Tornado near Rock Valley, IA around 7 PM 5/1/08

While storm chasing in northwest Iowa on May 1, 2008, I encountered a tornado that eventually grew to about 1/4 mile in width. The tornado did do some damage to farmsteads, but there weren't any injuries that I'm aware of. The video was taken just before/after 7pm. Note, it's not advisable to storm chase unless you have proper training. I also had constant radar imagery and GPS on my laptop so I knew where I was located and knew that I'd be safe. The tornado was rated by the National Weather Service as an EF2 tornado, with an estimated wind speed of 111 to 135 mph, and was on the ground for almost 30 minutes and was about 13 miles long.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Rock
• Valley
• Iowa
• Tornado
• Storm
• Chasing

[al1377]

Hey Waldo...... haha, sounds funny....anyway, how close would you say you got to that amazing tornado? Awesome footage!

[vwaldoguy]

Al, I think I was about 1/2 mile away at one point. Close enough!

[12Ang122]

How far is Rock Valley from Sioux City?

[vwaldoguy]

I believe it's about 60 miles northeast of Sioux City.

[bullhaulr]

it was an f3

[vwaldoguy]

Bullhaulr, the official NWS rating was an EF2. Tornadoes are rated on the damage they produce and not size.

[Baylorfan]

Rock Valley is in NW Iowa, Burlington is in far SE Iowa. They are at least 300 miles away.

[Baylorfan]

Can you guys get a bit closer next time?

[mikederay]

Great footage!!

[keifer33comets]

No, if it has houses and farms on it, it is a gravel road.

[b0mb3at3r]

lol

[moobie1010]

Why does noaa deal with county sized warning areas when tornadoes are so small? Wouldn't we be better served if they instead mentioned how close they are to particular cities? Google maps doesn't know from counties. Just give us a google map type service with a doppler image and a tornado symbol that we can zoom in on and pinpoint our location in relation to these monsters.

[masterking300]

damn dats huge

[hotdoggy854]

I was waiting for a cow to fly across the road