Iowa

Storm History: Hardin County, Iowa

432 episodes, 693 events since 1953

Every storm the National Weather Service has filed in Hardin County, Iowa: floods, hail, damaging wind, tornadoes, winter storms, heat and the rest, with the most serious on record. Events filed by forecast zone count for every county the zone covers.

The record

Events
693
Deaths
0
Injuries
25
Damage
$246 million
Episodes
432

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.

Open the live radar over Hardin County

Every year

From 1996 the record holds 48 kinds of event with each office’s narrative; before that, tornadoes, hail and thunderstorm wind only, and before 1955 tornadoes alone.

By kind of event

Counted under the kind that heads each episode.

Kind of eventEventsDeathsInjuriesDamage
Tornado24903$38 million
Hail113022$79 million
Flash Flood6400$1.7 million
Blizzard3400$520,000
Flood3400$22 million
High Wind3300$1.1 million
Thunderstorm Wind3000$1.9 million
Winter Storm2900$526,000
Drought2800$96 million
Heavy Snow2000$96,000
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill1400
Ice Storm1300$303,000
Frost/Freeze900$4.0 million
Cold/Wind Chill800$294,000
Funnel Cloud500
Excessive Heat300$135,000
Heavy Rain300
Lightning200$78,000
Heat100
Winter Weather100

The deadliest

None recorded.

The costliest

Damage within this county, in the dollars of its year.

The largest hail

The largest stone in each episode, which may have fallen in a neighboring county of the same episode.

The strongest tornadoes

Every tornado in Hardin County, with its track

Every episode, newest first

Earlier years, state by state:

More

Tornadoes in Hardin CountyEvery warning in Hardin County since 1986Every county in Iowa

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.