Iowa, 1994

Tornado and Hail in Iowa, May 25, 1994

May 25, 1994 · 3 events in 2 counties and zones

1 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$15,000
Crop damage
$55,000
Events
3

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

1 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Louisa

When
May 25, 2:28 PM CST
Where
Louisa County, Columbus Junction
Measured
0.75 in hail
Property damage
$5,000
Crop damage
$50,000
Coordinates
41.219, -91.260 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Thunderstorm Wind, Louisa

When
May 25, 2:44 PM CST
Where
Louisa County, Wapello
Measured
52 kt (60 mph)
Property damage
$5,000
Coordinates
41.219, -91.260 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Tornado, Clayton

When
May 25, 7:18 PM CST
Where
Clayton County to Osterdock
Rating
F1
Path length
6.5 mi
Path width
40 yd
Property damage
$5,000
Crop damage
$5,000
Coordinates
42.845, -91.341 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

For the third day in a row thunderstorms broke out over Iowa. This time the storms were the result of a newly formed cold front and a strong upper level disturbance moved southeast across the state. Thunderstorms remained below severe limits to a great extent. They produced pea-size hail and winds gusting to 30 to 40 mph. One storm moved over the Cedar Rapids Airport, producing a 46 mph wind gust. Another storm did become severe over extreme eastern Iowa. As it moved over Louisa County, it dropped dime-size hail on Columbus Junction, and produced 60 mph winds in Wapello. The wind downed several trees in the city of Wapello. The airmass over Iowa was very cold in the middle and upper levels. During the later part of the afternoon, this led to the formation of several cold air funnel clouds over north central Iowa. There were several reports from Pocahontas and Buena Vista Counties around 1700 CST. Later in the evening, a tornado touched down in Clayton County. It was actually a cold air funnel that reached the ground to become a tornado. Damage was minimal as the tornado tracked across very sparsely populated open country. The storm did produce some half inch diameter hail as it moved through the area.

What these are

Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
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.
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.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Iowa in 1994Every state in 1994This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Iowa, 1994Warnings in Iowa, May 1994

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: 10324472, 10324473, 10321540.