Tornado touches down near Williamsburg Monday

Jan. 16, 2023 5:46 pm, Updated: Jan. 17, 2023 7:56 am

Large storm clouds pass through Lisbon on Monday. The storm produced tornado warnings for several Eastern Iowa counties including Benton and Linn. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

A tractor sits parked out in a field with dark storm clouds behind it near Mechanicsville on Monday. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

Storm Clouds north of Ely on Monday. Unseasonably warm weather brought tornadoes and hail to Eastern Iowa. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)

A semi-tractor trailer truck and a passenger vehicle were blown off the roadway near mile marker 223 on Interstate 80 in the rural Williamsburg area around 2 p.m., when the tornado touched down. No injuries were reported. (Iowa County Sheriff’s Office photo)

A tornado touched down near Williamsburg Monday — the first time the state has seen a January tornado in more than 50 years.

The tornado was reported on the ground at 2:01 p.m. and traveled northeast, prompting warnings across a swath of Eastern Iowa. It was cleared within a couple of hours, according to Tom Phillip, a meteorologist with the Quad Cities National Weather Service Office.

The tornado warning area covered parts of Benton, Johnson, Jones, Linn and Iowa Counties. The exact path of the tornado hasn’t been determined yet, but Phillip said the NWS office will be releasing more information when it’s available.

This is the first tornado Iowa has seen in January since Jan. 24, 1967, Phillip said.

In addition to the tornado, there were reports of hail in Eastern Iowa, including 1 inch in Homestead, and 3/4 of an inch near Shueyville. Quarter-inch hail was reported in Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, Lisbon and Manchester.

Temperatures across Iowa were unseasonably warm Monday. The normal high temperature is usually around 27 degrees, but according to the National Weather Service, Cedar Rapids saw a high of 50 degrees on Monday.