Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Watches / 2026
Tornado Watches in Iowa, May 2026
6 tornado watches in May 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 May 2026. Tap one for its archive.
- Tornado Watches
- 6
- Busiest day
- May 17, 20263 tornado watches
Over time
By day
Days in UTC, the clock the archive keeps.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
By county
Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.
- Adair County3
- Adams County3
- Cass County3
- Clarke County3
- Decatur County3
- Fremont County3
- Lucas County3
- Madison County3
- Mills County3
- Montgomery County3
- Page County3
- Ringgold County3
- Taylor County3
- Union County3
- Warren County3
- Wayne County3
- Appanoose County2
- Jasper County2
- Mahaska County2
- Marion County2
- Marshall County2
- Monroe County2
- Polk County2
- Poweshiek County2
- Tama County2
- Buena Vista County1
- Cherokee County1
- Clay County1
- Dickinson County1
- Ida County1
- Lyon County1
- Monona County1
- O'Brien County1
- Osceola County1
- Plymouth County1
- Sioux County1
- Woodbury County1
- Harrison County1
- Pottawattamie County1
- Shelby County1
36 more counties
- Bremer County1
- Butler County1
- Cerro Gordo County1
- Chickasaw County1
- Emmet County1
- Fayette County1
- Floyd County1
- Franklin County1
- Hancock County1
- Howard County1
- Humboldt County1
- Kossuth County1
- Mitchell County1
- Palo Alto County1
- Pocahontas County1
- Winnebago County1
- Winneshiek County1
- Worth County1
- Wright County1
- Audubon County1
- Black Hawk County1
- Boone County1
- Calhoun County1
- Carroll County1
- Crawford County1
- Dallas County1
- Greene County1
- Grundy County1
- Guthrie County1
- Hamilton County1
- Hardin County1
- Sac County1
- Story County1
- Webster County1
- Davis County1
- Wapello County1
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.