Scattered damage to trees and power lines is reported across northern and central Iowa after thunderstorms last night and early this morning, some of which packed strong winds.
MidAmerican Energy reports the power was out to some 30,000 homes statewide at the peak of the storm.
National Weather Service meteorologist Brooke Hagenhoff says those winds are to blame.
“Around midnight or so we had some gusts between 60 to 70 miles an hour,” Hagenhoff says. “As the storms have gone south through the early morning hours, we’re still seeing gusts between 40 to 50 mph across central to southern Iowa.”
Once these storms pass, Hagenhoff says another muggy July day is ahead.
“The heat builds in really quickly and with that also humidity with all of this rain that’s around,” she says. “We’re looking at the heat index this afternoon, that feels-like temperature between 105 to 110 or even higher, so dangerous heat here settling in.”
An Extreme Heat Warning will be posted starting at noon for western Iowa and for the state’s southern half, as heat indices may reach as high as 115 degrees, though Hagenhoff says a cool-down is coming soon.
“Southern Iowa is still going to be pretty steamy on Tuesday, but by Wednesday, the entire state is going to see high temperatures just in the 70s,” she says, “so quite a bit of relief on the way if we can just make it to Wednesday.”
No injuries were reported in this morning’s severe weather.
(Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City contributed to this story.)
