NWS confirms tornadoes touched down in Minnesota, Wisconsin Wednesday evening
Historic severe weather outbreak slammed the Midwest Wednesday
Damaging tornado downs large transmission power line towers in Iowa
A damaging tornado crossed the highway in Lawton, Iowa, downing huge high voltage transmission power line towers. Meteorologists Simon Brewer and Michael Gordon captured this footage shot in and near the towns of Lawton, Lytton, and Bayard, Iowa during evening daylight and darkness on Dec.15.
The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down in Minnesota and Wisconsin during a severe weather outbreak on Wednesday.
The NWS in La Crosse, Wisconsin, said more damage assessment still needs to be completed, but so far one tornado, an EF-0, touched down outside Lewiston, Minnesota.
A second tornado, an EF-2, touched down north of Neillsville, Wisconsin.
A historic severe weather outbreak brought wild weather to more than a dozen states across the Midwest, spawning rare December tornadoes in the upper Midwest, triple-digit wind gusts in multiple locations, dangerous dust storms, wildfires, record heat and dangerous snow squalls as storms raced across the countryside at highway speeds.
Extreme winds pushing or exceeding hurricane strength caused the most damage, with 100 mph gusts in Colorado, New Mexico and Kansas and 30 other reports across six states of 90 mph gusts or more.
The National Weather Service in the Twin Cities said tornado warnings issued Wednesday night was the first time they had been issued in the month of December.
More than 70 tornado warnings had been issued across the Midwest during the severe weather event.