Tornadoes · United States · Iowa · 1953

F2 tornado, Mahaska County, Iowa, June 27, 1953

Name: F2 tornado, Mahaska County, Iowa, June 27, 1953
Start: 1953-06-28T02:00:00.000Z
Location: Mahaska County, Iowa

This F2 tornado ran 7.8 miles across Mahaska County on June 27, 1953, touching down at 9:00 PM GMT-5 and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, and did $500 to $5,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating: F2
Date: June 27, 1953
Touchdown: 9:00 PM GMT-5 (02:00 UTC)
Path length: 7.8 miles (12.6 km)
Path width: 100 yards (91 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 1
Property damage: $500 to $5,000
County: Mahaska County
Touchdown point: 41.400, -92.600
Lift-off point: 41.330, -92.730
Record number: 321

The surface observations

Ottumwa (OTM), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC	81	72	140° 13 kt	1010.5	TSRA
01:00 UTC	64	64	320° 26 kt	1011.5	-TSRA
02:00 UTC	67	64	40° 7 kt	1016.3	-TSRA
03:00 UTC	69	63	180° 23 kt	1012.5	-TSRA

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 1953 tornado in Iowa Every tornado in Iowa since 1950 Warnings in force in Iowa now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 27, 1953

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 27	3:30 PM GMT-5	F2	Traill, ND	0.1	10			$500 to $5,000
June 27	4:45 PM GMT-5	F5	Anita–Adair tornado, IA	0.1	100	1	2	$50,000 to $500,000
June 27	5:45 PM GMT-5	F1	Montgomery, IA	0.1	100			$5,000 to $50,000
June 27	6:15 PM GMT-5	F1	Warren, IA	0.1	100		2	$5,000 to $50,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.