Hail, Tama
- When
- May 18, 3:10 PM CST
- Where
- Tama County, Toledo
- Measured
- 0.85 in hail
- Property damage
- $3,000
- Coordinates
- 42.000, -92.580
Hail in Iowa, May 18, 1997
A strong cold front moved southeast across Iowa during the late afternoon hours. The low pressure associated with this front moved southeast across northeast and east central Iowa.
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
- $3,000
- 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.
A strong cold front moved southeast across Iowa during the late afternoon hours. The low pressure associated with this front moved southeast across northeast and east central Iowa. The airmass became very unstable, though it was capped aloft. Lifted Indices fell to between -8 and -12 C during the afternoon with CAPE values around 3000 J/kg. An MCS developed over east central Iowa with several supercells embedded. The back edge developed over Tama County. VIL values in the storm reached 72 Kg/m/m as the storm dropped hail larger than dime size. This was the only severe weather in the Des Moines County Warning Area. The rest of the severe weather occurred to the east, across east central and southeast Iowa.
The radar
The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:10 UTC.
Event by event
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Flash Flood and Hail in Arizona, May 18 to 20, 1997
- Tornadoes and Hail in Iowa, May 18, 1997
- Tornado in Indiana, May 18, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Indiana, May 18, 1997
- Tornado in Indiana, May 18, 1997
- Tornado in Indiana, May 18, 1997
- Damaging Winds in Michigan, May 18, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Indiana, May 18, 1997
- Tornado and Damaging Wind in Illinois, May 18, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Ohio, May 18, 1997
- Hail in Kansas, May 18, 1997
- Damaging Wind in West Virginia, May 18, 1997
More
Every storm in Iowa in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5613752.