Tornadoes · United States · Iowa

2018 tornadoes in Iowa

69 tornadoes touched down in Iowa in 2018, 70 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2017 2019 The whole country in 2018

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 2018

May 3 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
May 3	7:46 PM CDT	EF0	Jasper	0.4	25
May 3	7:48 PM CDT	EF0	Marion	1.1	25
May 3	7:56 PM CDT	EF0	Jasper	0.4	25
May 3	11:15 PM CDT	EF0	Jones	0.0	10

May 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 28	2:20 PM CDT	EF0	Pocahontas	0.9	30

May 29 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 29	3:58 PM CDT	EF0	Story	0.3	30

June 9 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 9	3:07 PM CDT	EF1	Winnebago	2.8	80	$15,000
June 9	3:36 PM CDT	EF0	Cerro Gordo	1.2	30
June 9	9:36 PM CDT	EF1	Buchanan	0.1	20

June 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 11	6:59 PM CDT	EF0	Fremont	0.1	10

June 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 18	5:00 PM CDT	EF0	Mills	0.3	50

June 20 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 20	2:18 PM CDT	EF0	Dallas	2.8	100	$5,000
June 20	2:20 PM CDT	EF0	Greene	0.6	40
June 20	2:31 PM CDT	EF0	Keokuk	6.3	50
June 20	2:43 PM CDT	EF0	Webster	0.7	30
June 20	3:27 PM CDT	EF0	Hardin	0.3	30
June 20	5:15 PM CDT	EF0	Wapello	0.5	30

June 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 25	5:14 PM CDT	EF0	Ringgold	0.7	40

July 19 21 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
July 19	2:30 PM CDT	EF0	Wright	3.5	80
July 19	2:35 PM CDT	EF0	Wright	4.4	80
July 19	2:42 PM CDT	EF0	Wright	1.3	60
July 19	2:48 PM CDT	EF0	Polk	0.9	50		$2,000
July 19	2:50 PM CDT	EF2	Polk	3.7	130		$35,000
July 19	2:51 PM CDT	EF2	Polk	3.0	100		$250,000
July 19	2:52 PM CDT	EF0	Story	2.1	40
July 19	2:56 PM CDT	EF0	Hamilton	2.7	60
July 19	3:18 PM CDT	EF0	Jasper	2.4	60
July 19	3:22 PM CDT	EF0	Story	2.8	60
July 19	3:28 PM CDT	EF0	Jasper	2.6	80
July 19	3:35 PM CDT	EF0	Story	2.5	40
July 19	3:45 PM CDT	EF1	Jasper	4.0	500		$8,000
July 19	3:56 PM CDT	EF0	Marion	1.0	40
July 19	4:01 PM CDT	EF3	Marion	9.2	800	13	$120 million
July 19	4:11 PM CDT	EF0	Marshall	0.8	40
July 19	4:15 PM CDT	EF0	Mahaska	1.2	60
July 19	4:24 PM CDT	EF3	Marshall	8.4	1,200	22	$200 million
July 19	4:50 PM CDT	EF0	Mahaska	1.2	60
July 19	6:07 PM CDT	EF1	Van Buren	2.1	50
July 19	6:09 PM CDT	EF1	Van Buren	0.2	75

August 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 5	3:45 AM CDT	EF0	Buena Vista	0.3	25

August 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 16	6:08 PM CDT	EF0	Jones	0.0	10

August 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 20	3:49 PM CDT	EF0	Clinton	0.5	15

August 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 28	7:09 PM CDT	EF0	Scott	4.1	25

September 3 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
September 3	4:40 PM CDT	EF0	Benton	0.0	15
September 3	4:45 PM CDT	EF0	Benton	0.0	15
September 3	5:31 PM CDT	EF1	Linn	5.0	100
September 3	6:08 PM CDT	EF0	Linn	0.0	15
September 3	9:08 PM CDT	EF1	Linn	2.2	30	$35,000

September 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 4	3:35 PM CDT	EF1	Kossuth	1.2	50			$8,000

September 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 20	5:21 PM CDT	EF1	Dickinson	5.1	35

September 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 21	1:27 AM CDT	EF1	Jackson	0.3	20			$250,000

September 25 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
September 25	1:26 PM CDT	EF0	Henry	0.3	20
September 25	1:30 PM CDT	EF1	Linn	0.1	20	$1,000
September 25	1:53 PM CDT	EF0	Cedar	0.1	20	$3,000
September 25	2:14 PM CDT	EF1	Henry	1.1	200	$2,000

October 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 3	9:59 PM CDT	EF0	Jones	0.7	50

October 8 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 8	6:22 PM CDT	EF0	Guthrie	5.9	100
October 8	7:53 PM CDT	EF1	Clarke	4.9	250			$15,000

October 9 11 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
October 9	3:24 PM CDT	EF0	Appanoose	1.6	60	$10,000
October 9	3:34 PM CDT	EF0	Appanoose	0.5	20
October 9	3:48 PM CDT	EF0	Benton	0.0	10
October 9	4:14 PM CDT	EF0	Poweshiek	1.8	40
October 9	4:20 PM CDT	EF0	Poweshiek	2.3	30
October 9	4:35 PM CDT	EF0	Ringgold	3.1	40
October 9	5:09 PM CDT	EF1	Union	2.3	250	$40,000
October 9	5:21 PM CDT	EF0	Black Hawk	1.9	50	$2,000
October 9	5:42 PM CDT	EF0	Adair	3.0	40
October 9	5:58 PM CDT	EF0	Adair	1.6	30
October 9	6:03 PM CDT	EF1	Adair	2.7	80	$5,000

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.