2019 Iowa Tornadoes

Above is a map of the tornadoes that occurred across Iowa in 2019. Mouse over each icon to view more information on that tornado, which will appear in the box to the right. A season summary and table of these tornadoes is provided below. Detailed KMZ files for many of the tracks can be downloaded and viewed in Google Earth by clicking on the appropriate icon in the table below. To download the full year map shown above, click the download button below.

Please note: Track lines and contours are often interpolated and may not encompass the full extent of the damage. Surveying procedures vary between NWS offices. Downloadable tracks may not be available for weak tornadoes that were not surveyed.

*EFU - EF Unknown rating. This is used in instances that a tornado does not impact damage indicators used to assigned an EF rating.

     After a very slow start to the 2019 tornado season in Iowa with no tornadoes through May 21st, the season kicked into high gear almost overnight.  The season started with overnight tornadoes on May 22nd including two in southwest Iowa.  The stronger of the two was an EF2 tornado just southeast of Adair.  This tornado produced extensive damage to a home killing a 74 year old woman and injuring her husband.  The other tornado that night was an EF1 outside of Anita.  Two days later on May 24th, a pair of tornadoes occurred in the Iowa City area producing minor damage but fortunately no injuries or deaths.   Then on Memorial Day, six tornadoes occurred with two in northern Iowa and the other three in the far southeast.  The strongest tornado was an EF3 in Van Buren county where extensive damage was produced at a house near Cantril.  The finale to this active period in late May came on the 29th when 15 relatively weak tornadoes occurred in central and eastern Iowa.  While most of the tornadoes remained in open farmland, a few of them did produce damage in Hardin and Poweshiek county including one injury near Deep River.  This eight day period in late May accounted for 25 tornadoes across the state including one death and two injuries and accounted for just over half of the normal tornadoes Iowa experiences in a year.  The first tornadoes in June occurred on the 9th with three landspouts in eastern Iowa.  These tornadoes remained in rural areas producing little damage despite remaining on the ground for several minutes each.  An additional four tornadoes were observed on the 15th with a landspout north of Whitten in Hardin county which destroyed an old barn.  The other three tornadoes occurred in Des Moines county including two EF2 tornadoes southwest of Oakville. The final tornado of the month was a weak tornado in northwest Iowa near Terril.  

     Three tornadoes occurred in July and all were very short in length and remained in open cropland.  There was an uptick in activity during the month of August with six tornadoes reported.  This included three tornadoes in the morning on the 20th associated with a line of thunderstorms.  The strongest of these was an EF3 southeast of Indianola doing considerable damage to the Operators Union training facility, fortunately no injuries occurred.  There were nine tornadoes during September, but these remained in rural locations producing only minor to no damage.  Finally, on Novmeber 30th, two weak tornadoes occurred near Lake Panorama passing through rural agricultural land or wooded areas.  In total, 54 tornadoes occurred in 2019 across Iowa with one fatality and two injuries.