Iowa

Storm History: Mahaska County, Iowa

469 episodes, 622 events since 1953

Every storm the National Weather Service has filed in Mahaska 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
622
Deaths
2
Injuries
37
Damage
$232 million
Episodes
469

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 Mahaska 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
Tornado140136$30 million
Hail11700$1.6 million
Flood10800$32 million
Flash Flood6800$4.6 million
Drought3200$110 million
Thunderstorm Wind2400$496,000
Winter Storm2400$975,000
High Wind2210$725,000
Heavy Snow1800$3.4 million
Blizzard1600$335,000
Ice Storm1400$488,000
Frost/Freeze900$46 million
Cold/Wind Chill700$294,000
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill700
Lightning401$280,000
Funnel Cloud300
Excessive Heat300$135,000
Heavy Rain300
Heat100
Winter Weather100
Sleet100

The deadliest

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 Mahaska County, with its track

Every episode, newest first

Earlier years, state by state:

More

Tornadoes in Mahaska CountyEvery warning in Mahaska 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.