Tornado, Warren
- When
- May 12, 5:12 PM CST to 5:22 PM CST
- Where
- Warren County, Hartford to 2 mi NE of Pleasantville
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 8 mi
- Path width
- 15 yd
- Coordinates
- 41.470, -93.380
Tornado in Iowa, May 12, 1997
An upper level low pressure system dropped south-southeast across Iowa during the afternoon hours. The air mass became unstable with the afternoon heating.
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
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- 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.
An upper level low pressure system dropped south-southeast across Iowa during the afternoon hours. The air mass became unstable with the afternoon heating. Lifted indices were around -3 C. Thunderstorms erupted under the cold pool aloft. Temperatures at 500 mb were near -30 C. Although the thunderstorms were not all that impressive, funnel clouds were observed over north central Iowa as early as mid afternoon. The air at the surface was very dry with dew point temperatures in the 20s F. By late afternoon, brief tornado touchdowns were reported. One touched down in Polk County and was on the ground intermittently for nearly 7 miles. Another touched down in Jasper County, but only briefly. Yet another tornado touched down in eastern Warren County and skipped along the ground for about 8 miles before lifting near the west enf of the Red Rock Reservoir. No damage was reported with any of the tonadoes however.
The radar
The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 41 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:14 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
- Tornado in Florida, May 12, 1997
- Flash Flooding and Dust Storm in Oregon, May 12 to 31, 1997
- Hail in Texas, May 12, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Texas, May 12, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Texas, May 12, 1997
- Hail in Texas, May 12, 1997
- Tornado in Iowa, May 12, 1997
- Tornado in Iowa, May 12, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Texas, May 12, 1997
- Lightning Strike in California, May 12, 1997
More
Every storm in Iowa in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Iowa, 1997Warnings in Iowa, May 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: 5613626.