NWS: Wednesday's Storm Was Not a Tornado

The National Weather Service ruled that damage from was in fact straight line winds and not a tornado.

Representatives surveyed the damage after a fast moving storm blew through Ames and Story County about 2 a.m. Wednesday, uprooting trees, felling branches and knocking out power and said it did not appear to be tornado damage. The weather service had issued a tornado warning just north of Ames just before the storm hit.

The highest officially measured wind speed was 61 miles per hour. The Ames Airport, is the only place in the county where the weather service measures wind speed, said Kevin Skow, a NWS meteorologist. A home station measured wind speeds at more than 70 miles an hour, another meteorologist said Wednesday. But after looking at the damage the weather service estimated that wind speeds reached 85 miles an hour Skow said.

“It's quite strong,” Skow said.

Last July a storm with wind gusts as high as 100 miles per hour blew through the county south of Ames, he said, producing some of the strongest winds the area has seen in several years.

Wednesday's storm and an apartment complex as well as the roof from one man's Northridge Heights home. Trees also fell onto at least two other homes in Ames.

The total dollar amount of damage has not been tallied.

“It's really early to place a dollar figure on the damage. It's going to take some time with dollar figures,” Skow said.

, who lost a portion of his roof in the storm, said a contractor told him that it would cost more than $25,000 to make repairs to his home and that he would need a representative from his insurance company to survey the damage before work could begin.

The possibility of severe weather continues through tomorrow, but the greatest threat of severe weather is south of Des Moines, Skow said.