Tornadoes · United States · Iowa

2000 tornadoes in Iowa

45 tornadoes touched down in Iowa in 2000, 11 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 1 people and injured 26.

1999 2001 The whole country in 2000

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 2000

May 11 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 11	6:45 PM CDT	F0	Grundy	0.3	30
May 11	7:03 PM CDT	F3	Black Hawk	18.6	210	1	25	$1.8 million
May 11	7:55 PM CDT	F2	Black Hawk	3.6	120			$350,000
May 11	8:19 PM CDT	F0	Buchanan	0.1	10			$2,000
May 11	8:20 PM CDT	F2	Black Hawk	5.0	150			$300,000
May 11	8:20 PM CDT	F1	Buchanan	8.0	330			$1.5 million
May 11	8:45 PM CDT	F0	Buchanan	5.5	220			$50,000

May 18 9 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 18	10:20 AM CDT	F0	Adair	0.2	20
May 18	10:31 AM CDT	F0	Adair	0.1	20	$1,000
May 18	10:33 AM CDT	F0	Adair	0.1	20	$1,000
May 18	10:58 AM CDT	F0	Cass	1.0	30	$1,000
May 18	12:01 PM CDT	F1	Warren	2.0	30	$10,000
May 18	12:17 PM CDT	F0	Polk	0.2	20	$1,000
May 18	1:45 PM CDT	F0	Poweshiek	3.6	10	$1,000
May 18	2:12 PM CDT	F0	Iowa	0.1	10
May 18	2:20 PM CDT	F0	Iowa	0.1	10

May 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 22	8:35 PM CDT	F0	Hardin	0.1	10

May 30 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 30	7:28 PM CDT	F0	Boone	0.1	20
May 30	7:46 PM CDT	F0	Dallas	0.1	20
May 30	7:59 PM CDT	F0	Dallas	0.1	20
May 30	9:35 PM CDT	F1	Polk	8.0	40	$100,000
May 30	10:00 PM CDT	F0	Polk	0.1	20

May 31 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 31	11:38 AM CDT	F0	Linn	0.1	10		1	$50,000
May 31	12:00 PM CDT	F0	Jones	0.1	10			$10,000

June 1 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 1	6:08 PM CDT	F1	Wapello	10.7	50			$10,000

June 12 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 12	5:03 PM CDT	F0	Dallas	0.1	20
June 12	5:30 PM CDT	F0	Dallas	0.1	20

June 13 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 13	3:10 PM CDT	F1	Harrison	10.6	330	$30,000
June 13	3:15 PM CDT	F0	Chickasaw	0.5	50	$10,000
June 13	4:20 PM CDT	F0	Page	3.0	100
June 13	4:26 PM CDT	F0	Montgomery	8.0	150
June 13	6:44 PM CDT	F1	Marshall	14.0	40	$150,000
June 13	7:37 PM CDT	F0	Tama	0.2	20	$10,000

June 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 23	2:18 PM CDT	F0	Wayne	0.2	20			$1,000

June 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 25	5:22 PM CDT	F0	Warren	0.2	20

July 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 2	4:35 PM CDT	F0	Allamakee	2.0	50

July 9 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 9	9:15 PM CDT	F1	Lyon	3.0	100			$60,000
July 9	10:30 PM CDT	F1	O'Brien	0.5	100			$100,000

July 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 11	8:36 PM CDT	F0	Osceola	0.1	50

July 26 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 26	3:15 PM CDT	F0	Boone	0.2	20	$1,000
July 26	3:18 PM CDT	F1	Guthrie	3.6	40	$10,000
July 26	6:00 PM CDT	F0	Pottawattamie	0.1	10

September 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 13	8:30 PM CDT	F0	Palo Alto	0.2	20

October 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 13	6:45 PM CDT	F1	Pocahontas	14.0	50			$80,000

October 31 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 31	8:08 PM CST	F1	Mills	2.5	70			$40,000

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.