2022 Iowa Tornadoes

Above is a map of the tornadoes that occurred across Iowa in 2022. 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.

      The 2022 tornado season started much like the 2021 season ended, with several tornadoes during a cool season event.  The event on March 5th was a very impressive start to the season with a total of fifteen tornadoes of which one was a long track EF4, the first EF4 in Iowa since 2013.  Unfortunately, this tornado produced six deaths near Winterset along with five injuries.  The entire path length was just over 70.5 miles, becoming one of the longest tornadoes of the past 40 years.  The path was uninterrupted from just northwest of Macksburg in Madison county to northeast of Newton in Jasper county.  The tornado grazed several larger communities along its path, passing just south of Winterset, Norwalk, Des Moines and Colfax and just to the north and west of Lambs Grove and Newton.  Another deadly tornado occurred near Chariton with an individual killed in a campground at Red Haw State Park.  The total of fifteen tornadoes makes it one of the earliest outbreaks with that total that high so early in the season.  

      About a month later on April 12th, another round of tornadoes struck the state with another thirteen spin-ups across Iowa.  The first tornado of the day was near Palmer in Pocahontas county with this tornado producing one injury.  This tornado was followed closely by another two tornadoes west of Humboldt near Rutland.  Both of these tornadoes moved northwest initially upon forming then curled back to the northeast before dissipating.  Several other tornadoes occurred on this evening, mostly in northern Iowa however two tornadoes did occur in west central Iowa near Missouri Valley and Woodbine.  Fortunately, most of the tornadoes on this day remained in rural areas with the bulk of damage done to telephone poles, trees and a few outbuildings.  Three more tornadoes occurred on April 23rd between Des Moines and Ames near the towns of Madrid and Sheldahl.  Once again, the paths remained largely in rural areas impacting only a few farmsteads and producing only minor damage.  

     The peak of tornado season is normally in May and June, however 2022 was another year where these months were relatively inactive.  May saw only three tornadoes with one occurring on May 12th near Sergeant Bluff and was observed crossing Interstate 29 south of town.  The other two occurred on May 30th in far northwest Iowa.  One of these passed through the southeast side of Doon, IA producing only minor damage.  A total of one tornado occurred in June south of Treynor.  This tornado remained in rural areas with little damage.   July saw another six tornadoes with two producing damage.  The first damaging tornado occurred west of Estherville on July 5th with minor tree damage occurring at a couple of farmsteads.  The other damaging tornado occurred south of Waukon and did some minor damage to a farmstead. The other four tornadoes occurred in rural cropland and were rated EFU since they did not impact any damage indicators.  The final tornado of the year occurred on August 20th just north of Scotch Grove in Jones county remaining in rural cropland.