Tornadoes · United States · Iowa · 1984

F2 tornado, Ida County, Iowa, June 7, 1984

This F2 tornado ran 16.0 miles across Ida County on June 7, 1984, touching down at 4:42 PM CDT and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, and did $500,000 to $5 million 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.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. 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.

  7. 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 7, 1984
Touchdown
4:42 PM CDT (21:42 UTC)
Path length
16.0 miles (25.7 km)
Path width
150 yards (137 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
1
Property damage
$500,000 to $5 million
County
Ida County
Touchdown point
42.420, -95.580
Lift-off point
42.580, -95.350
Record number
481

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 12:00Z

9.7 hours before the tornado, 151 km from the path. June 7, 1984.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 1984-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -93785, lifted condensation level 3621 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 1984-06-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 215 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-93785 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3621 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
215 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
219 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 00:00Z

2.3 hours after it, 151 km from the path. June 8, 1984.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 1984-06-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -53238, lifted condensation level 3598 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 1984-06-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 165 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 55 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-53238 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3598 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
165 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
174 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
8.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Sioux City (SUX), 76 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:00 UTC7168360° 18 kt28991.5TSRA
21:00 UTC6764290° 8 kt991.2TSRA
21:07 UTC260° 20 kt31994.9
21:21 UTC340° 9 kt992.9
22:00 UTC6562340° 15 kt991.2
23:00 UTC7064350° 7 kt992.2

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1984 tornado in IowaEvery tornado in Iowa since 1950Warnings in force in Iowa nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 7, 1984

40 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 71:55 AM CDTF2Avoyelles Parish, LA1.01003$50,000 to $500,000
June 73:45 PM CDTF1Woodbury, IA7.0100$50,000 to $500,000
June 74:14 PM CDTF2Cherokee, IA10.077$500,000 to $5 million
June 73:30 PM MDTF0Grant, ND0.310
June 74:33 PM CDTF2Brown, KS18.03005$500,000 to $5 million
June 74:43 PM CDTF2Cass, IA23.01508$500,000 to $5 million
June 75:04 PM CDTF1O'Brien, IA6.077$50,000 to $500,000
June 75:10 PM CDTF2Ida, IA12.01001$500,000 to $5 million
June 75:12 PM CDTF2Buena Vista, IA4.01003$500,000 to $5 million
June 75:17 PM CDTF2Pocahontas, IA25.01002$500,000 to $5 million
June 75:20 PM CDTF3Page, IA25.01003$500,000 to $5 million
June 75:23 PM CDTF1Clay, IA1.077$50,000 to $500,000
June 75:30 PM CDTF2Clay, IA2.077$50,000 to $500,000
June 75:37 PM CDTF0Ward, ND0.510
June 76:00 PM CDTF2Pocahontas, IA8.0100$500,000 to $5 million
June 76:15 PM CDTF2Humboldt, IA22.0150$500,000 to $5 million
June 76:15 PM CDTF3Kossuth, IA9.01505$5 million to $50 million
June 76:29 PM CDTF2Kossuth, IA21.01501$500,000 to $5 million
June 76:45 PM CDTF4Harrison, MO to IA134.0250364$5 million to $50 million
June 76:45 PM CDTF2Hancock, IA18.0127$500,000 to $5 million
June 76:59 PM CDTF0Wells, ND0.510
June 77:00 PM CDTF1Pawnee, NE0.350$500 to $5,000
June 77:15 PM CDTF1Freeborn, MN6.080$50,000 to $500,000
June 77:19 PM CDTF3Freeborn, MN14.010012$5 million to $50 million
June 77:20 PM CDTF1Waseca, MN1.050$500 to $5,000
June 77:25 PM CDTF1Freeborn, MN18.080$500,000 to $5 million
June 77:36 PM CDTF2Mower, MN5.01007$500,000 to $5 million
June 77:54 PM CDTF1Lucas, IA0.550$5,000 to $50,000
June 78:15 PM CDTF1Olmsted, MN1.050$50,000 to $500,000
June 78:35 PM CDTF0Goodhue, MN2.550$5,000 to $50,000
June 78:45 PM CDTF2Ringgold, IA14.015013$500,000 to $5 million
June 79:33 PM CDTF1Wayne, IA0.550$5,000 to $50,000
June 79:33 PM CDTF2Keokuk, IA24.02001$500,000 to $5 million
June 710:00 PM CDTF2Chippewa, WI12.0150$50,000 to $500,000
June 710:00 PM CDTF2Miner, SD0.160$50,000 to $500,000
June 710:30 PM CDTF2Daviess, MO1.0100$50,000 to $500,000
June 711:00 PM CDTF2Daviess, MO3.01001$500,000 to $5 million
June 711:30 PM CDTF1Price, WI1.050$5,000 to $50,000
June 712:30 AM CDTF2Lafayette, WI11.040$50,000 to $500,000
June 712:41 AM CDTF5Barneveld tornado, WI36.04509200$50,000 to $500,000

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.