Parts of northern Ames were hit hard early Wednesday morning by a thunderstorm complex producing straight line winds upwards of 80 mph. The KCCI SchoolNet8 site in Ames sampled this event at about 6 second resolution and its data is presented in the featured graph. Data for only a seven minute period is shown between 1:49 and 1:56 AM. The peak wind gust of 61 mph occurred very briefly with wind speeds a few seconds later back down to around 20 mph. The pressure trace shows the jump in pressure as the colder thunderstorm air rushes by. The wind direction also shows an organized change from south to westerly winds. While not definitive proof, this plot would not indicate the presence of a nearby tornado as there probably would have been a pressure oscillation and more pronounced change in wind direction.

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Tags:   schoolnet   ames   gustfront