Tornadoes · United States · Iowa

2016 tornadoes in Iowa

45 tornadoes touched down in Iowa in 2016, 11 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2015 2017 The whole country in 2016

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 2016

March 15 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 15	7:33 PM CDT	EF0	Scott	0.0	50
March 15	7:34 PM CDT	EF0	Clinton	1.2	50
March 15	7:49 PM CDT	EF1	Clinton	1.4	75	3	$50,000
March 15	7:57 PM CDT	EF1	Clinton	3.4	300

April 27 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 27	3:14 PM CDT	EF1	Montgomery	1.7	50
April 27	4:40 PM CDT	EF0	Taylor	2.2	200
April 27	4:44 PM CDT	EF0	Taylor	0.9	40
April 27	5:12 PM CDT	EF0	Taylor	0.6	50	$25,000
April 27	5:40 PM CDT	EF0	Union	4.0	250	$3,000

May 9 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 9	3:06 PM CDT	EF0	Davis	0.3	10
May 9	5:18 PM CDT	EF0	Louisa	0.1	10
May 9	7:46 PM CDT	EF0	Guthrie	5.5	130	$5,000
May 9	8:18 PM CDT	EF0	Guthrie	1.5	20

May 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 23	4:41 PM CDT	EF0	Sioux	0.1	25

May 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 28	5:52 PM CDT	EF0	Plymouth	0.1	25

May 31 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 31	10:04 AM CDT	EF0	Clinton	0.0	10

June 14 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 14	2:22 PM CDT	EF0	Dickinson	0.4	25			$1,000
June 14	5:16 PM CDT	EF0	Benton	0.2	10

June 29 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 29	5:51 PM CDT	EF0	Harrison	3.3	25
June 29	6:06 PM CDT	EF0	Pottawattamie	4.2	25

July 17 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
July 17	4:58 AM CDT	EF2	Benton	1.6	100	5
July 17	5:15 AM CDT	EF2	Benton	4.0	75	4	$275,000
July 17	6:03 AM CDT	EF1	Jackson	1.0	50		$5.0 million
July 17	6:27 AM CDT	EF0	Scott	1.9	10
July 17	6:36 AM CDT	EF1	Scott	2.1	100

July 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 19	2:34 PM CDT	EF0	Monroe	2.3	50			$4,000

July 23 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 23	4:05 PM CDT	EF1	Buchanan	0.1	25
July 23	4:06 PM CDT	EF1	Delaware	0.1	25	$5,000
July 23	4:18 PM CDT	EF1	Delaware	0.2	10
July 23	4:46 PM CDT	EF0	Dubuque	0.8	25

July 27 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
July 27	5:15 PM CDT	EF0	Kossuth	0.4	15
July 27	6:11 PM CDT	EF0	Winnebago	0.3	20
July 27	6:39 PM CDT	EF0	Humboldt	0.7	30

July 30 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 30	10:29 AM CDT	EF0	Kossuth	0.5	30

August 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 4	5:21 PM CDT	EF0	Pottawattamie	0.6	15

August 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 28	4:33 PM CDT	EF0	Linn	0.1	10

September 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 6	5:50 PM CDT	EF0	Howard	0.0	25			$200

September 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 21	6:32 PM CDT	EF0	Floyd	1.6	50			$3,000

October 6 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 6	10:07 PM CDT	EF1	Muscatine	9.5	30
October 6	10:36 PM CDT	EF1	Rock Island to IL	20.0	800

November 28 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
November 28	12:44 PM CST	EF0	Hardin	5.2	50	$5,000
November 28	3:38 PM CST	EF0	Grundy	5.7	50	$3,000
November 28	3:41 PM CST	EF0	Grundy	1.5	25
November 28	4:11 PM CST	EF0	Mahaska	4.5	40
November 28	4:30 PM CST	EF0	Poweshiek	1.2	30

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.