Cleanup from Sunday night’s storms continues while north-central Iowa braces for severe storms tonight

MASON CITY — North-central Iowa is cleaning up from one round of storms that moved through the area early this morning, but you should stay weather aware from later today through the overnight hours again as the National Weather Service is predicting an even more severe round of storms to pass through the listening area.

There are several reports of trees being down and power being out across the listening area. Cerro Gordo County Engineer Brandon Billings says his crews were out overnight and this morning to help clear things off the roads.   “Last night and this morning, we’re dealing with at least 12 trees down in the roads that we’ve found so far. Lots of trees are down all over the county, mostly toward the north at this point. That’s going to be most of the day today, getting those chopped off and hauled off just to get them out of the way.”

=== Much of north-central Iowa is in an “Enhanced Risk” for severe weather — that’s third on the five-tier scale — while portions of southwestern Minnesota and eastern South Dakota are in a “Moderate Risk” — that’s the second-highest level. The National Weather Service says a long-lived damaging wind event is expected to form this afternoon into the evening hours over South Dakota and Minnesota and move southeasterly into Iowa. Besides damaging winds, hail, heavy rain, and an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out. You can follow watches and warnings here at northiowanow.com