NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Donnellson, 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 October 26, 2026

1 tropical system has passed within 75 miles of Donnellson, Iowa since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was an unnamed storm in 1900. Since 1950, 101 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 10 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes: 0
Tropical storms: 1
Tornadoes: 101
EF3 or stronger: 10

What the records show for Donnellson

None of the 1 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Donnellson; the strongest was an unnamed storm in 1900, a tropical storm with 47 mph winds when its centre passed 69 miles away. Donnellson is tied for the most tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles among the 241 Iowa cities on this site. The strongest of the 101 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F4 on May 13, 1995; its path came within 15 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on May 1, 1973, killed 2 people. Of the 101, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 42 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 30. The most recent tornado was on August 11, 2025. Of the 241 Iowa cities, 83% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Donnellson. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 57 times since 1959, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Of the 241 Iowa cities, 83% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Donnellson.

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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Donnellson

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Donnellson, Iowa, newest first
Year	Storm	Closest	Strength when closest	Peak
1900	Unnamed 1900 stormSep 11	69 mi	Tropical storm (47 mph)	Category 4

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Donnellson: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.

Tornadoes within 25 miles of Donnellson

By decade

2020s9
2010s16(1 EF3+)
2000s17
1990s12(2 EF3+)
1980s9
1970s16(3 EF3+)
1960s14(3 EF3+)
1950s8(1 EF3+)

Strongest tornadoes near Donnellson, Iowa
Date	Rating	Distance	Path	Killed / injured
May 13, 1995	F4	15 mi	50 mi	0 / 7
May 1, 1973	F3	16 mi	3.6 mi	2 / 20
Apr 16, 1967	F3	21 mi	19.4 mi	2 / 16
Jan 24, 1967	F3	13 mi	4.3 mi	1 / 6
May 27, 2019	EF3	15 mi	7.27 mi	0 / 0
Apr 8, 1999	F3	22 mi	7.5 mi	0 / 0
Apr 13, 1974	F3	24 mi	11 mi	0 / 0
Apr 20, 1973	F3	22 mi	9.5 mi	0 / 0
Aug 25, 1965	F3	20 mi	3 mi	0 / 1
May 9, 1959	F3	17 mi	17.8 mi	0 / 1
Apr 16, 2024	EF2	7 mi	41.66 mi	0 / 0
Dec 4, 2017	EF2	19 mi	7.97 mi	0 / 1

The strongest 12 of 101, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Donnellson

The Storm Prediction Center has 57 hail reports within 10 miles of Donnellson since 1959, made on 40 separate days. Of these, 34 were 1 inch across or larger, and 4 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on August 27, 1965. The most recent report is from April 16, 2024. April has the most reports, 22.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Weather by month in Donnellson

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Donnellson, IA, 2 miles south of Donnellson at 705 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 33°F and 15°F. May and June are the wettest at 5.0 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 1.5 inches; the year adds up to 39.3 inches over 68 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 30 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 129 nights a year. Snowfall averages 26.6 inches a year, most of it in February. That 39.3 inches is more than at 113 of the 124 Iowa stations used on this site (91%). Fort Madison, 13 miles east, has its own station (Fort Madison, IA): 39.4 inches a year, 0.1 more than here, and a July average high of 85°F against 86°F.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Donnellson, IA
Month	High °F	Low °F	Precip. in	Days ≥ 0.1"	Snow in
Jan	33	15	1.5	4	7.3
Feb	38	19	1.9	4	7.4
Mar	51	29	2.6	5	3.0
Apr	63	40	3.7	7	0.7
May	73	52	5.0	8	0.0
Jun	83	62	5.0	7	0.0
Jul	86	65	4.2	6	0.0
Aug	85	63	3.9	6	0.0
Sep	79	54	3.9	5	0.0
Oct	65	43	3.1	5	0.3
Nov	51	31	2.5	5	1.5
Dec	38	21	2.0	4	6.4
Year	62	41	39.3	68	26.6

Averages for 1991–2020 at Donnellson, IA (705 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.

Iowa weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Donnellson

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 83 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Donnellson: 62 thunderstorm wind reports, 15 flash floods, 4 floods, 1 heavy rain event and 1 lightning strike. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $3.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on March 10, 2026. July has had the most flash floods, 7 of 15. Of the 240 Iowa cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 137 have had fewer than Donnellson.

September 11, 2000: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Donnellson — $1.0 million damage.
May 12, 2010: flash flood 8 miles from the centre of Donnellson — $859,000 damage.
August 10, 2010: flash flood 9 miles from the centre of Donnellson — $250,000 damage.

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

Lee County, which includes Donnellson, has been named in 22 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 20 of them major disasters (by incident: 10 severe storms, 9 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 1 hurricane). The latest major disaster declaration was Flooding, on August 25, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Lee County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, hail, strong wind, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Low for inland flooding; Very Low for hurricanes. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $22.6 million a year, the 19th highest of 99 Iowa counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $13.0 million (58%), 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 Donnellson

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