NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Council Bluffs, IA
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
No tropical storm or hurricane has passed within 75 miles of Council Bluffs, Iowa since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 126 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 12 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 126
- EF3 or stronger
- 12
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
11 deaths in all
What the records show for Council Bluffs
The highest rating among the 126 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4 or EF4, reached 4 times; the most recent, on April 26, 2024, came within 20 miles. The deadliest, an F4 on May 6, 1975, killed 3 people. Of the 126, 11 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 72 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 36. The most recent tornado was on April 17, 2025. Council Bluffs has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 50% of the 241 Iowa cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 334 times since 1956, with stones up to 4.25 inches. Council Bluffs has more hail reports within 10 miles than 95% of the 241 Iowa cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Council Bluffs
By decade
- 2020s26(5 EF3+)
- 2010s21
- 2000s25
- 1990s14(1 EF3+)
- 1980s16(1 EF3+)
- 1970s13(3 EF3+)
- 1960s3(1 EF3+)
- 1950s8(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 1975 | F4 | 10 mi | 8 mi | 3 / 133 |
| Apr 25, 1957 | F4 | 12 mi | 89.8 mi | 1 / 8 |
| Apr 26, 2024 | EF4 | 20 mi | 31.89 mi | 0 / 4 |
| Jun 26, 1976 | F4 | 18 mi | 5.1 mi | 0 / 6 |
| May 16, 1999 | F3 | 24 mi | 7.5 mi | 2 / 16 |
| Aug 28, 1979 | F3 | 23 mi | 38.3 mi | 2 / 14 |
| Apr 26, 2024 | EF3 | 12 mi | 40.27 mi | 1 / 3 |
| Apr 17, 2025 | EF3 | 13 mi | 8.12 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 26, 2024 | EF3 | 7 mi | 13.31 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 26, 2024 | EF3 | 4 mi | 19.06 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 15, 1988 | F3 | 2 mi | 2.8 mi | 0 / 34 |
| Aug 18, 1968 | F3 | in town | 21.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 126, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Council Bluffs
The Storm Prediction Center has 334 hail reports within 10 miles of Council Bluffs since 1956, made on 196 separate days. Of these, 230 were 1 inch across or larger, and 34 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4.25 inches, fell on August 18, 2011. The most recent report is from April 24, 2025. June has the most reports, 104.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Council Bluffs
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Omaha Eppley Airfield, NE, 5 miles northwest of Council Bluffs at 982 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 34°F and 15°F. May is the wettest at 4.7 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.8 inches; the year adds up to 32.1 inches over 57 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 33 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 134 nights a year. Snowfall averages 27.1 inches a year, most of it in February. That 32.1 inches is more than at 15 of the 124 Iowa stations used on this site (12%). La Vista, NE, 13 miles southwest, has its own station (Gretna 4NE, NE): 33.3 inches a year, 1.2 more than here, and a July average high of 86°F against 88°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 34 | 15 | 0.8 | 2 | 7.2 |
| Feb | 39 | 19 | 1.0 | 3 | 7.8 |
| Mar | 52 | 30 | 1.8 | 4 | 3.0 |
| Apr | 64 | 41 | 3.2 | 6 | 1.0 |
| May | 75 | 53 | 4.7 | 8 | 0.1 |
| Jun | 84 | 63 | 4.4 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 88 | 68 | 3.6 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 86 | 66 | 4.6 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 79 | 56 | 3.0 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 66 | 43 | 2.3 | 4 | 0.5 |
| Nov | 50 | 30 | 1.5 | 3 | 1.7 |
| Dec | 38 | 20 | 1.2 | 3 | 5.8 |
| Year | 63 | 42 | 32.1 | 57 | 27.1 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Omaha Eppley Airfield, NE (982 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Council Bluffs
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 274 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Council Bluffs: 188 thunderstorm wind reports, 44 flash floods, 33 floods, 5 lightning strikes and 4 heavy rain events. They killed 3 people and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $23.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 104 mph, on June 16, 2017. August has had the most flash floods, 26 of 44. Of the 240 Iowa cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 219 have had fewer than Council Bluffs.
June 27, 2008: thunderstorm wind 2 miles from the centre of Council Bluffs — 2 killed, 1 injured, $13.2 million damage.
NWS: “This is a continuation of a 5 to 7 mile wide damage path that a bow-echo thunderstorm caused across eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa. In Pottawattamie county Iowa it was estimated by a NWS storm survey that winds reached 70 to 90 mph in an area from Council Bluffs to southwest of Treynor and north of Mineola.”
April 10, 2001: thunderstorm wind 2 miles from the centre of Council Bluffs — 1 killed, 1 injured, $20,000 damage.
NWS: “Two men working alone atop a new meatpacking building were blown off the 40-foot-high roof by the thunderstorm that rolled through the area and produced the widespread hail reports. The winds were measured at 35 to 40 mph at the Council Bluffs airport and at Omaha Eppley Airfield, but could have been locally stronger.”
May 6, 2012: thunderstorm wind 4 miles from the centre of Council Bluffs — 3 injured.
NWS: “Three people were injured, including a 3-year-old boy, when thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph downed a large tree that fell on their tent at the Lake Manawa State Park.”
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Council Bluffs's 2 ZIP codes have filed 740 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $5.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Late spring storms in 2011: 124 claims (17% of all) and $2.1 million, then Midwest Flooding in 1993 with 61. The year with the most claims was 1999, with 228. 28% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 91 Iowa cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 86 have fewer than Council Bluffs.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Late spring storms2011 | 124 | $2.1 million |
| Midwest Flooding1993 | 61 | $182,000 |
Pottawattamie County, which includes Council Bluffs, has been named in 26 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 23 of them major disasters (by incident: 12 severe storms, 7 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 2 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-Line Winds, and Tornadoes, on June 24, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Pottawattamie County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for tornadoes, hail and strong wind; Relatively Moderate for inland flooding, lightning and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $49.6 million a year, the 6th highest of 99 Iowa counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $18.3 million (37%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 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).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets 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).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.
Cities near Council Bluffs
- Carter Lake, IA5 mi
- Bellevue, NE10 mi
- Omaha, NE12 mi
- La Vista, NE13 mi
- Papillion, NE13 mi
- Glenwood, IA16 mi
- Fort Calhoun, NE18 mi
- Plattsmouth, NE18 mi
- Bennington, NE19 mi
- Springfield, NE21 mi
- Missouri Valley, IA21 mi
- Elkhorn, NE22 mi
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