First F5/EF5 Tornado in Iowa Since June 1976 (2023)

FAQs

How many F5 tornadoes has Iowa had? ›

Since 1871, Iowa has had eleven F5/EF5 tornadoes (the most intense damage category on the Fujita and Enhanced Fujita damage scales - less than 1% of tornado occurrences - wind speeds greater than 200 mph).

The tornado was the first F5 or EF5 tornado in Iowa since one hit Jordan on June 13, 1976, and the second deadliest in Iowa since official record-keeping began in 1950. The deadliest tornado affected the Charles City area on May 15, 1968, and killed 13 while producing F5 damage.

The most devastating tornado to ever hit Iowa struck Charles City in 1968. While Iowa has had thousands of powerful and devastating tornadoes over the years, its most powerful and deadly in recorded history was the Charles City Tornado of 1968.

A large stone monastery was partially leveled to the ground. 1953 Waco tornado outbreak – This was the first officially-ranked F5 tornado in the United States.

Here are the deadliest Iowa tornadoes:

125 killed: June 30, 1860, "Camanche tornado" in Hardin, Linn, Jones and Clinton counties. The was the deadliest disaster in Iowa history. 71 killed: June 6, 1893, Pomeroy. 70 killed: June 17, 1882, Grinnell.

The most "extreme" tornado in recorded history was the Tri-State tornado, which spread through parts of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana on March 18, 1925. It is considered an F5 on the Fujita Scale, even though tornadoes were not ranked on any scale at the time.

The old scale lists an F5 tornado as wind speeds of 261–318 mph (420–512 km/h), while the new scale lists an EF5 as a tornado with winds above 200 mph (322 km/h), found to be sufficient to cause the damage previously ascribed to the F5 range of wind speeds.

The longest F5/EF5-free periods are April 1, 1884 to June 15, 1892 (8 years 45 days) and May 3, 1999 to May 4, 2007 (8 years exactly).

The Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940 not only impacted Iowa, but brought massive amounts of snow and wind to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan, going down in history as one of the biggest snowstorms in the Midwest.

What was the deadliest single tornado in US history? ›

The deadliest tornado of all time in the United States was the Tri-State Tornado on March 18, 1925 in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. It killed 695 people and injured over 2,000.

On the evening of Monday, May 3, 1999, a large and exceptionally powerful F5 tornado registered the highest wind speeds ever measured globally; winds were recorded at 301 ± 20 miles per hour (484 ± 32 km/h) by a Doppler on Wheels (DOW) radar.

In total, two tornadoes received the rating of F6, but both were later downgraded to F5. Based on aerial photographs of the damage it caused, Fujita assigned the strongest tornado of the 1974 Super Outbreak, which affected Xenia, Ohio, a preliminary rating of F6 intensity ± 1 scale.

Tornadoes have been documented in every U.S. state (not including the non-state territories of Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico) at least once since 1950, although some regions and states are hit by tornadoes far more than others.

The F6 is a mythical tornado that you would likely only see in movies or hear of in tall tales. It is similar to the magnitude 10 tornado. Early history may have witnessed such phenomena but they have not occurred in modern times due to more settled climates.

The blizzard of Jan. 12, 1888 was probably the worst of history over north and west Iowa and in the upper Great Plains. Numerous people were lost and frozen in the storm as it swept across Montana, the Dakotas and Nebraska.

The nation's last EF-5 tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20, 2013.

The F5 tornado that struck Fargo, ND on the evening of June 20, 1957 was a historic event in meteorological history. The tornado also changed the lives of many people living in Fargo that year. This tornado would be studied by Dr. Ted Fujita, who would later go on to create the Fujita damage scale.

What is the famous F5 tornado? ›

NUMBER ONE - THE WACO TORNADO - MAY 11, 1953

Nearly 1/3 of a mile wide, the massive F5 tornado crossed Waco on a path that ran almost south to north, killing 114 persons and injuring 597. It destroyed around 600 homes and other buildings and damaged over 1000, including 2000 vehicles.

Tornado Alley is a region covering the Great Plains known for its tornado activity. While its exact boundaries are debated, it generally encompasses parts of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, and northern Texas.

An above-ground tornado shelter is 100% capable of withstanding the force applied by even an EF5 tornado. If you live in a place where tornadoes are common, it's important that you have a place to go when a storm strikes.

But while the most violent and rare EF-5 tornado can level and blow away almost any house, most tornadoes are much weaker and can be survived using some safety precautions – chiefly, taking advantage of a basement if your home happens to have one.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Ten years ago on May 20, 2013, the most recent EF5 tornado in U.S. history tore through parts of Newcastle and Moore, OK.

In the late afternoon of May 22, 2011, an EF5 multiple-vortex tornado struck Joplin, Mo. Reaching a maximum width of over one mile and with winds peaking at more than 200 mph, the tornado destroyed or damaged virtually everything in a six-mile path.

