Iowa Has Had A Terrifying Summer With A Record To Prove It

This summer has been filled with terrifying storms across the state of Iowa. We haven't seen too much as of late but we saw our fair share over the past few months.

Iowa has officially broken a record that was set two decades ago. It's a record that no one wants to break and we've seen the devastation this record has caused. The other unfortunate part to this record is we still have time to add to it. Hopefully, we never break this record of most tornadoes in a year again.

Iowa Breaks Tornado Record

Preliminary reports from the National Weather Service of Des Moines say that Iowa has broken its yearly tornado record for the first time in 20 years.

Officials report that 122 tornadoes (so far) have touched down in Iowa this year breaking the previous record of 120 in 2004. The two most tornadic months this year have been April and May which have a combined total of 98 tornadoes. April 2024 set the record for most April tornadoes in Iowa and April and May tie for 3rd in most tornadoes in any month in Iowa, according to officials.

Not only has 2024 recorded the most tornadoes in a single year in Iowa, but it has recorded the most EF-3s and most EF-4s since 1999, the most EF-0/U since 2004, and the most EF-1s on record for a single year. That is way too many records to have been broken this year.

One EF-1 tornado was confirmed to have occurred in Davenport and cut through the metro Quad Cities back on July 15th.

NWS officials say that Minden and Greenfield, IA have been the widest and longest tornadoes of the year, respectively. There have been 44 injuries and 6 deaths reported from tornadoes in Iowa in 2024. 5 of those deaths were from the EF-4 tornado that hit Greenfield in May.

Let's hope this record doesn't get added to or broke every again.