Tornadoes · United States · Iowa

1984 tornadoes in Iowa

59 tornadoes touched down in Iowa in 1984, 46 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 1 people and injured 37.

1983 1985 The whole country in 1984

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 1984

April 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 12	11:20 AM CST	F0	Clinton	0.1	10			$500 to $5,000

April 26 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 26	4:40 PM CST	F2	Sac	22.0	200		$500,000 to $5 million
April 26	6:35 PM CST	F1	Winnebago	8.0	10	5	$50,000 to $500,000
April 26	7:13 PM CST	F0	Greene	0.5	100		$50 to $500

April 29 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 29	7:18 PM CDT	F0	Linn	0.5	30			$500 to $5,000

May 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 19	4:25 PM CDT	F0	Black Hawk	3.0	30

June 7 20 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 7	3:45 PM CDT	F1	Woodbury	7.0	100			$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	4:14 PM CDT	F2	Cherokee	10.0	77			$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	4:42 PM CDT	F2	Ida	16.0	150		1	$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	4:43 PM CDT	F2	Cass	23.0	150		8	$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	5:04 PM CDT	F1	O'Brien	6.0	77			$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	5:10 PM CDT	F2	Ida	12.0	100		1	$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	5:12 PM CDT	F2	Buena Vista	4.0	100		3	$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	5:17 PM CDT	F2	Pocahontas	25.0	100		2	$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	5:20 PM CDT	F3	Page	25.0	100		3	$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	5:23 PM CDT	F1	Clay	1.0	77			$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	5:30 PM CDT	F2	Clay	2.0	77			$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	6:00 PM CDT	F2	Pocahontas	8.0	100			$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	6:15 PM CDT	F2	Humboldt	22.0	150			$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	6:15 PM CDT	F3	Kossuth	9.0	150		5	$5 million to $50 million
June 7	6:29 PM CDT	F2	Kossuth	21.0	150		1	$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	6:45 PM CDT	F2	Hancock	18.0	127			$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	7:54 PM CDT	F1	Lucas	0.5	50			$5,000 to $50,000
June 7	8:45 PM CDT	F2	Ringgold	14.0	150	1	3	$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	9:33 PM CDT	F1	Wayne	0.5	50			$5,000 to $50,000
June 7	9:33 PM CDT	F2	Keokuk	24.0	200		1	$500,000 to $5 million

June 11 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 11	7:23 PM CDT	F0	Adair	0.1	10	$5,000 to $50,000
June 11	7:50 PM CDT	F0	Polk	0.1	10	$500 to $5,000
June 11	8:28 PM CDT	F0	Polk	0.1	10
June 11	8:55 PM CDT	F0	Polk	0.1	10	$500 to $5,000

June 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 12	8:55 PM CDT	F0	Story	0.1	10

June 16 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 16	4:30 PM CDT	F0	Kossuth	0.1	10
June 16	5:43 PM CDT	F1	Wright	7.0	77		$5,000 to $50,000
June 16	6:56 PM CDT	F0	Worth	0.1	10
June 16	7:20 PM CDT	F0	Worth	0.1	10
June 16	7:25 PM CDT	F1	Cerro Gordo	6.0	77	2	$50,000 to $500,000
June 16	8:05 PM CDT	F0	Floyd	0.1	10

June 17 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 17	5:25 PM CDT	F0	Woodbury	0.1	10
June 17	5:27 PM CDT	F0	Woodbury	0.1	10
June 17	5:29 PM CDT	F0	Cherokee	0.1	10
June 17	7:25 PM CDT	F1	Iowa	2.0	40	$50,000 to $500,000
June 17	7:43 PM CDT	F0	Harrison	0.1	10	$500 to $5,000
June 17	8:35 PM CDT	F1	Cedar	0.5	40	$5,000 to $50,000

June 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 21	6:20 PM CDT	F0	Audubon	2.5	50

June 22 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 22	6:45 PM CDT	F1	Cerro Gordo	15.0	77	$500,000 to $5 million
June 22	7:02 PM CDT	F0	Floyd	0.1	10
June 22	7:12 PM CDT	F0	Story	0.1	10
June 22	7:15 PM CDT	F0	Butler	0.1	10
June 22	8:22 PM CDT	F0	Benton	0.1	10
June 22	9:15 PM CDT	F0	Jones	0.1	10
June 22	9:55 PM CDT	F0	Cedar	0.1	10

June 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 26	7:18 PM CDT	F0	Pottawattamie	0.1	20			$50 to $500

July 10 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 10	3:16 PM CDT	F1	Winneshiek	2.0	50			$50,000 to $500,000

July 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 14	2:45 PM CDT	F1	Hancock	2.0	20			$50,000 to $500,000

July 16 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 16	5:44 PM CDT	F0	Dickinson	0.1	10
July 16	6:03 PM CDT	F0	Emmet	0.1	10

September 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 9	5:14 PM CDT	F1	Polk	2.0	50			$5,000 to $50,000

October 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 14	5:15 PM CDT	F1	Monroe	5.0	40		2	$50,000 to $500,000

October 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 16	7:30 PM CDT	F1	Chickasaw	1.0	27			$50,000 to $500,000

Crossed into Iowa

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Iowa. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 7	6:45 PM CDT	F4	Harrison, MO to IA	134.0	250	3	64	$5 million to $50 million
June 17	7:14 PM CDT	F1	Burt, NE to IA	14.0	30			$50,000 to $500,000

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.