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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
National Weather Service records 9 tornadoes following Friday storm
Three of the recorded twisters touched down in Linn County.
Jul. 14, 2025 6:08 pm, Updated: Jul. 15, 2025 9:33 am
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At least nine tornadoes touched down in Iowa last week — including three in Linn County.
The tornadoes took place during heavy storms that struck central and Eastern Iowa on Friday. The twisters were accompanied by heavy rain, high winds and — in some portions of the state — flash flooding.
No injuries were reported in any of the nine incidents confirmed as of Monday afternoon, per information from the National Weather Service’s Quad Cities bureau.
Preliminary data from the National Weather Service confirmed that at least three tornadoes had occurred in Linn County with the strongest being an EF2 tornado that touched down near Alburnett around 3:46 p.m. Friday.
That tornado hit maximum wind speeds of 120 mph, per a National Weather Service report, and caused damage to one homestead, as well as multiple trees, utility lines and outbuildings along its 6.8-mile path. In all, the tornado was on the ground for roughly seven minutes.
The National Weather Service also recorded two EF1 tornadoes that occurred Friday in Linn County. Tornadoes are measured using the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale ranging zero through five that uses metrics such as wind speed and damage. EF0 is the weakest score, and EF5 is the strongest.
The first EF1 tornado touched down around 3:35 p.m. near Center Point and hit maximum wind speeds of 95 mph. The second hit north of Waubeek, an unincorporated community in northeast Linn County, and traveled into Jones County.
The storm system came in what has been an otherwise quiet tornado season for Iowa, where fewer than a dozen tornadoes had touched down in the first six months of 2025. Last year, there were a record-breaking 125 tornadoes recorded across the state.
Six other tornadoes were recorded following Friday’s storms, including:
- An EF2 tornado in Davenport that hit maximum speeds of 120 mph.
- An EF2 tornado north of the Jackson County town of La Motte.
- An EF1 tornado in northeast Jones County north of Scotch Grove that caused significant tree damage along parts of the Maquoketa River.
- An EF1 tornado that hit west of Van Horne in Benton County. Maximum wind speeds were 105 mph.
- An EF1 tornado that caused damage to a Dubuque County maintenance shed near Bernard.
- An EF0 tornado in Le Claire that hit maximum speeds of 85 mph.
A map of those tornadoes’ pathways and additional event/damage summaries can be found on the National Weather Service website.
Comments: grace.nieland@thegazette.com
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