Tornadoes · United States · Iowa

2017 tornadoes in Iowa

52 tornadoes touched down in Iowa in 2017, 28 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2016 2018 The whole country in 2017

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 2017

February 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 28	3:53 PM CST	EF0	Clinton	0.0	25

March 6 18 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 6	5:23 PM CST	EF0	Webster	2.4	30
March 6	5:28 PM CST	EF1	Webster	2.9	50		$70,000
March 6	6:27 PM CST	EF0	Boone	17.9	85		$125,000
March 6	6:58 PM CST	EF1	Hardin	6.3	300		$25,000
March 6	7:19 PM CST	EF1	Warren	4.8	100		$80,000
March 6	7:29 PM CST	EF1	Marion	5.3	120		$50,000
March 6	7:35 PM CST	EF1	Marion	6.8	80		$20,000
March 6	7:47 PM CST	EF0	Marion	5.5	65		$25,000
March 6	8:16 PM CST	EF2	Wayne	14.9	250		$2.0 million
March 6	8:30 PM CST	EF1	Appanoose	8.0	60		$40,000
March 6	8:33 PM CST	EF2	Appanoose	9.7	90		$750,000
March 6	9:50 PM CST	EF0	Dubuque	5.7	25		$5,000
March 6	9:56 PM CST	EF2	Louisa	0.3	150
March 6	10:05 PM CST	EF2	Muscatine	1.8	200	3	$100,000
March 6	10:13 PM CST	EF2	Muscatine	25.3	1,000		$52,000
March 6	10:18 PM CST	EF1	Cedar	16.6	100		$110,000
March 6	10:19 PM CST	EF2	Scott	34.7	200
March 6	10:40 PM CST	EF0	Clinton	4.4	50

April 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 15	8:50 PM CDT	EF1	Jones	3.2	25			$10,000

May 10 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 10	2:46 PM CDT	EF0	Van Buren	2.8	50

May 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 15	6:45 PM CDT	EF0	Winneshiek	1.0	50			$4,000

May 17 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 17	2:10 PM CDT	EF0	Sioux	0.0	10
May 17	2:42 PM CDT	EF0	Sioux	0.0	10
May 17	4:16 PM CDT	EF1	Jefferson	3.2	25
May 17	6:36 PM CDT	EF1	Washington	6.0	40
May 17	6:50 PM CDT	EF0	Winneshiek	0.2	30	$2,000
May 17	7:44 PM CDT	EF1	Scott	2.1	25	$2,000

June 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 16	9:35 PM CDT	EF1	Taylor	1.3	40			$30,000

June 28 13 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 28	3:46 PM CDT	EF2	Fremont	3.7	135
June 28	3:57 PM CDT	EF0	Adair	14.9	100		$5,000
June 28	4:21 PM CDT	EF1	Page	2.1	75
June 28	4:21 PM CDT	EF1	Adams	3.8	100		$10,000
June 28	4:43 PM CDT	EF0	Adams	1.9	30		$1,000
June 28	4:45 PM CDT	EF1	Adair	7.6	100		$20,000
June 28	5:05 PM CDT	EF2	Taylor	7.0	1,000		$75,000
June 28	5:54 PM CDT	EF1	Warren	17.8	500		$85,000
June 28	6:18 PM CDT	EF0	Warren	0.5	25
June 28	6:38 PM CDT	EF2	Linn	11.7	200	1
June 28	7:14 PM CDT	EF2	Jones	2.5	30
June 28	7:26 PM CDT	EF0	Benton	0.0	10
June 28	7:56 PM CDT	EF1	Jones	2.0	15

July 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 11	5:35 PM CDT	EF1	Iowa	4.6	60			$1,000

July 19 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 19	5:15 PM CDT	EF0	Howard	0.7	20			$12,000
July 19	6:08 PM CDT	EF1	Clayton	5.8	400		2	$840,000

July 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 21	5:44 PM CDT	EF0	Johnson	0.1	10

July 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 26	6:06 PM CDT	EF0	Clinton	1.3	25

August 18 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 18	7:47 PM CDT	EF1	Osceola	1.6	100
August 18	8:07 PM CDT	EF2	Osceola	5.1	250	$300,000
August 18	9:21 PM CDT	EF0	Cherokee	0.8	50

August 21 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 21	5:52 PM CDT	EF0	Boone	3.3	80			$5,000
August 21	5:58 PM CDT	EF0	Story	1.1	10

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)	Injuries	Damage
June 16	8:05 PM CDT	EF2	Sarpy, NE to IA	14.0	250
June 16	8:08 PM CDT	EF1	Sarpy, NE to IA	6.7	300
December 4	5:13 PM CST	EF2	Clark, MO to IA	8.0	50	1	$100,000

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.