The twister was described as an “intermittent tornado” by Brooke Hagenhoff, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines. She said that means the funnel cloud came down from the sky, touched the ground briefly, then went back up and touched the ground at another spot. Tuesday’s tornado did that repeatedly.

It was first spotted near Rockwell City in Calhoun County, Hagenhoff said. It then traveled north and was spotted near Manson, Palmer, Gilmore City and finally near Rolfe in Pocahontas County.

The area received anywhere from a half-inch to an inch of rain Tuesday. Hagenhoff said an automated weather station in Fort Dodge recorded just under half an inch of rain.

By late afternoon Tuesday, the area reached what she called the “the tail end of the severe weather threat.”

She said the weather today will be dry but cooler. There is a chance for rain Thursday, she said, but no severe weather is expected.