Iowa

Storms in Iowa in 1979

206 events in 44 episodes

Every storm the National Weather Service filed in Iowa in 1979, with each episode’s narrative and every event in it. Before 1996 the record holds tornadoes, hail and thunderstorm wind only, without narratives; floods, heat, winter storms and the other kinds begin in 1996.

Iowa in 1979 on the map

Every episode with a place to put it, colored by kind of event.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over Iowa

The year

Events
206
Deaths
7
Injuries
114
Damage
$68 million
Episodes
44

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.

By kind of event

Kind of eventEventsDeathsInjuriesDamage
Thunderstorm Wind10000
Tornado617114$68 million
Hail4500

Every episode, month by month

March 1979

April 1979

May 1979

June 1979

July 1979

August 1979

September 1979

October 1979

More

Every year in IowaEvery state in 1979Tornadoes in Iowa in 197919781980

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.