Tornado-Ravaged Iowa Towns Covered By Snow Less Than 48 Hours Later

It's all happening nearly 10 years to the date of another memorable example of seeing this strange paradox.

More than a half dozen tornadoes have been confirmed in Iowa following Saturday's deadly outbreak. There were many more reports of tornadoes in the state, as the red dots in the map below show, but the final total number won't be known until the National Weather Service finishes surveying these areas.

At least four of the twisters have been rated as strong - EF2 or greater damage - near Winterset, Allerton, Chariton and Garden Grove.

Colder air arrived in the wake of the tornado-producing storm system on Sunday, setting the stage for another weather system to bring snow to these same areas Sunday night into early Monday. Snow totals of 3 to 6 inches have been common in central and southern Iowa, which is where the worst tornado damage occurred.

Snow also fell in Wisconsin, including where an EF1 twister was confirmed south of Madison in Dunkirk.

While this strange twist of events can happen in the heart of winter, it's most likely in early spring or late fall. That's when the atmosphere is duking it out between bouts of warm air that can fuel the development of severe thunderstorms, and periods of colder temperatures that might bring wintry weather.

This included hard-hit locations, including Henryville, Indiana, and West Liberty, Kentucky, which suffered damage from EF4 and EF3 tornadoes, respectively.

An even more incredible turn of events unfolded in the Midwest more than 100 years ago on Nov. 11, 1911, when one of the most remarkable cold fronts in history raced across the nation's midsection.

In the mild air ahead of the front, tornadoes struck portions of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Indiana.

The south-central Wisconsin town of Janesville was hit hard by an F4 tornado that killed nine people.

Just a few hours after the tornado struck, blizzard conditions developed, which severely impacted recovery efforts. In addition to the snow and strong winds, temperatures plummeted into the single digits.

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