Ottumwa

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond this area.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Flood insurance figures are for Wapello County, the county that contains Ottumwa.

Claims by ZIP code

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges in Wapello County, the county that contains Ottumwa.

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

The drought index is for Wapello County, the county that contains Ottumwa.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

Mapped landslides

Landslides mapped in Wapello County.

Mapped by NASA (1).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Aug 1, 2003Drought, Wapello$12.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dry weather settled in over Iowa during the month. The last widespread rain occurred on 09 July. With the increasingly dry conditions became a primary concern as the month progressed. An extended period of heat and humidity from the 15th to 25th saw highs into the 90s to over 100 degrees F. in some locations. By month's end drought indices had worsened to severe to extreme drought across south central Iowa and at least moderate drought over the remainder of the HSA. Waterloo had its driest August on record, Des Moines its 3rd driest and Ottumwa its 8th driest. A cold front brought only a brief respite from the intense heat, as temperatures rebounded into the 90s to near 100…

2. Mar 31, 2023Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Long track tornado began in Wapello County northeast |of Ottumwa then tracked northeast into Keokuk County. |The primary damage in Wapello County consisted of three |homes and one hog confinement facility. The first home |lost the entire roof and one external wall. The first failure |point was likely the wind entering and lifting the garage |which then led to failure of the roof. The home only had |straight nailed connections to the external walls spaced|every 18 inches and less to the roof. An unoccupied |mobile home on the property was not well anchored and |rolled to total destruction. This location was rated 110 mph |and EF-1. Two well anchored hog confinement buildings |were…

3. Aug 1, 2010Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding continued along a large part of the Des Moines River Basin from the previous month. The flooding ended in the Stratford area by the afternoon of the 1st, however releases from Saylorville and Red Rock Reservoirs maintained river stages above flood stage through the first week of the month in the Des Moines area, and through the month in the Eddyville and Ottumwa areas.

4. Jun 8, 2008Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain fell once again across a large part of Iowa, especially across the north and northeast. This rain fell on rivers that were already close to flood stage as they were just beginning to fall after the flooding from earlier in the month. The rainfall of the first week of June set the state for what would become record flooding over a large part of the northeast half of Iowa, even eclipsing the records set just 15 years previous in 1993. Damage became widespread, both to property and infrastructure as well as agriculturally. More details of the record rains will be included with the next event, which occurred just a couple days later.

5. Oct 26, 1997Heavy Snow, Wapello$640,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The first major winter storm of the season developed over the central Rockies as a powerful upper level jet stream dove into the southern Rockies. Intense low pressure developed over northern Oklahoma, then drifted northeast on the early morning of the 26th. A cold high pressure of Arctic origin was poised to the north of Iowa. The high gradually pushed cold air south into the central U.S. causing the precipitation on the northwest edge of the storm system to change to snow. During the early morning hours, the system went convective with widespread "thundersnow" reported over the south half of Iowa. Lightning struck a tree outside of a house in Nevada causing damage to electrical…

6. Nov 10, 1998High Wind, Wapello$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Iowa experienced the worst November storm system since the great storm of 9 and 10 November 1975. During the 9th, low pressure developed over southeast Colorado. The low moved across Kansas during the afternoon and evening of the 9th and deepened to about 990 mb. Warm and moist air was drawn north ahead of the low resulting in widespread across the state. Thunderstorms erupted during the late evening of the 9th, though no severe weather occurred. During the predawn hours of the 10th, a jet streak rotated around the base of the upper level low pressure area. The jet stream, combined with a tropospheric fold, resulted in explosive deepening of the low. As the low moved through…

7. Jun 25, 2000Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major wind and significant flash flooding event took shape across Iowa during the afternoon and evening of the 25th. A dynamic upper level system approached Iowa from the northwest during the afternoon. Several boundaries were in the area resulting from weak convection that took place during the morning. Very strong theta-e advection took place over northeast Nebraska during the morning and early afternoon hours. In addition, several other factors came into play. Moisture continued to stream into Iowa from the remnants of Hurricane Carlotta as precipitable water values approached 2.2 inches. Iowa was also under the influence of a coupled jet structure. As a result a strong upper…

8. Jul 1, 2010Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding from June continued along several river systems across the state into July. For the most part, rivers crested early and then fell slowly during the first week of the month. There was little new flooding, however most of the flooding during early July was on agricultural land.

9. Apr 11, 2001Tornado$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Quick moving tornado, touchdown with strongest part in Agency. Nine buildings with major damage, 43 with minor. Two buildings destroyed. Two dead, three injured.

10. Apr 26, 2007Flood$350,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A strong low pressure developed over eastern Colorado and moved southeast into northern Oklahoma by the 24th. Deep moisture was pulled north ahead of the low with surface dew points in the low 70s reaching northern Oklahoma. Strong isentropic lift took place over the Des Moines CWA and resulted in a large and sustained area of rain and embedded thunderstorms. Rainfall of two to over five inches of rainfall occurred over a large part of the CWA, with isolated amounts in the six to seven inch range over a 2 day period. This event brought about the flash flooding event of the evening of the 24th. The situation transitioned into a general areal flood event on the 25th, with several…

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

106°FJul 23, 2012

All-time low

−27°FFeb 3, 1996

Warmest night

84°FAug 17, 1983

Coldest day

−14°FFeb 2, 1996

Wettest day

5.32 inSep 14, 1992

Snowiest day

15.0 inFeb 13, 1978

Hottest year

1987mean 54.3°F

Coldest year

2014mean 47.8°F

Wettest year

199854.52 in

Driest year

195319.09 in

Snowiest season

63.9 in1977-78

Station Ottumwa Ind Airport (USW00014950), 834 ft elevation, 5.5 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 26, 2026; 99.0% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

Declarations for Wapello County.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USW00014950.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.