Hardin County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Hardin County: 0.
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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Aug 9, 2009Hail$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail brok windows out of a residence and caused considerable crop damage.

2. Aug 1, 2003Drought, Hardin$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…

3. Aug 9, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Many Residences in town have broken windows. The Red Cross set up a shelter and treated several injuries. A communications tower was toppled by the high wind.

4. Apr 20, 2001Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Short touchdown within the town of Alden.

5. Aug 9, 2009Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail of at least golf ball size resulted in broken windows.

6. Sep 2, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A microburst took place on 2 farmsteads in the area with 80 to 85 MPH winds causing damage to buildings and crops.

7. Aug 9, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive crop damage. Several houses with broken windows from the hail on the west sides of them. Crop damage swath a mile to mile and one half wide.

8. May 28, 1998Hail$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A very unstable airmass as located over Iowa following an extended period of southerly winds. Surface dew point temperatures were in the 70 degree F. range to the south of a weak cold front that was entering the state from the north. An east-west line of thunderstorms formed during the mid to late afternoon hours. The storms became severe very quickly with a tornado dropping out of one of the first storms to form. It touched down briefly northwest of Pocahontas in an open field. The rest of the storms that formed produced very high winds and large hail. Hail larger than baseball in size pelted the town of Iowa Falls in Hardin County, causing considerable damage in the town. Crops…

9. Nov 10, 1998High Wind, Hardin$300,000
   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…

10. Jun 24, 2013Flash Flood$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Parts of S56 is flooded. Several roads near Ackley were flooded.

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

111°FJul 14, 1936

All-time low

−34°FJan 12, 1912

Warmest night

81°FJul 18, 1986

Coldest day

−15°F3 times, most recently Jan 11, 1912

Wettest day

6.25 inJul 31, 1964

Snowiest day

18.0 inJan 4, 1971

Hottest year

1931mean 52.2°F

Coldest year

1979mean 43.2°F

Wettest year

199353.57 in

Driest year

189419.52 in

Snowiest season

72.1 in1928-29

Station Iowa Falls (USC00134142), 1,055 ft elevation, 6.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 97.5% 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 USC00134142.
• 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.