Tornado, Adair
- When
- May 10, 1:00 PM CST
- Where
- Adair County
- Rating
- F4
- Path length
- 41.1 mi
- Path width
- 400 yd
- Injuries
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $2.5 million
- Coordinates
- 41.500, -94.630
Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Iowa, May 10, 1959
5 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 1
- Property damage
- $2.5 million
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 7
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
Event by event
5 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm Wind, Taylor
- When
- May 10, 2:00 PM CST
- Where
- Taylor County
- Coordinates
- 40.580, -94.900
Tornado, Montgomery
- When
- May 10, 2:30 PM CST
- Where
- Montgomery County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 1 mi
- Path width
- 200 yd
- Property damage
- $3,000
- Coordinates
- 40.930, -95.050
Tornado, Franklin
- When
- May 10, 4:45 PM CST
- Where
- Franklin County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 6.5 mi
- Path width
- 300 yd
- Property damage
- $25,000
- Coordinates
- 42.750, -93.330
Tornado, Polk
- When
- May 10, 5:00 PM CST
- Where
- Polk County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 1 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Property damage
- $3,000
- Coordinates
- 41.530, -93.530
Tornado, Polk
- When
- May 10, 5:53 PM CST
- Where
- Polk County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 0.3 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Property damage
- $3,000
- Coordinates
- 41.600, -93.600
Thunderstorm Wind, Clayton
- When
- May 10, 6:30 PM CST
- Where
- Clayton County
- Coordinates
- 42.780, -91.400
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
- Thunderstorm Wind
- Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes and Hail in Texas, May 10, 1959
- Tornadoes and Hail in Wisconsin, May 10, 1959
- Tornado and Hail in Missouri, May 10, 1959
- Tornadoes and Hail in Oklahoma, May 10, 1959
- Tornado in Illinois, May 10, 1959
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Kansas, May 10, 1959
- Hail in Ohio, May 10, 1959
- Hail in Minnesota, May 10, 1959
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Indiana, May 10, 1959
- Hail in Arkansas, May 10, 1959
More
Every storm in Iowa in 1959Every state in 1959This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Iowa, 1959
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10019298, 10019299, 10019300, 10019301, 10019302, 10019303, 10019304.