Tornado, Palo Alto
- When
- July 26, 9:30 AM CST to 9:32 AM CST
- Where
- Palo Alto County, Emmetsburg Arpt to 1 mi E of Emmetsburg Arpt
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 1 mi
- Path width
- 40 yd
- Property damage
- $220,000
- Crop damage
- $3,000
- Coordinates
- 43.100, -94.720
Tornado in Iowa, July 26, 1997
A stationary frontal boundary was located east to west across northern Iowa during the predawn hours. Thunderstorms erupted along this boundary in the very unstable air.
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
- 0
- Property damage
- $220,000
- Crop damage
- $3,000
- Events
- 1
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 DMX wrote it up.
A stationary frontal boundary was located east to west across northern Iowa during the predawn hours. Thunderstorms erupted along this boundary in the very unstable air. Dew point temperatures were around 80 degrees F. with CAPE values near 5000 J/kg. A small cluster of thunderstorms developed and slid east across the area. Winds of 70 MPH swept through the town of Emmetsburg. A church steeple was taken down by the winds. A short time later a small tornado touched down at the Emmetsburg Airport. One hanger was destroyed and 4 private airplanes were overturned. Three of them were totally destroyed, one severely damaged. The aircraft damage itself was around $140,000.
The radar
The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 171 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:32 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
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.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heat in Illinois, July 26 to 27, 1997
- Heat in Missouri, July 26 to 28, 1997
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in Ohio, July 26 to 27, 1997
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strikes in Wisconsin, July 26, 1997
- Lightning Strike in Michigan, July 26, 1997
- Flash Flood in Iowa, July 26, 1997
- Damaging Winds in Wisconsin, July 26, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Ohio, July 26, 1997
- Tornado in Ohio, July 26, 1997
- Heat in Indiana, July 26 to 27, 1997
- Lightning Strike in Ohio, July 26, 1997
- Lightning Strike in Iowa, July 26, 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: 5603131.