Madison County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Madison County: 6.
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.

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.

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. Mar 5, 2022Tornado$75.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is the first segment of this devastating tornado which passed through four counties including Madison, Warren, Polk and Jasper. The tornado began northwest of Macksburg in western Madision county. The tornado remained in mostly rural cropland and wooded areas of western Madison county. The tornado passed through Pammel State Park southwest of Winterset producing extensive tree damage as the tornado continued to widen into a wedge tornado. Upon exiting the park, the tornado travelled along Carver Road. Several residential homes were extensively damaged or destroyed along Carver Road and six deaths occurred along this stretch of road. The tornado was at peak intensity at this…

2. Aug 1, 2003Drought, Madison$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. Mar 22, 2011Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado caused property damage to several farms. A roof was torn off one of the houses and windows were broken out.

4. Oct 26, 1997Heavy Snow, Madison$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…

5. Jun 15, 2013Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large sections of Cumming Highway underwater and a number of county bridges either washed out or underwater.

6. Apr 8, 1999Tornado$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   As mentioned in the narrative above, an intense low pressure formed to the southwest of Iowa. The low tracked northeast and lifted into eastern Nebraska. Ahead of the low, a strong low level jet of around 60 knots continued through the day. A nearly stationary frontal boundary extended east from the low. It lifted into southeast Nebraska during the day, but made little progress into southern Iowa. Lines of thunderstorms formed along the boundary through the day and lifted north rapidly. These storms were elevated in nature and as a result produced most of their severe weather in the form of hail. As the day unfolded, a sharp dry line was clearly evident on the satellite as early…

7. Nov 10, 1998High Wind, Madison$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…

8. Jun 25, 2024Lightning$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning strike resulted in a house fire. Home a total loss. Time estimated.

9. Sep 10, 2014Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A water rescue took place at 1700 Pitzer road in Madison County. Two vehicles hit a water low spot where the road had been flooded by the North River and it inundated both vehicles at separate times. The drivers of each vehicle had to be rescued and with no injuries reported. One driver was rescued out of a tree while the other was rescued from the top of one of the vehicles.

10. Jun 8, 2008Flood$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Low pressure developed over Kansas with a strong southerly flow of very moist air streaming into Iowa ahead of it. Surface temperatures warmed into the 80s with dew point readings in the low to mid 70s. A semi-stationary front extended northeast from the low, across northern Iowa during the afternoon into the evening hours. The atmosphere became very unstable with MUCAPE in the 4500 to 5000 J/kg range by mid afternoon and lifted indices around -7 C. The shear was quite high, between 40 and 70 kts. Downdraft CAPW was between 1000 and 1300 J/kg with cape in the -10 to -30 C. layer of the atmosphere around 400 J/kg. The LCL was in the 750 to 1000 meter range, with the lowest over…

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

108°FAug 16, 1983

All-time low

−26°FFeb 3, 1996

Warmest night

81°F3 times, most recently Jul 27, 2026

Coldest day

−12°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

6.18 inAug 27, 1975

Snowiest day

13.7 inJan 26, 1996

Hottest year

2012mean 56.1°F

Coldest year

1951mean 46.9°F

Wettest year

199355.88 in

Driest year

195617.07 in

Snowiest season

69.0 in2009-10

Station Des Moines International Airport (USW00014933), 939 ft elevation, 21.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1945 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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.

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 USW00014933.
• 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.