Tornadoes · United States · Iowa

2015 tornadoes in Iowa

58 tornadoes touched down in Iowa in 2015, 43 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2014 2016 The whole country in 2015

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 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.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 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 2015

April 9 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 9	5:04 PM CDT	EF1	Scott	22.4	100			$20,000
April 9	5:40 PM CDT	EF1	Clinton to IL	12.5	75

May 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 3	5:34 PM CDT	EF0	Dickinson	0.3	50

May 10 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 10	3:28 PM CDT	EF0	Sioux	0.8	50
May 10	7:10 PM CDT	EF1	Carroll	23.3	700	$1.0 million
May 10	8:14 PM CDT	EF0	Calhoun	1.0	400

May 17 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 17	2:20 AM CDT	EF0	Madison	7.1	130	$25,000
May 17	2:27 AM CDT	EF0	Madison	1.7	50
May 17	2:40 AM CDT	EF1	Madison	1.5	100
May 17	2:40 AM CDT	EF1	Madison	1.5	110	$50,000
May 17	3:00 AM CDT	EF0	Dallas	0.3	40

May 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 24	5:42 PM CDT	EF1	Lee	0.1	25			$10,000

May 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 26	9:59 AM CDT	EF1	Jackson	0.1	25

June 7 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 7	1:11 AM CDT	EF0	Webster	0.7	60	$1,000
June 7	1:15 AM CDT	EF0	Boone	2.8	40	$15,000
June 7	1:18 AM CDT	EF0	Boone	1.4	30
June 7	1:41 AM CDT	EF1	Story	0.9	35	$90,000

June 20 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 20	6:09 PM CDT	EF1	Monroe	3.6	175		$80,000
June 20	7:01 PM CDT	EF1	Washington	1.4	75		$50,000
June 20	7:18 PM CDT	EF1	Henry	3.5	75	2	$100,000
June 20	7:32 PM CDT	EF1	Des Moines	2.9	50		$300,000
June 20	7:34 PM CDT	EF1	Lee	4.4	50

June 22 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 22	8:21 AM CDT	EF1	Fayette	1.5	50	2	$100,000
June 22	5:05 PM CDT	EF3	Marion	11.1	575		$150,000
June 22	5:50 PM CDT	EF2	Monroe	1.7	290		$125,000

June 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 28	4:49 PM CDT	EF0	Van Buren	0.1	25

July 16 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 16	5:14 PM CDT	EF0	Henry	1.5	10
July 16	8:34 PM CDT	EF0	Mitchell	2.1	40			$40,000

August 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 2	6:21 PM CDT	EF1	Adair	5.0	300			$200,000

August 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 18	3:13 PM CDT	EF0	Cedar	0.1	20

October 23 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
October 23	4:10 PM CDT	EF0	Plymouth	0.1	50	$1,000
October 23	5:38 PM CDT	EF0	Sioux	0.2	50
October 23	5:49 PM CDT	EF0	Sioux	0.1	50
October 23	6:01 PM CDT	EF0	Sioux	0.2	50
October 23	6:21 PM CDT	EF0	O'Brien	0.2	50
October 23	6:39 PM CDT	EF0	Cherokee	0.3	50	$10,000
October 23	7:18 PM CDT	EF0	Carroll	3.5	45	$5,000

November 11 19 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
November 11	12:48 PM CST	EF0	Page	0.6	50
November 11	1:48 PM CST	EF1	Pottawattamie	10.2	150		$1.4 million
November 11	2:00 PM CST	EF1	Taylor	21.8	450		$405,000
November 11	2:09 PM CST	EF1	Ringgold	12.2	280		$125,000
November 11	2:31 PM CST	EF0	Carroll	1.5	40
November 11	2:35 PM CST	EF1	Ringgold	11.2	200		$5,000
November 11	2:49 PM CST	EF0	Madison	5.7	70		$3,000
November 11	2:51 PM CST	EF1	Madison	10.1	75		$25,000
November 11	2:56 PM CST	EF0	Madison	3.0	160		$5,000
November 11	2:57 PM CST	EF0	Wayne	0.6	15
November 11	2:57 PM CST	EF0	Guthrie	3.2	75		$5,000
November 11	2:59 PM CST	EF1	Dallas	11.3	100		$10,000
November 11	3:22 PM CST	EF2	Appanoose	13.0	190		$350,000
November 11	3:27 PM CST	EF0	Polk	2.6	150		$25,000
November 11	3:42 PM CST	EF1	Marion	4.4	100	1	$350,000
November 11	4:15 PM CST	EF0	Marshall	1.9	100		$1,000
November 11	4:16 PM CST	EF1	Mahaska	24.6	130		$1,000
November 11	4:20 PM CST	EF2	Mahaska	6.6	150		$76,000
November 11	6:36 PM CST	EF1	Scott	2.4	100

December 23 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 23	4:34 PM CST	EF1	Linn	2.3	50
December 23	5:38 PM CST	EF1	Dubuque	1.1	25

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.