Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Watches

Tornado Watches in Iowa, 2023

11 tornado watches in 2023. An alert counts here when it covered any part of the state, so the counties below add up to more than the state. The archive of tornado watches reaches back to 1997.

Tornado Watches by county

Each county as a circle sized by its count in 2023. Tap one for its archive.

Tornado Watches
11
Busiest month
April3 tornado watches
Busiest day
March 31, 20231 tornado watches

Over time

By month

The alerts

Every alert, in the order issued. Times are local, Central Time. Each opens its own page with the text, the map, the radar and the sounding.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 31, 11:46 AM CDTTornado Watch PDSSPCAdair, Adams, Allamakee, Appanoose, Benton, Black Hawk and 64 more8 hr
Apr 4, 2:48 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdair, Adams, Appanoose, Audubon, Benton, Black Hawk and 50 more7 hr
Apr 19, 3:45 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdair, Adams, Audubon, Boone, Calhoun, Carroll and 20 more7 hr
Apr 20, 2:06 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCClinton, Des Moines, Henry, Jackson, Lee, Louisa and 2 more6 hr
May 6, 3:56 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdair, Adams, Appanoose, Clarke, Davis, Decatur and 14 more7 hr
May 12, 1:09 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCFremont, Harrison, Ida, Mills, Monona, Montgomery and 5 more8 hr
May 13, 12:54 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBenton, Boone, Buena Vista, Calhoun, Carroll, Cherokee and 36 more7 hr
Jun 24, 1:35 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdair, Adams, Appanoose, Benton, Black Hawk, Boone and 53 more5 hr
Aug 5, 3:01 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBuena Vista, Carroll, Cherokee, Crawford, Harrison, Ida and 9 more7 hr
Aug 6, 3:16 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCDes Moines, Henry, Jefferson, Lee, Van Buren9 hr
Oct 13, 1:30 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBenton, Boone, Calhoun, Franklin, Grundy, Hamilton and 20 more5 hr

By county

Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.

57 more counties

The busiest days

Days with the most alerts issued, by UTC date.

Nearby

Alerts in force nowTornadoes on recordThe radar archive20222024

Sources

National Weather Service watches, warnings, advisories and statements from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's VTEC archive, which reconstructs tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings back to 1986 from the NWS text archive. Storm Prediction Center watches and mesoscale discussions from SPC's archive through the Mesonet. County centers from the US Census Bureau. Warning verification from the Mesonet's Cow. Rebuilt daily.