National Weather Service confirms EF1 tornado blows through Patterson Creek area south of Hanover late August 5
Path of August 5 tornado in Allamakee County ... The map image above created by the National Weather Service shows the path the EF1 tornado traveled when it blew through western Allamakee County Monday, August 5 around 10:30 p.m. Starting just to the east of Patterson Creek Drive’s intersection with Liddiard Bottoms Road south of the Hanover area and about five miles north of Waukon, the tornado’s path was determined to have initially followed Patterson Creek and Patterson Creek Drive before continuing due east across State Highway 76 about a half-mile south of its intersection with Mulberry Drive and also crossing Silver Creek Road before finally coming to an end nearly four miles from its point of origin. With a maximum wind speed determined at 105 mph, the tornado caused some minor to moderate damage to several building structures, but no injuries were reported from the late Monday evening storm.
Some of the structural damage ... The two photos pictured above and below taken the morning of Tuesday, August 6 show some of the most significant damage to structures the August 5 EF1 tornado inflicted in the Patterson Creek area just south of Hanover and about five miles north of Waukon in Allamakee County. The farm building pictured in the photo at left taken by Lissa Blake is located on Sandpiper Road just south of the Hanover area, and the home pictured in the photo at right provided by the National Weather Service shows remnants of a garage that had been torn away from the house by the storm, along with other roof and siding damage to the home that is located along Patterson Creek Drive near the point of origin of the tornadic activity defined by the National Weather Service, close to Patterson Creek Drive’s intersection with Liddiard Bottoms Road.
Minor to moderate structure damage but no injuries reported from county’s first-ever August tornado
The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado did indeed blow through Allamakee County later in the evening of Monday, August 5. Reports from the National Weather Service indicate that an EF1 tornado (characterized by wind speeds between 86-110 mph on the Enhanced Fujita [EF] Scale) made its way through the Patterson Creek area in west central Allamakee County and across State Highway 76 just south of St. Mary’s Church at Hanover, about five miles north of Waukon.
Using radar from the Monday evening storm, coupled with follow-up investigation the next day, the National Weather Service report describes the tornado as having hovered between an EF0 (winds between 65-85 mph) and EF1 designation with a maximum wind speed of 105 mph, a maximum width of 50 yards and traveling 3.79 miles, primarily from west to east, from a timeframe of 10:29-10:38 p.m. Initially starting just to the east of the Patterson Creek Drive intersection with Liddiard Bottoms Road, the tornado path was determined to have initially followed Patterson Creek Drive and Patterson Creek itself before continuing due east and crossing State Highway 76 about a half-mile south of its intersection with Mulberry Drive and also crossing Silver Creek Road, where it ended a short time later, according to the map (pictured at right) included in the National Weather Service report.
The summary of the tornadic event included in the National Weather Service report read as follows: “This shorter tornado damaged mainly trees along its path north of Waukon. One home had a garage roof taken off and several outbuildings/vehicles were damaged as well.” Some of that storm damage is pictured in the photos accompanying this article, with no injuries being reported from the storm and electrical power having to be restored.
A further description by the National Weather Service of the storm system that created the Allamakee County tornado offered the following: “During the evening hours of August 5, a line of thunderstorms moved through portions of southeast Minnesota, northeast Iowa and southwestern Wisconsin, producing pockets of wind damage along its track. Most notably, an embedded supercell tracked from far south-central Minnesota into northeast Iowa after sunset. This storm cycled and produced numerous circulations on radar along with at least two documented tornadoes. Additionally, heavy rainfall across the region produced localized flooding with rainfall reports of 1”-2” - locally higher in spots.”
In addition to the tornado in Allamakee County, the other “documented tornado” by the National Weather Service from the August 5 storm system came from Worth County in north central Iowa, where a weather spotter confirmed (with a photo) small tornadic activity on the eastern border of Worth County with Mitchell County, just to the west of the small community of Carpenter, that the National Weather Service was not able to define on the EF Scale. In between the two documented tornadoes, several other wind damage reports (mainly with tree damage cited) were received by the National Weather Service, with a majority of those being documented in Winneshiek County in the Bluffton area and just to the north of Decorah.
For additional photos and to read the full article, pick up the Wednesday, August 14, 2024 print edition of The Standard or subscribe to our e-edition or print edition by clicking here.
