Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Watches in 2026

Tornado Watch 210

May 16, 202617 counties in Iowa; 16 counties in Missouri

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 16, 2026, 4:40 PM CDT for 17 counties in Iowa; 16 counties in Missouri. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 16, 2026, 4:40 PM CDT (21:40 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 2026, 11:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 33 counties

Adair County, IA, Adams County, IA, Appanoose County, IA, Cass County, IA, Clarke County, IA, Decatur County, IA, Fremont County, IA, Lucas County, IA, Madison County, IA, Mills County, IA, Montgomery County, IA, Page County, IA, Ringgold County, IA, Taylor County, IA, Union County, IA, Warren County, IA, Wayne County, IA, Adair County, MO, Caldwell County, MO, Daviess County, MO, DeKalb County, MO, Gentry County, MO, Grundy County, MO, Harrison County, MO, Linn County, MO, Livingston County, MO, Macon County, MO, Mercer County, MO, Nodaway County, MO, Putnam County, MO, Schuyler County, MO, Sullivan County, MO, Worth County, MO

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:43 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes: 60%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 40%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 10%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 60%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

59 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 4:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Page	28 min
May 16, 4:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	EAX	Harrison	13 min
May 16, 4:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Taylor	27 min
May 16, 4:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Grundy, Harrison, Mercer	49 min
May 16, 5:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Adams	30 min
May 16, 5:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Montgomery	51 min
May 16, 5:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Adams, Taylor	31 min
May 16, 5:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Grundy, Mercer, Sullivan	45 min
May 16, 5:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Adams, Taylor	21 min
May 16, 5:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Montgomery, Pottawattamie	51 min
May 16, 5:26 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	EAX	Grundy, Harrison, Mercer	8 hr
May 16, 5:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	EAX	Grundy, Linn, Sullivan	47 min
May 16, 5:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Adair, Adams, Cass	41 min
May 16, 5:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Grundy, Harrison, Mercer	27 min
May 16, 5:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	DMX	Taylor	38 min
May 16, 5:52 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Taylor	13 min
May 16, 5:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	EAX	Grundy, Linn, Livingston, Sullivan	46 min
May 16, 6:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	DMX	Adams, Taylor	43 min
May 16, 6:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	DMX	Ringgold, Taylor	41 min
May 16, 6:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Ringgold, Taylor	48 min
May 16, 6:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Montgomery, Page	30 min
May 16, 6:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Grundy	41 min
May 16, 6:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	EAX	Linn, Sullivan	28 min
May 16, 6:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Adams, Taylor	26 min
May 16, 6:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	EAX	Grundy, Linn, Livingston, Sullivan	26 min
May 16, 6:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	DMX	Decatur, Ringgold	59 min
May 16, 6:49 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OAX	Montgomery	3 hr
May 16, 6:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Ringgold, Taylor	23 min
May 16, 6:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	EAX	Grundy, Linn, Livingston, Sullivan	65 min
May 16, 6:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Grundy, Mercer, Sullivan	48 min
May 16, 7:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Daviess, Grundy, Harrison, Mercer	44 min
May 16, 7:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Harrison, Worth	33 min
May 16, 7:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Nodaway, Worth	19 min
May 16, 7:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Ringgold, Taylor	25 min
May 16, 7:20 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	EAX	Grundy, Linn, Sullivan	6 hr
May 16, 7:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Gentry, Harrison, Worth	43 min
May 16, 7:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	EAX	Adair, Linn, Macon	43 min
May 16, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Decatur, Ringgold	36 min
May 16, 7:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Fremont	34 min
May 16, 7:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Daviess, Grundy, Harrison, Mercer	47 min
May 16, 7:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Gentry, Harrison, Mercer	39 min
May 16, 7:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Grundy, Sullivan	47 min
May 16, 8:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Grundy, Sullivan	27 min
May 16, 8:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Daviess, Gentry, Harrison	44 min
May 16, 8:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Daviess, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Mercer	27 min
May 16, 8:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Grundy, Mercer, Sullivan	34 min
May 16, 8:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Daviess, Grundy, Harrison, Mercer	49 min
May 16, 8:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Daviess, DeKalb, Gentry	47 min
May 16, 9:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Putnam, Sullivan	32 min
May 16, 9:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Grundy, Linn, Sullivan	43 min
May 16, 9:35 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning EmergencyCatastrophic damage threat	EAX	Grundy	6 hr
May 16, 10:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Daviess, Harrison	26 min
May 16, 10:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Daviess, DeKalb, Gentry	24 min
May 16, 10:07 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	EAX	Daviess	5 hr
May 16, 10:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Grundy, Sullivan	18 min
May 16, 10:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Daviess, Grundy	26 min
May 16, 10:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Grundy, Sullivan	31 min
May 16, 10:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Daviess, Gentry, Harrison	29 min
May 16, 10:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Daviess, Harrison	28 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 7:29 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adair, Adams, Allamakee, Audubon, Black Hawk, Boone and 62 more	2 hr
May 15, 9:07 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler and 15 more	113 min
May 15, 10:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Benton, Buchanan, Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque and 5 more	4 hr
May 15, 10:53 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adair, Adams, Audubon, Black Hawk, Boone, Bremer and 45 more	2 hr
May 16, 3:20 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Clarke, Decatur, Fremont, Montgomery, Page and 3 more	85 min
May 16, 5:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Pottawattamie	9 hr
May 16, 6:46 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Appanoose, Clarke, Decatur, Montgomery, Ringgold and 3 more	89 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Iowa, 2026 Tornado Watches in Missouri, 2026 Every tornado watch in 2026

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.