NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Guttenberg, 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
1 tropical system has passed within 75 miles of Guttenberg, Iowa since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was an unnamed storm in 1900. Since 1950, 83 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 6 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 1
- Tornadoes
- 83
- EF3 or stronger
- 6
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
2 deaths in all
What the records show for Guttenberg
None of the 1 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Guttenberg; the strongest was an unnamed storm in 1900, a tropical storm with 51 mph winds when its centre passed 57 miles away. Guttenberg is tied for the most tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles among the 241 Iowa cities on this site. The strongest of the 83 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F4 on April 30, 1954; its path came within 13 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on May 30, 1985, killed 2 people. Of the 83, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 23 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 29. The most recent tornado was on March 31, 2023. Of the 241 Iowa cities, 95% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Guttenberg. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 81 times since 1959, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Of the 241 Iowa cities, 59% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Guttenberg.
Compare Guttenberg's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Guttenberg
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | Unnamed 1900 stormSep 11 | 57 mi | Tropical storm (51 mph) | Category 4 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Guttenberg: 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 Guttenberg
By decade
- 2020s4
- 2010s8
- 2000s11(1 EF3+)
- 1990s16(2 EF3+)
- 1980s15(1 EF3+)
- 1970s9
- 1960s11
- 1950s9(2 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 30, 1954 | F4 | 13 mi | 80.4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 30, 1985 | F3 | 9 mi | 34 mi | 2 / 27 |
| May 25, 2008 | EF3 | 20 mi | 31.99 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Jul 27, 1995 | F3 | 25 mi | 20 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 19, 1993 | F3 | 24 mi | 9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 10, 1953 | F3 | 17 mi | 6.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 4, 2012 | EF2 | 12 mi | 0.72 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 22, 1991 | F2 | 18 mi | 17 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jun 13, 1990 | F2 | 11 mi | 8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 15, 1988 | F2 | 18 mi | 11 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 8, 1988 | F2 | 20 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 5, 1980 | F2 | 5 mi | 70.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 83, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Guttenberg
The Storm Prediction Center has 81 hail reports within 10 miles of Guttenberg since 1959, made on 45 separate days. Of these, 50 were 1 inch across or larger, and 2 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on May 19, 1959. The most recent report is from April 18, 2025. July has the most reports, 22.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Guttenberg
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Guttenberg L&D 10, IA, 2 miles northeast of Guttenberg at 618 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 84°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 28°F and 10°F. June is the wettest at 5.7 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 1.2 inches; the year adds up to 37.4 inches over 68 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 13 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 133 nights a year. Snowfall averages 34.4 inches a year, most of it in January. That 37.4 inches is more than at 74 of the 124 Iowa stations used on this site (60%). Prairie Du Chien, WI, 19 miles north, has its own station (Prairie Du Chien, WI): 37.8 inches a year, 0.4 more than here, and a July average high of 83°F against 84°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 28 | 10 | 1.3 | 4 | 10.0 |
| Feb | 33 | 14 | 1.2 | 4 | 9.3 |
| Mar | 45 | 27 | 2.0 | 5 | 3.7 |
| Apr | 59 | 39 | 3.7 | 7 | 0.7 |
| May | 71 | 50 | 4.6 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 80 | 60 | 5.7 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 84 | 64 | 4.9 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 82 | 62 | 3.6 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 75 | 54 | 3.8 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 61 | 42 | 2.8 | 5 | 0.3 |
| Nov | 46 | 29 | 2.1 | 4 | 1.2 |
| Dec | 33 | 18 | 1.7 | 4 | 9.2 |
| Year | 58 | 39 | 37.4 | 68 | 34.4 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Guttenberg L&D 10, IA (618 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 Guttenberg
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 157 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Guttenberg: 69 thunderstorm wind reports, 61 floods, 19 flash floods and 8 heavy rain events. They killed 1 person and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $40.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on July 19, 1998. Of the 240 Iowa cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 164 have had fewer than Guttenberg.
July 20, 2006: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Guttenberg — 1 killed, $1,000 damage.
July 21, 2017: flash flood 10 miles from the centre of Guttenberg — $12.2 million damage.
July 21, 2017: flash flood 5 miles from the centre of Guttenberg — $8.5 million damage.
NWS: “Locally heavy rains of 4 to 8 inches, produced flash flooding across the southern half of Grant County. Parts of State Highway 81 north of Cassville were washed out where a sinkhole formed.”
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 Guttenberg's ZIP code 52052 have filed 56 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1986, and were paid $797,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Severe flooding in 2001: 16 claims (29% of all) and $172,000. 45% 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, 53 have fewer than Guttenberg.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Severe flooding2001 | 16 | $172,000 |
Clayton County, which includes Guttenberg, has been named in 27 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 25 of them major disasters (by incident: 14 floods, 10 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 1 hurricane). The latest major disaster declaration was Flooding, on August 25, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Clayton County a Very Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for hail; Relatively Low for tornadoes, inland flooding, strong wind and heat waves; Very Low for hurricanes and lightning. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $14.5 million a year, the 40th highest of 99 Iowa counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $9.2 million (64%), 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 Guttenberg
- Prairie Du Chien, WI19 mi
- Dyersville, IA19 mi
- Strawberry Point, IA21 mi
- Lancaster, WI22 mi
- Potosi, WI22 mi
- Farley, IA23 mi
- Epworth, IA24 mi
- Monona, IA24 mi
- Manchester, IA26 mi
- Peosta, IA28 mi
- Dubuque, IA28 mi
- Fennimore, WI29 mi
All Iowa cities →All hurricanes since 1851 →Compare Guttenberg with another place →