NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Glenwood, 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 Glenwood, Iowa since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 132 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 9 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 132
- EF3 or stronger
- 9
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
9 deaths in all
What the records show for Glenwood
The highest rating among the 132 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 2 times; the most recent, on May 6, 1975, came within 20 miles. Of the 132, 9 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 73 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 37. The most recent tornado was on April 17, 2025. Glenwood has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 58% of the 241 Iowa cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 164 times since 1957, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Glenwood has more hail reports within 10 miles than 83% of the 241 Iowa cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Glenwood
By decade
- 2020s29(3 EF3+)
- 2010s15
- 2000s29
- 1990s19
- 1980s16(1 EF3+)
- 1970s9(2 EF3+)
- 1960s5(2 EF3+)
- 1950s10(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 1975 | F4 | 20 mi | 8 mi | 3 / 133 |
| Apr 25, 1957 | F4 | 18 mi | 89.8 mi | 1 / 8 |
| Aug 28, 1979 | F3 | 9 mi | 38.3 mi | 2 / 14 |
| Apr 26, 2024 | EF3 | 20 mi | 40.27 mi | 1 / 3 |
| Apr 26, 2024 | EF3 | 10 mi | 13.31 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 26, 2024 | EF3 | 18 mi | 19.06 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 15, 1988 | F3 | 18 mi | 2.8 mi | 0 / 34 |
| Aug 18, 1968 | F3 | 15 mi | 21.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 22, 1964 | F3 | 20 mi | 8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 7, 1988 | F2 | 23 mi | 16.2 mi | 2 / 1 |
| Dec 15, 2021 | EF2 | 25 mi | 6.7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 15, 2021 | EF2 | 19 mi | 2.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 132, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Glenwood
The Storm Prediction Center has 164 hail reports within 10 miles of Glenwood since 1957, made on 107 separate days. Of these, 104 were 1 inch across or larger, and 11 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on August 18, 2011. The most recent report is from October 5, 2025. April has the most reports, 39.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Glenwood
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Glenwood 3SW, IA, 3 miles southwest of Glenwood at 980 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 33°F and 12°F. June is the wettest at 6.0 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.7 inches; the year adds up to 34.8 inches over 59 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 34 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 146 nights a year. Snowfall averages 23.7 inches a year, most of it in January. That 34.8 inches is more than at 30 of the 124 Iowa stations used on this site (24%). Bellevue, NE, 13 miles northwest, has its own station (Omaha Eppley Airfield, NE): 32.1 inches a year, 2.7 less than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 87°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 33 | 12 | 0.7 | 2 | 8.2 |
| Feb | 38 | 16 | 1.0 | 3 | 7.0 |
| Mar | 52 | 28 | 2.0 | 4 | 3.4 |
| Apr | 64 | 38 | 3.7 | 7 | 0.4 |
| May | 74 | 50 | 5.2 | 9 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 83 | 61 | 6.0 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 87 | 65 | 4.3 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 85 | 62 | 3.8 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 79 | 53 | 3.3 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 67 | 40 | 2.3 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Nov | 51 | 28 | 1.3 | 3 | 1.3 |
| Dec | 38 | 18 | 1.2 | 3 | 3.4 |
| Year | 63 | 39 | 34.8 | 59 | 23.7 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Glenwood 3SW, IA (980 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 Glenwood
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 174 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Glenwood: 128 thunderstorm wind reports, 34 floods, 7 heavy rain events, 4 flash floods and 1 lightning strike. They killed 0 people and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $24.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on June 14, 2022.
June 16, 2017: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Glenwood — 3 injured.
March 13, 2019: flood 9 miles from the centre of Glenwood — $15.0 million damage.
August 1, 2011: flood 9 miles from the centre of Glenwood — $5.0 million 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
Flood insurance policyholders in Glenwood's ZIP code 51534 have filed 24 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1984, and were paid $283,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 29% 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, 30 have fewer than Glenwood.
Mills County, which includes Glenwood, has been named in 20 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 18 of them major disasters (by incident: 7 floods, 7 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 1 hurricane). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms and Tornadoes, on May 14, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Mills County a Very Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Low for tornadoes, hail, strong wind and heat waves; Very Low for inland flooding and lightning. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $10.6 million a year, the 72nd highest of 99 Iowa counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $4.9 million (46%), 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 Glenwood
- Plattsmouth, NE10 mi
- Bellevue, NE13 mi
- Council Bluffs, IA16 mi
- Papillion, NE18 mi
- La Vista, NE19 mi
- Carter Lake, IA20 mi
- Louisville, NE22 mi
- Springfield, NE22 mi
- Omaha, NE23 mi
- Red Oak, IA26 mi
- Nebraska City, NE27 mi
- Shenandoah, IA28 mi
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