Tornadoes · United States · Iowa

1982 tornadoes in Iowa

34 tornadoes touched down in Iowa in 1982, 16 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1981 1983 The whole country in 1982

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 mph
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.

Every tornado in Iowa in 1982

March 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 19	5:30 AM CST	F1	Taylor	2.0	100			$500 to $5,000

April 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 2	2:10 PM CST	F1	Madison	0.5	50			$5,000 to $50,000

May 4 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 4	6:45 PM CDT	F1	Winnebago	3.0	40			$5,000 to $50,000
May 4	7:45 PM CDT	F1	Humboldt	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000

May 15 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 15	3:10 PM CDT	F1	Marion	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000
May 15	5:00 PM CDT	F0	Pottawattamie	0.1	10			under $50

May 17 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 17	2:28 PM CDT	F1	Webster	1.2	17	$5,000 to $50,000
May 17	2:28 PM CDT	F1	Webster	0.6	10	$5,000 to $50,000
May 17	3:45 PM CDT	F1	Kossuth	4.0	30	$5,000 to $50,000
May 17	3:50 PM CDT	F2	Hancock	13.0	80	$50,000 to $500,000
May 17	5:00 PM CDT	F1	Howard	0.2	10	$500 to $5,000

May 20 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 20	10:30 AM CDT	F0	Madison	0.1	10	under $50
May 20	12:50 PM CDT	F0	Cedar	0.1	10	$50 to $500
May 20	12:50 PM CDT	F0	Cedar	0.1	10	$50 to $500
May 20	12:50 PM CDT	F0	Cedar	0.1	10	$50 to $500
May 20	12:50 PM CDT	F0	Cedar	0.1	10	under $50

May 21 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 21	4:18 PM CDT	F0	Lee	0.1	10			under $50
May 21	4:18 PM CDT	F0	Lee	0.1	10			under $50

May 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 26	3:50 PM CDT	F0	Pocahontas	0.1	10			under $50

June 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 6	4:00 PM CDT	F2	Osceola	2.0	67			$500,000 to $5 million

June 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 8	9:15 PM CDT	F0	Lucas	0.2	10			under $50

June 15 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 15	2:00 AM CDT	F1	Wayne	0.2	10	$5,000 to $50,000
June 15	2:30 AM CDT	F1	Polk	0.2	50	$50,000 to $500,000
June 15	2:30 AM CDT	F1	Madison	0.2	10	$5,000 to $50,000

June 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 17	6:00 PM CDT	F0	Dallas	0.2	10			under $50

July 6 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
July 6	7:25 PM CDT	F0	Butler	0.1	10		under $50
July 6	8:15 PM CDT	F1	Keokuk	0.5	20	1	$50,000 to $500,000
July 6	8:20 PM CDT	F1	Buchanan	0.2	10		$5,000 to $50,000

July 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 17	3:30 PM CDT	F1	Boone	0.3	50			$5,000 to $50,000

September 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 13	5:00 PM CDT	F2	Wapello	26.0	100			$500,000 to $5 million

October 6 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 6	12:45 PM CDT	F0	Iowa	0.3	30			$500 to $5,000
October 6	1:21 PM CDT	F0	Linn	0.3	30			under $50

November 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 11	3:20 PM CST	F0	Polk	0.3	30			$500 to $5,000

December 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 2	12:13 AM CST	F1	Des Moines	2.5	17			$5,000 to $50,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Iowa since 1950 Warnings in force in Iowa The live radar over Iowa

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.