimated damage was about $20 million. No human lives were lost.

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I’m kind of a weather buff and have a book on Iowa tornados that a meteorologist at WHO TV gave me during “career day” in middle school. I was re-reading it recently with the added benefit of the internet.

This tornado was so strong it kicked off an anti-cyclonic F3 tornado a couple miles away that travelled in parallel with the parent F5 tornado.
 
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I’m kind of a weather buff and have a book on Iowa tornados that a meteorologist at WHO TV gave me during “career day” in middle school. I was re-reading it recently with the added benefit of the internet.

This tornado was so strong it kicked off an anti-cyclonic F3 tornado a couple miles away that travelled in parallel with the parent F5 tornado.


Yes. And Dr. Fujita said it was the most intense tornado he had ever studied.


Edit: Although not nearly as strong.....today in 1974 a tornado hit Ankeny doing some pretty good damage.
 
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My gauge in west ames had 0.35 inches, but I’m skeptical of its accuracy. Wouldn’t be surprised if we actually had 0.5-0.75” with how heavy the rain was last night.
 
My gauge in west ames had 0.35 inches, but I’m skeptical of its accuracy. Wouldn’t be surprised if we actually had 0.5-0.75” with how heavy the rain was last night.
We're in west Ames, because it's less than half a mile from our closest intersection with Ontario to the Boone-Story County blacktop. However, we're north of Lincoln Way. There's a lot of Ames considered west Ames.
 
We're in west Ames, because it's less than half a mile from our corner to the Boone-Story County blacktop. However, we're north of Lincoln Way. There's a lot of Ames considered west Ames.
We’re west of campus by 1-2 miles near Ontario st, so yes there’s still a fair amount of Ames west of us, but on the whole I think we can be considered “west Ames” haha
 

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