May 3, 2012 Wayland Tornado
In the evening on May 3, 2012, strong storms developed over northern Missouri and central Iowa. These storms quickly became severe as they moved off to the northeast and into southeastern Iowa. One severe storm that moved across northwestern Henry and southeastern Washington counties did go on to produce a tornado.
Around 8:30 pm, the National Weather Service (NWS) Doppler radar indicated a severe storm capable of producing a tornado. The tornado started about one mile south of Wayland, IA and was later rated as an EF2 with estimated wind speeds around 130 mph. More information on the Enhanced-Fujita (EF) scale can be found here. The quarter-mile wide tornado was on the ground for approximately 4.3 miles and lasted around half an hour. There were no reports of any injuries or fatalities with this storm, however, two homes did lose roofs and two turkey farms were destroyed.
The storms continued to march off to the northeast with reports of additional reports of flooding from heavy rains, along with high winds through Muscatine, IA and into the Quad Cities.