Tornado touches down outside Charles City

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Tornado sirens went off in Charles City on Thursday afternoon after a funnel cloud was spotted south of town.

The funnel cloud was spotted at approximately 1:00 p.m., with the Charles City Police Department and Floyd County Sheriffs deputies watching the path of the storm.

Floyd County Emergency Management reported confirmation of a tornado on the ground at 1:10 p.m., moving southeast near Charles City at 15 mph. The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning until 1:45 p.m.

“Foremost, these funnel clouds are hard to warn for due to the fact that the systems (non-supercell) that they are associated with don’t show rotation on radar, they are short-lived, and generally aren’t too damaging. Conditions like these will remain the same through this afternoon,” wrote Floyd County Emergency Management Coordinator Jason Webster on the department’s Facebook page. “This was a good reminder to always be weather aware out there!”