The school year let out with a bang for area schools Friday, May 24, with both Lisbon and Mount Vernon seeing a one-hour delay due to a tornado warning.
A string of storms from Nebraska clipped across the state overnight, arriving in eastern Iowa beginning at 7 a.m., and not seeing much lessening in their potential for developing rotation, strong winds and heavy rainfall. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), reports of wind gusts upwards of 60 miles per hour were reported in Cedar Rapids and Lowden as part of this storm. Weather radar indicated patches of rotation were present near the rural Lisbon and Mechanicsville area with the band of storms that rolled in from 7 a.m. and lasted to roughly 8:30 a.m.
Storms remained flowing through the area Friday morning and early afternoon, with the next batch of storms hitting at the 4 p.m. time frame.
Those weather impacts followed a similar strong storm that swept through the area Tuesday, May 21. Both Lisbon and Mount Vernon schools canceled evening activities at the schools, postponing some early summer baseball and softball games and last concerts for the schools.
According to NOAA, the storm May 21 had strong straight line wind gusts upwards of 70 miles per hour through several portions of the state. A swath of damage hit Cedar County, including areas of West Liberty, Tipton, Bennett and Maquoketa with the storm.
There was also a more targeted band that hit areas of Solon, rural Lisbon and rural Mount Vernon as well as parts of Jones County with that storm.
Lisbon saw half inch hail fall during portions of the May 21 storm.