Tornadoes · United States · Iowa

2004 tornadoes in Iowa

120 tornadoes touched down in Iowa in 2004, 196 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2003 2005 The whole country in 2004

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 2004

April 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 17	9:40 PM CDT	F0	Cerro Gordo	0.2	25

April 18 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 18	4:58 PM CDT	F1	Lyon	4.0	100	$50,000
April 18	5:15 PM CDT	F0	Sioux	0.1	50
April 18	8:02 PM CDT	F0	Woodbury	0.1	50

April 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 20	7:08 PM CDT	F1	Clinton	1.3	100			$30,000

May 1 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 1	3:10 PM CDT	F0	Hancock	3.0	50

May 8 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 8	8:55 PM CDT	F1	Shelby	8.0	150
May 8	9:25 PM CDT	F1	Cass	7.0	50			$100,000

May 9 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 9	8:15 PM CDT	F0	Lyon	0.5	50			$1,000
May 9	8:30 PM CDT	F0	O'Brien	0.2	50

May 21 16 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 21	2:28 PM CDT	F0	Grundy	3.0	50
May 21	2:38 PM CDT	F1	Grundy	3.5	100		$2,000
May 21	2:49 PM CDT	F0	Grundy	0.5	30
May 21	3:15 PM CDT	F0	Grundy	0.5	40
May 21	3:21 PM CDT	F0	Black Hawk	0.3	30
May 21	3:22 PM CDT	F0	Grundy	0.5	40
May 21	4:05 PM CDT	F0	Benton	0.1	50
May 21	4:07 PM CDT	F0	Benton	0.1	50
May 21	4:13 PM CDT	F1	Benton	1.7	150		$50,000
May 21	4:22 PM CDT	F3	Linn	3.0	200		$250,000
May 21	4:44 PM CDT	F0	Benton	0.0	50
May 21	5:06 PM CDT	F1	Jones	6.0	100		$40,000
May 21	5:12 PM CDT	F1	Clay	1.0	200		$230,000
May 21	6:00 PM CDT	F1	Pocahontas	5.0	300		$30,000
May 21	6:08 PM CDT	F2	Pocahontas	12.5	880	15	$2.5 million
May 21	7:30 PM CDT	F0	Wright	0.2	25

May 22 20 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 22	7:07 PM CDT	F1	Adair	7.1	100	$50,000
May 22	7:11 PM CDT	F0	Madison	0.3	30
May 22	7:45 PM CDT	F0	Story	1.4	50	$2,000
May 22	7:45 PM CDT	F0	Dallas	0.2	25
May 22	7:55 PM CDT	F1	Dallas	5.0	100	$2,000
May 22	8:06 PM CDT	F0	Jasper	0.2	25
May 22	8:13 PM CDT	F0	Dallas	0.5	50	$1,000
May 22	8:19 PM CDT	F0	Harrison	0.2	60
May 22	8:19 PM CDT	F0	Marshall	0.5	40
May 22	8:20 PM CDT	F0	Jasper	0.2	25
May 22	8:23 PM CDT	F0	Jasper	0.2	25
May 22	8:27 PM CDT	F0	Dallas	0.2	25
May 22	8:35 PM CDT	F0	Jasper	0.2	25
May 22	8:36 PM CDT	F0	Jasper	1.5	40	$10,000
May 22	8:40 PM CDT	F1	Marshall	17.0	100	$10,000
May 22	8:45 PM CDT	F0	Shelby	2.0	200
May 22	9:06 PM CDT	F0	Polk	2.0	50
May 22	9:15 PM CDT	F0	Tama	0.3	30
May 22	11:33 PM CDT	F0	Adair	0.2	30
May 22	12:02 AM CDT	F1	Warren	7.0	250	$100,000

May 24 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 24	4:30 PM CDT	F0	Fremont	3.0	40
May 24	4:58 PM CDT	F0	Madison	0.5	50
May 24	5:40 PM CDT	F0	Warren	0.2	30
May 24	7:20 PM CDT	F0	Ringgold	0.2	30
May 24	7:53 PM CDT	F0	Appanoose	0.1	25	$2,000

May 28 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 28	9:27 PM CDT	F0	Woodbury	0.2	50
May 28	9:38 PM CDT	F0	Woodbury	0.2	50

May 30 9 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 30	2:18 PM CDT	F0	Lee	0.3	40	$3,000
May 30	2:23 PM CDT	F1	Lee	0.3	70	$20,000
May 30	2:26 PM CDT	F0	Lee	0.3	40	$10,000
May 30	2:30 PM CDT	F1	Lee	0.5	70	$20,000
May 30	3:28 PM CDT	F0	Benton	0.2	40
May 30	3:36 PM CDT	F1	Iowa	0.2	50	$10,000
May 30	3:50 PM CDT	F0	Buchanan	0.2	30
May 30	3:51 PM CDT	F0	Buchanan	0.3	40	$10,000
May 30	3:56 PM CDT	F0	Jones	0.3	30

