Ringgold County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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. Aug 1, 2003Drought, Ringgold$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. Sep 18, 2010Hail$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread property damage in Mt Ayr to both vehicles and buildings was reported.

3. Jun 1, 2010Tornado$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A cone shape tornado was reported. Path was intermittent and the NWS survey suggests that the tornado hit a farmstead then lifted briefly skipping over some farms before setting back down and damaging another farmstead. Eyewittnesses also recount the tornado briefly lifting.

4. Apr 11, 2001Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado moved our of Missouri into Ringgold County, across the county into Union County.

5. Oct 26, 1997Heavy Snow, Ringgold$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. Apr 26, 2024Tornado$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed in rural Ringgold County between Mt. Ayr and Diagonal. The tornado moved northeast with some damage to outbuildings and trees. The tornado crossed Highway 169 southwest of Tingley before moving through the center of town. Up to EF2 damage occurred with Tingley with an upper floor removed from one house and the destruction of some outside walls of a brick building in the downtown area. The tornado impacted a couple more farmsteads with EF0 to EF1 damage before dissipating to the northeast of Tingley.

7. Nov 10, 1998High Wind, Ringgold$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 5, 2010Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Highway 169 bridge closed just south of the 10 mile post due to scouring of water from the middle fork of the Grand River.

9. Sep 9, 2014Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads were under water across the county including water over the road on the bridge of P64, a gravel road and water over the road at 210th ave with some damage to the road.

10. Nov 11, 2015Tornado$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    This tornado crossed through 3 counties in southern Iowa. This is the second segment in Ringgold county. This long track tornado damaged a number of farmsteads along its 22 mile long path. The tornado was at its strongest in NW Ringgold County where EF-1 damage was found. The beginning and end sections of the track were narrow and intermittent. The narrow tornado also clipped the town of Clearfield to the NW early in its life. The tornado crossed into Union county.

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

112°FJul 25, 1936

All-time low

−30°FJan 12, 1912

Warmest night

84°F2 times, most recently Aug 22, 1948

Coldest day

−12°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

6.35 inSep 19, 2010

Snowiest day

17.0 inApr 20, 1918

Hottest year

1981mean 54.9°F

Coldest year

1996mean 46.5°F

Wettest year

201061.06 in

Driest year

198816.71 in

Snowiest season

41.2 in1935-36

Station Mount Ayr (USC00135769), 1,140 ft elevation, 2.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 26, 2026; 88.6% 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 USC00135769.
• 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.