Cedar County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Cedar County: 1.
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.

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

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.

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.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the county boundary (or inside the county).
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 1, 2008Flood$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Major to record flooding occurred during the month of June 2008 with most forecast points above flood stage for the majority of the month. The flooding during this month was more prolific and severe than the flooding in April 2008, and the flooding in April had been the most prolific flood event since 1997.||While some locations were still experiencing flooding as June began, many of the tributary rivers to the Mississippi in Iowa rose above flood stage during the first few days of the month. At locations that were already above flood stage, the rivers stopped their fall and began climbing again.||Persistent heavy rain from late May into early June resulted in record crests on the…

2. Feb 24, 2007Ice Storm, Cedar$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A spotter reported one inch accumulation of ice in Tipton. Numerous trees and power lines down in Tipton and throughout the county.

3. Jul 20, 2003Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong F1...winds estimated around 110 mph.

4. Apr 17, 2013Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several rounds of heavy rains resulted in flash flooding across much of Cedar County from mid morning April 17 through the early morning April 18.

5. Sep 27, 2016Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The county Emergency Manager reported roughly 10 homes under water. There were 4 campgrounds that were evacuated. Numerous road closures occurred near the river.

6. May 14, 2003Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An upper level disturbance induced a surface low pressure on a boundary across Eastern Iowa that moved into Northwest Illinois and far Northeast Missouri. Subsequent thunderstorms that developed were prolific hail producers due to extremely cold air aloft. Additional outflow boundaries produced by the initial thunderstorms created new storms and brief funnel clouds that fortunately never touched down. Pea sized hail (0.25 inch) continued continuously for 20 minutes in Princeton, Illinois and covered the ground.

7. May 10, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several homes and outbuildings were destroyed, and there was widespread tree damage. Cedar county farm buildings alone accounted for over 250,000 dollars worth of damage. The damage track began near Durant and then stretched northeast across Clinton and Scott counties of Iowa, ending in Whiteside and northern Rock Island counties in Illinois.

8. Dec 11, 2007Ice Storm, Cedar$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large area of freezing rain fell across the region on December 10-11, 2007. This precipitation occurred on the cold side of a stationary frontal boundary that extended from the southern Plains to the lower Ohio Valley. Ice accumulations were in the 1/4 to 1 inch range, with snow and sleet mixed with the freezing rain in some areas. The ice knocked down some trees and branches, with scattered power outages reported. Temperatures gradually rose above freezing the morning of December 11 from I-80 southward, melting the ice. One fatality occurred in Cedar Rapids when a falling ice-laden branch struck a man's head. In addition, most counties were declared a state or federal disaster area.

9. Apr 15, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A series of downbursts in a 3 mile wide path occurred from 4 miles west of Tipton to 4 miles northeast of Tipton. Winds were estimated at 70-78 knots (80-90 mph). Time is estimated based on radar. Newspapers reported trees down and a roof off of a barn 3 miles west of Tipton, and trees down 1.6 miles south southwest of Wald.At the Marge Schott farm on Jackson Avenue, a 70 foot silo was destroyed along with 3 sheds and several trees. A house was damaged and a livestock trailer was flipped over. A the Jeff Meier home on 220th Street, the end of an equipment building was blown out. At the Tom and Lori Schott farm just down the road on 220th Street, a livestock building had the roof…

10. Apr 15, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The same line of storms produced a severe downburst in Clarence and immediately south. Winds with this downburst were estimated at 83-87 knots (95-100 mph).In Clarence, Hunwardsen Fabrication lost the roof and one entire wall of their building with the debris scattered across the parking lot to the west. South of town a grain bin and a gazebo were destroyed.

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

105°F3 times, most recently Jul 25, 2012

All-time low

−34°FFeb 3, 1996

Warmest night

80°FJul 19, 2019

Coldest day

−14°FFeb 2, 1996

Wettest day

5.65 inJun 22, 2007

Hottest year

2024mean 53.8°F

Coldest year

1951mean 46.1°F

Wettest year

201848.78 in

Driest year

199920.47 in

Station Iowa City Municipal Airport (USW00014937), 652 ft elevation, 22.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 26, 2026; 99.5% 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.

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.

Neighbouring counties

• 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 USW00014937.
• 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.
• 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.