NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Keokuk, 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 Keokuk, Iowa since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 86 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 86
- EF3 or stronger
- 5
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
3 deaths in all
What the records show for Keokuk
The strongest of the 86 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F4 on May 13, 1995; its path came within 13 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on May 1, 1973, killed 2 people. Of the 86, 6 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 29 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 28. The most recent tornado was on August 10, 2025. Of the 241 Iowa cities on this site, 94% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Keokuk. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 99 times since 1974, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Keokuk has more hail reports within 10 miles than 56% of the 241 Iowa cities.
Compare Keokuk's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Keokuk
By decade
- 2020s8
- 2010s8
- 2000s13
- 1990s22(2 EF3+)
- 1980s7
- 1970s12(2 EF3+)
- 1960s9(1 EF3+)
- 1950s7
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 13, 1995 | F4 | 13 mi | 50 mi | 0 / 7 |
| May 1, 1973 | F3 | 15 mi | 3.6 mi | 2 / 20 |
| Jan 24, 1967 | F3 | 19 mi | 4.3 mi | 1 / 6 |
| Apr 8, 1999 | F3 | 2 mi | 7.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 13, 1974 | F3 | 4 mi | 11 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 4, 2017 | EF2 | 5 mi | 7.97 mi | 0 / 1 |
| May 10, 2003 | F2 | 11 mi | 69.2 mi | 0 / 4 |
| May 10, 2003 | F2 | 12 mi | 11.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 10, 2003 | F2 | 19 mi | 20 mi | 0 / 6 |
| May 10, 2003 | F2 | 20 mi | 22.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 8, 1999 | F2 | 21 mi | 16 mi | 0 / 2 |
| May 13, 1995 | F2 | 23 mi | 8 mi | 0 / 3 |
The strongest 12 of 86, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Keokuk
The Storm Prediction Center has 99 hail reports within 10 miles of Keokuk since 1974, made on 63 separate days. Of these, 70 were 1 inch across or larger, and 2 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on May 19, 2013. The most recent report is from July 30, 2025. April has the most reports, 28.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Keokuk
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Keokuk Lock Dam 19, IA, 2 miles southeast of Keokuk at 527 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 67°F; January is the coolest, at 33°F and 17°F. May is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 1.6 inches; the year adds up to 39.8 inches over 67 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 26 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 117 nights a year. That 39.8 inches is more than at 119 of the 124 Iowa stations used on this site (96%). Carthage, IL, 15 miles east, has its own station (Bentley, IL): 40.4 inches a year, 0.6 more than here, and the same July average high, 86°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 33 | 17 | 1.6 | 4 |
| Feb | 38 | 20 | 1.8 | 4 |
| Mar | 50 | 31 | 2.5 | 5 |
| Apr | 62 | 41 | 4.2 | 8 |
| May | 73 | 53 | 5.3 | 9 |
| Jun | 82 | 63 | 5.2 | 7 |
| Jul | 86 | 67 | 4.1 | 6 |
| Aug | 84 | 65 | 3.8 | 5 |
| Sep | 77 | 56 | 3.4 | 5 |
| Oct | 65 | 44 | 3.3 | 5 |
| Nov | 51 | 33 | 2.6 | 5 |
| Dec | 38 | 23 | 2.0 | 4 |
| Year | 62 | 43 | 39.8 | 67 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Keokuk Lock Dam 19, IA (527 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 Keokuk
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 211 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Keokuk: 159 thunderstorm wind reports, 26 floods, 25 flash floods and 1 lightning strike. They killed 0 people and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $11.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on May 22, 2019. June has had the most flash floods, 10 of 25. Of the 240 Iowa cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 185 have had fewer than Keokuk.
July 18, 2003: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Keokuk — 1 injured, $80,000 damage.
February 11, 1999: thunderstorm wind 10 miles from the centre of Keokuk — 1 injured.
June 25, 2003: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Keokuk — $4.8 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 Keokuk's ZIP code 52632 have filed 46 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1992, and were paid $1.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Midwest Flooding in 1993: 12 claims (26% of all) and $640,000. The year with the most claims was 2001, with 13. 39% 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, 49 have fewer than Keokuk.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Midwest Flooding1993 | 12 | $640,000 |
Lee County, which includes Keokuk, 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.