Tornado, Howard
- When
- July 20, 8:20 PM CST to 8:30 PM CST
- Where
- Howard County, Cresco to 5 mi W of Cresco
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 3 mi
- Path width
- 70 yd
- Property damage
- $35,000
- Coordinates
- 43.380, -92.220
Tornado in Iowa, July 20, 1997
Storm spotters sighted funnel clouds and a brief tornado touchdown occurred. A home was damaged,but there were no injuries.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $35,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 2
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS ARX wrote it up.
Storm spotters sighted funnel clouds and a brief tornado touchdown occurred. A home was damaged,but there were no injuries.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
Funnel Cloud, Howard
- When
- July 20, 8:30 PM CST to 8:35 PM CST
- Where
- Howard County, 1 mi N of Cresco
- Coordinates
- 43.357, -92.317 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
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.
- Funnel Cloud
- A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heat in Missouri, July 20, 1997
- Lightning Strikes and Heavy Rain in Wisconsin, July 20 to 21, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Iowa, July 20, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Iowa, July 20, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Iowa, July 20, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Iowa, July 20, 1997
- Flash Flood and Hail in Oklahoma, July 20, 1997
- Lightning Strike in Florida, July 20, 1997
- Tornado in Minnesota, July 20 to 21, 1997
- Tornadoes and Hail in Minnesota, July 20, 1997
- Funnel Clouds in Wisconsin, July 20, 1997
- Damaging Winds in South Dakota, July 20, 1997
More
Every storm in Iowa in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Iowa, 1997Warnings in Iowa, July 1997
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: 5606851, 5606852.