Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Watches
Tornado Watches in Iowa, 2026
24 tornado watches in 2026. 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 2026. Tap one for its archive.
- Tornado Watches
- 24
- Busiest month
- April7 tornado watches
- Busiest day
- May 17, 20263 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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 6, 3:16 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Adams, Audubon, Boone, Calhoun, Carroll and 21 more | 9 hr |
| Mar 6, 8:18 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Appanoose, Benton, Black Hawk, Buchanan, Cedar, Clinton and 30 more | 6 hr |
| Mar 10, 3:57 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Des Moines, Henry, Jefferson, Lee, Louisa, Van Buren | 10 hr |
| Mar 10, 5:57 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Davis | 6 hr |
| Apr 2, 1:43 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Appanoose, Benton, Buchanan, Cedar, Clarke, Clinton and 31 more | 8 hr |
| Apr 3, 2:20 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Appanoose, Clarke, Davis, Decatur, Des Moines, Henry and 10 more | 6 hr |
| Apr 13, 3:11 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Allamakee, Cerro Gordo, Emmet, Hancock, Howard, Kossuth and 5 more | 7 hr |
| Apr 14, 2:33 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Boone, Bremer, Buchanan and 38 more | 9 hr |
| Apr 15, 3:40 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Adams, Appanoose, Benton, Buchanan, Cedar and 37 more | 6 hr |
| Apr 17, 12:40 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Allamakee, Appanoose, Benton, Black Hawk, Boone, Bremer and 55 more | 9 hr |
| Apr 23, 12:02 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Adams, Audubon, Buena Vista, Calhoun, Carroll and 34 more | 7 hr |
| May 16, 4:40 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Adams, Appanoose, Cass, Clarke, Decatur and 11 more | 6 hr |
| May 17, 1:42 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Ida, Lyon and 6 more | 8 hr |
| May 17, 3:16 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie and 1 more | 8 hr |
| May 17, 6:12 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bremer, Butler, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Emmet, Fayette and 13 more | 6 hr |
| May 17, 8:07 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Adams, Audubon, Black Hawk, Boone, Calhoun and 29 more | 5 hr |
| May 18, 3:49 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Adams, Appanoose, Cass, Clarke, Davis and 21 more | 6 hr |
| Jun 9, 8:36 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Ida, Lyon and 6 more | 5 hr |
| Jun 10, 2:12 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Appanoose, Clarke, Davis, Decatur, Lucas and 8 more | 9 hr |
| Jun 10, 4:01 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Cedar, Clinton, Des Moines, Henry, Iowa, Jackson and 11 more | 7 hr |
| Jun 11, 7:31 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Appanoose, Benton, Buchanan, Cedar, Clinton, Davis and 25 more | 7 hr |
| Jun 11, 1:57 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Appanoose, Cedar, Clinton, Davis, Des Moines, Henry and 19 more | 7 hr |
| Jul 20, 3:03 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Allamakee, Appanoose, Benton, Black Hawk, Boone and 55 more | 7 hr |
| Sep 14, 4:51 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Adams, Audubon, Boone, Carroll, Cass and 18 more | 7 hr |
By county
Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.
- Lucas County12
- Wayne County12
- Appanoose County11
- Davis County11
- Henry County11
- Jefferson County11
- Mahaska County11
- Monroe County11
- Clarke County10
- Ringgold County10
- Union County10
- Warren County10
- Des Moines County10
- Lee County10
- Louisa County10
- Marion County10
- Van Buren County10
- Wapello County10
- Decatur County9
- Madison County9
- Polk County9
- Taylor County9
- Cedar County9
- Iowa County9
- Jasper County9
- Johnson County9
- Jones County9
- Keokuk County9
- Linn County9
- Muscatine County9
- Poweshiek County9
- Washington County9
- Adair County8
- Adams County8
- Clinton County8
- Jackson County8
- Marshall County8
- Scott County8
- Tama County8
- Page County7
59 more counties
- Benton County7
- Buchanan County7
- Delaware County7
- Dubuque County7
- Boone County6
- Cass County6
- Dallas County6
- Fremont County6
- Mills County6
- Montgomery County6
- Greene County5
- Guthrie County5
- Hamilton County5
- Story County5
- Black Hawk County5
- Grundy County5
- Hardin County5
- Howard County5
- Winneshiek County5
- Audubon County4
- Carroll County4
- Pottawattamie County4
- Shelby County4
- Webster County4
- Allamakee County4
- Cerro Gordo County4
- Hancock County4
- Mitchell County4
- Winnebago County4
- Worth County4
- Bremer County4
- Butler County4
- Chickasaw County4
- Fayette County4
- Floyd County4
- Franklin County4
- Wright County4
- Calhoun County3
- Emmet County3
- Kossuth County3
- Palo Alto County3
- Clayton County3
- Buena Vista County3
- Cherokee County3
- Clay County3
- Crawford County3
- Dickinson County3
- Harrison County3
- Humboldt County3
- Ida County3
- Monona County3
- O'Brien County3
- Osceola County3
- Plymouth County3
- Sioux County3
- Woodbury County3
- Pocahontas County2
- Sac County2
- Lyon County2
The busiest days
Days with the most alerts issued, by UTC date.
Nearby
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.