Tornado touches down near Dubuque, weather service confirms

A tornado damaged houses, trees and crops late Monday southwest of the Dubuque Airport as storms swept across Eastern Iowa.

The National Weather Service said the tornado was an EF1, the weakest on a scale to EF5, with peak winds estimated at 100 mph. The storm only briefly touched down at 10:07 p.m. Still, it was enough to tear off portions of two roofs and damage corn plants and trees, the weather service said. No injuries were reported.

The late Monday storms spawned wind gusts mostly of 40 to 55 mph, frequent lightning and some heavy downpours, the weather service said. Storms caused tree damage about 10:40 in various locations in Cedar Rapids, it said. Gusts of up to 54 mph were reported.

Iowa experienced temperatures in July that were 2 to 4.5 degrees above normal, but rainfall in the state was 1 to 4 inches below normal, the weather service said. It predicted Iowa is likely to see below-average temperatures this month, while precipitation likely will be higher than usual in southwest Iowa but normal elsewhere in the state.