Tornadoes · United States · Iowa

1987 tornadoes in Iowa

36 tornadoes touched down in Iowa in 1987, 11 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1986 1988 The whole country in 1987

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 1987

April 14 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 14	2:05 PM CDT	F1	Wapello	4.0	10	$5,000 to $50,000
April 14	2:19 PM CDT	F0	Wapello	1.0	10
April 14	4:15 PM CDT	F1	Keokuk	2.0	10	$50,000 to $500,000

May 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 2	3:15 PM CDT	F0	Polk	0.1	10

May 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 17	6:15 PM CDT	F0	Keokuk	0.2	20			$500 to $5,000

May 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 19	7:20 PM CDT	F0	Taylor	6.0	13			$500 to $5,000

May 20 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 20	2:30 PM CDT	F1	Louisa	25.0	27			$50,000 to $500,000
May 20	11:45 PM CDT	F1	Montgomery	4.0	20			$50,000 to $500,000

May 26 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 26	4:10 PM CDT	F1	Pottawattamie	36.0	50	$500,000 to $5 million
May 26	4:15 PM CDT	F1	Page	1.0	40	$50,000 to $500,000
May 26	4:25 PM CDT	F1	Pottawattamie	1.0	20	$5,000 to $50,000
May 26	4:35 PM CDT	F0	Montgomery	0.2	20	$5,000 to $50,000
May 26	5:30 PM CDT	F1	Pottawattamie	0.2	40	$5,000 to $50,000

May 30 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 30	7:00 PM CDT	F0	Scott	0.5	13			$500 to $5,000

May 31 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 31	3:38 PM CDT	F1	Cass	8.0	20			$500 to $5,000
May 31	4:40 PM CDT	F0	Dallas	1.0	20			$500 to $5,000

June 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 7	6:18 PM CDT	F0	Lyon	0.1	13			$50 to $500

June 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 12	7:50 PM CDT	F0	Harrison	0.5	20			$500 to $5,000

June 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 24	9:44 PM CDT	F0	Union	0.2	20			$50 to $500

July 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 5	6:20 PM CDT	F0	Monona	0.2	13

July 8 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 8	3:50 PM CDT	F0	Marion	0.1	13	$500 to $5,000
July 8	4:05 PM CDT	F0	Cherokee	0.1	13	$500 to $5,000
July 8	4:25 PM CDT	F1	Hamilton	1.0	23	$5,000 to $50,000
July 8	12:20 AM CDT	F1	Page	1.0	23	$5,000 to $50,000

July 11 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 11	5:17 PM CDT	F1	Kossuth	5.0	20			$50,000 to $500,000
July 11	11:46 PM CDT	F0	Marshall	0.3	13			$500 to $5,000

July 14 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 14	8:00 PM CDT	F1	Grundy	0.1	13			$50 to $500
July 14	9:00 PM CDT	F0	Black Hawk	0.5	20			$500 to $5,000

July 18 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 18	7:10 PM CDT	F0	Woodbury	0.1	13			under $50
July 18	12:35 AM CDT	F1	Black Hawk	0.5	20			$5,000 to $50,000

July 29 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 29	4:30 PM CDT	F1	Clinton	2.0	23			$50,000 to $500,000
July 29	7:10 PM CDT	F2	Winneshiek	10.0	30			$500,000 to $5 million

August 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 17	4:54 PM CDT	F0	Calhoun	0.4	13

August 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 18	6:23 AM CDT	F0	Linn	0.3	13			$5,000 to $50,000

August 21 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 21	1:38 AM CDT	F1	Muscatine	1.0	20			$50,000 to $500,000
August 21	2:15 AM CDT	F1	Cedar	1.0	20			$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
July 7	1:10 AM CDT	F2	Union, SD to IA	8.0	50

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.