Confirmed Tornado near Avoca Iowa Wednesday November 11th

Powerful Pacific System Impacting the West; First Significant Snow for Portions of the East

Power Pacific system will continue to bring significant impacts for Pacific Northwest into northern California the remainder of the week. Dangerous coastal affects, heavy rain, flooding, strong winds, and higher elevation mountain snow continues. Meanwhile, a storm across the east is set to bring the first accumulating snow to many higher elevations of the Catskills into the central Appalachians. Read More >

Path of the Avoca, IA Tornado with additional information below. Links to download points and path. Open in Google Earth: https://www.weather.gov/source/oax/storm_survey.kmz

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 115 PM CST FRI NOV 13 2015...UPDATED WITH ENDPOINT AND WIDTH ...NWS PRELIMINARY DAMAGE SURVEY FOR NOV 11 2015 TORNADO EVENT NEAR AVOCA IOWA... A NWS DAMAGE SURVEY TEAM EXAMINED THE DAMAGE CAUSED BY A TORNADO IN SOUTHWEST IOWA JUST TO THE WEST AND NORTH OF AVOCA IOWA. BASED ON THIS SURVEY THE TEAM HAS REPORTED THESE PRELIMINARY FINDINGS: RATING: EF-1 ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 110 MPH PATH LENGTH: 8.7 MILES PATH WIDTH: 150 YARDS FATALITIES: 0 INJURIES: 0 START DATE: NOV 11 2015 START TIME: TBD START LOCATION: 2 MILES WEST OF AVOCA IOWA END DATE: NOV 11 2015 END TIME: TBD END LOCATION: TBD PRELIMINARY INFORMATION FROM THIS SURVEY WAS BASED ON THE DAMAGE SURVEY TEAM FINDINGS IN ADDITION TO TORNADO FOOTAGE. THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN WEST SOUTH WEST OF AVOCA IOWA LEAVING SCOUR MARKS IN A HARVESTED CORN FIELD. THE TORNADO CONTINUED TO MOVE NORTHEAST DAMAGING A GRAIN BIN AND SPREADING DEBRIS TOWARD INTERSTATE 80. THE TORNADO CROSSED INTERSTATE 80...AN EASTBOUND TRACTOR TRAILER WAS LOFTED ACROSS THE MEDIAN AND LANDED FACING EAST IN THE WESTBOUND DITCH. THE DRIVER WAS NOT INJURED. THE TORNADO PROCEEDED NORTH NORTHEAST CAUSING DAMAGE TO A HANDFUL OF FARMSTEADS. MOST OF THE DAMAGE WAS TO OUTBUILDINGS...BARNS AND TREES. DAMAGE CONTINUED SOUTHWEST OF THE HARLAN AIRPORT WHICH REPORTED A MEASURED WIND GUST TO 76 MPH. THE TORNADO APPEARS TO HAVE LIFTED TO THE NORTHEAST OF THE AIRPORT. EF SCALE: THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES TORNADOES INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES. EF0...WEAK......65 TO 85 MPH EF1...WEAK......86 TO 110 MPH EF2...STRONG....111 TO 135 MPH EF3...STRONG....136 TO 165 MPH EF4...VIOLENT...166 TO 200 MPH EF5...VIOLENT...>200 MPH NOTE: THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT AND PUBLICATION IN NWS STORM DATA. $$ NIETFELD/KERN/BOUSTEAD