June 11 24 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 11	2:20 PM CDT	F3	Buena Vista	6.1	400	$50,000
June 11	2:49 PM CDT	F1	Clay	1.8	100
June 11	3:00 PM CDT	F1	Palo Alto	9.0	450	$10,000
June 11	3:01 PM CDT	F0	Clay	0.1	100
June 11	3:01 PM CDT	F1	Clay	1.0	100
June 11	3:03 PM CDT	F0	Clay	0.1	50
June 11	3:05 PM CDT	F0	Clay	0.1	50
June 11	3:05 PM CDT	F2	Clay	5.5	200	$500,000
June 11	3:15 PM CDT	F1	Clay	2.0	100
June 11	3:34 PM CDT	F1	Clay	1.5	100
June 11	3:50 PM CDT	F1	Emmet	6.0	200	$10,000
June 11	5:17 PM CDT	F1	Mitchell	4.0	60	$1,000
June 11	5:40 PM CDT	F0	Howard	4.0	40	$100,000
June 11	5:56 PM CDT	F3	Howard to MN	12.0	150	$190,000
June 11	6:35 PM CDT	F0	Webster	0.2	25
June 11	6:35 PM CDT	F0	Calhoun	0.5	30
June 11	6:36 PM CDT	F0	Webster	0.5	30
June 11	6:39 PM CDT	F0	Webster	0.7	40
June 11	7:20 PM CDT	F0	Webster	0.7	40	$100,000
June 11	7:30 PM CDT	F0	Webster	7.0	30
June 11	7:41 PM CDT	F0	Webster	0.3	25
June 11	7:49 PM CDT	F0	Webster	0.2	25
June 11	8:45 PM CDT	F0	Boone	0.5	40
June 11	9:01 PM CDT	F0	Boone	0.1	25

June 16 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 16	1:55 PM CDT	F0	Howard	0.1	20
June 16	2:47 PM CDT	F1	Mitchell	5.0	40
June 16	2:48 PM CDT	F0	Howard	0.2	20
June 16	3:49 PM CDT	F0	Floyd	0.2	20

July 5 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 5	3:50 PM CDT	F0	Calhoun	0.2	30
July 5	5:40 PM CDT	F0	Howard	0.2	20	$10,000
July 5	6:35 PM CDT	F0	Fayette	0.2	20

August 3 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 3	4:53 PM CDT	F0	Hardin	0.7	50	$20,000
August 3	5:00 PM CDT	F1	Story	3.0	100	$70,000
August 3	5:20 PM CDT	F1	Marshall	5.0	100	$100,000

August 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 8	5:00 PM CDT	F0	Webster	0.1	25

August 16 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 16	7:10 PM CDT	F0	Hardin	0.6	40			$1,000
August 16	7:16 PM CDT	F1	Hardin	1.7	75			$2,000

August 26 10 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 26	5:00 PM CDT	F0	Humboldt	0.5	50
August 26	5:58 PM CDT	F2	Fremont	3.0	880
August 26	6:25 PM CDT	F0	Page	2.0	100
August 26	6:30 PM CDT	F2	Page	7.0	1,200
August 26	8:13 PM CDT	F0	Story	0.5	50
August 26	8:25 PM CDT	F0	Story	0.5	50	$10,000
August 26	8:40 PM CDT	F1	Marshall	3.0	30	$50,000
August 26	10:28 PM CDT	F1	Linn	0.0	40	$10,000
August 26	10:36 PM CDT	F1	Linn	0.8	40
August 26	10:51 PM CDT	F1	Delaware	4.2	440	$70,000

September 5 11 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
September 5	3:06 PM CDT	F0	Woodbury	12.0	100	$10,000
September 5	5:08 PM CDT	F0	Dickinson	0.1	50
September 5	6:04 PM CDT	F1	Greene	2.0	40	$50,000
September 5	6:15 PM CDT	F0	Greene	0.5	25
September 5	7:15 PM CDT	F0	Hamilton	0.2	20
September 5	7:52 PM CDT	F0	Warren	0.2	20
September 5	8:48 PM CDT	F0	Lucas	2.0	50	$70,000
September 5	8:51 PM CDT	F0	Polk	0.5	25	$10,000
September 5	9:06 PM CDT	F1	Story	2.7	40	$30,000
September 5	9:17 PM CDT	F1	Marshall	3.5	30	$10,000
September 5	9:17 PM CDT	F0	Marshall	3.0	25	$20,000

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.