“Oklahoma City is almost in a class by itself when it comes to tornado activity,” he explains. “According to the local National Weather Service office, the capital of Oklahoma has been hit more than 140 times since records began in the early 1890s.

Short summary: A long track EF2 tornado began in Wapello County northeast of Ottumwa and damaged three homes and one hog confinement facility. The tornado developed into a large storm in southern Keokuk County across mostly farmland, where it then traveled into Washington and Johnson counties.

The last tornado to hit Des Moines was in 2007 and before that an F1 touched down in 2000. So although rare, Des Moines is not immune and it has nothing to do our two rivers.

Has Iowa ever had a blizzard? ›

April 8-10 of 1973, a record-settling blizzard affect much of Iowa with incredible snowfall totals and intense blowing and drifting.

Iowa History Daily: On January 9, 1975, Iowans braced for the storm of the century as the infamous “Super Bowl Blizzard” prepared to shake the state. The storm unleashed 45 tornadoes while killing 12 in the southeastern United States, and claimed 58 lives as the blizzard swept across the Midwest.

The last tropical storm system to move directly through Iowa occurred in 1900.

Widest tornado: El Reno, Oklahoma (May 31, 2013)

Tornadoes that are over 1 mile wide are rare, and over 2 miles wide are almost unfathomable. The one that hit El Reno, Oklahoma in 2013 was 2.6 miles wide. Wide tornadoes aren't always the most deadly, but the El Reno, Oklahoma was an exception.

He survived after being swept up inside a tornado. One of the tornadoes swept Matt Suter up and threw him nearly a quarter mile from his grandmother's home in Fordland, Missouri. Suter woke up in a grassy field sometime later after being thrown over a barbed wire fence.

The United States has the most tornadoes of any country, as well as the strongest and most violent tornadoes. A large portion of these tornadoes form in an area of the central United States popularly known as Tornado Alley. Canada experiences the second most tornadoes.

While tornadoes occur in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., several states experience minimal tornadic activity in an average season.

More recently, that focus has shifted eastward by 400 to 500 miles. In the past decade or so tornadoes have become prevalent in eastern Missouri and Arkansas, western Tennessee and Kentucky, and northern Mississippi and Alabama—a new region of concentrated storms. Tornado activity in early 2023 epitomized the trend.

In Oklahoma, known as the tornado capital of the world, winds have previously reached a mind boggling 400 kilometres per hour. However, many scientists and experts in recent years have warned that people living in southern parts of the country are just as much at risk of tornadoes as those in the Plains are.

What state is best to chase tornadoes? ›

Florida is undoubtedly the place to be for any aspiring storm chaser. The Sunshine State comes in first on our list with a storm chaser score of 80.23. Florida reports more days of tropical storms than any other state in the country and frequently faces other natural disasters, like hurricanes and tornadoes.

Hurricanes are notorious for their strong winds, storm surge and torrential rains, but another threat they form is tornadoes. Tornadoes spawning from a tropical storm or hurricane once it makes landfall is not uncommon. It is actually more rare to not see at least one tornado spawned from these spinning storms.

The nation's last EF-5 tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20, 2013.

Only about 0.06% of all tornadoes are classified as F5 or EF5. That's about one tornado out of every 1,666.

The deadliest tornado of all time in the United States was the Tri-State Tornado on March 18, 1925 in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. It killed 695 people and injured over 2,000.

Mobile Doppler radars such as the University of Oklahoma's Doppler on Wheels have remotely sensed tornado wind speeds above ground level as high as about 302 mph.

Tornado Alley is a region covering the Great Plains known for its tornado activity. While its exact boundaries are debated, it generally encompasses parts of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, and northern Texas.

It ranges from a T0 for extremely weak tornadoes to T11 for the most powerful known tornadoes. T0–T1 roughly corresponds to F0, T2–T3 to F1, and so on. While T10–T11 would be roughly equivalent to F5, the highest tornado rated to date on the TORRO scale was a T8.

South. The Southern United States has suffered more tornado fatalities than any other part of the country. Some areas experience repeated damaging tornado events, such as the Tennessee Valley and in northern Alabama. The state of Alabama is tied for the most reported F5 tornadoes.

The old scale lists an F5 tornado as wind speeds of 261–318 mph (420–512 km/h), while the new scale lists an EF5 as a tornado with winds above 200 mph (322 km/h), found to be sufficient to cause the damage previously ascribed to the F5 range of wind speeds.

Can anything survive an F5 tornado? ›

Namely, the expected fatality rate for those exposed to F/EF5 tornadoes is around one percent. Put another way, 99 percent of people exposed to the worst tornadoes survive the experience.

An above-ground tornado shelter is 100% capable of withstanding the force applied by even an EF5 tornado.

“The advantage of a brick exterior is the strength of the product in the wall. Most building brick have a minimum compressive strength of 3000 psi, which makes them very difficult to chip, crack or break due to environmental forces.”