NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Perry, 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 Perry, Iowa since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was an unnamed storm in 1900. Since 1950, 158 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 7 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes: 0
Tropical storms: 1
Tornadoes: 158
EF3 or stronger: 7

What the records show for Perry

None of the 1 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Perry; the strongest was an unnamed storm in 1900, a tropical storm with 41 mph winds when its centre passed 68 miles away. Perry is tied for the most tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles among the 241 Iowa cities on this site. The strongest of the 158 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F5 on June 13, 1976; its path came within 14 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on November 12, 2005, killed 1 person. Of the 158, 9 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 86 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 59. The most recent tornado was on July 15, 2024. Perry has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 80% of the 241 Iowa cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 82 times since 1976, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Of the 241 Iowa cities, 58% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Perry.

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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Perry

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Perry, Iowa, newest first
Year	Storm	Closest	Strength when closest	Peak
1900	Unnamed 1900 stormSep 11	68 mi	Tropical storm (41 mph)	Category 4

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Perry: 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 Perry

By decade

2020s24
2010s21
2000s41(1 EF3+)
1990s24(3 EF3+)
1980s18
1970s12(2 EF3+)
1960s14
1950s4(1 EF3+)

Strongest tornadoes near Perry, Iowa
Date	Rating	Distance	Path	Killed / injured
Jun 13, 1976	F5	14 mi	21.3 mi	0 / 9
Apr 8, 1999	F4	13 mi	56 mi	0 / 1
May 27, 1995	F4	6 mi	57 mi	0 / 2
May 10, 1959	F4	3 mi	41.1 mi	0 / 1
Nov 12, 2005	F3	22 mi	17.6 mi	1 / 3
Mar 22, 1991	F3	25 mi	43 mi	0 / 0
Jun 13, 1976	F3	2 mi	17.9 mi	0 / 0
May 21, 2024	EF2	21 mi	40.84 mi	0 / 4
Dec 15, 2021	EF2	20 mi	16.25 mi	0 / 0
Dec 15, 2021	EF2	23 mi	18.83 mi	0 / 0
Dec 15, 2021	EF2	14 mi	17.69 mi	0 / 0
Dec 15, 2021	EF2	20 mi	5.83 mi	0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 158, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Perry

The Storm Prediction Center has 82 hail reports within 10 miles of Perry since 1976, made on 41 separate days. Of these, 58 were 1 inch across or larger, and 3 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on July 9, 2021. The most recent report is from March 14, 2025. June has the most reports, 30.

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

Weather by month in Perry

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Perry, IA, in Perry at 950 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 30°F and 10°F. May is the wettest at 5.2 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 1.0 inches; the year adds up to 36.2 inches over 66 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 20 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 151 nights a year. That 36.2 inches is more than at 47 of the 124 Iowa stations used on this site (38%). Dallas Center, 14 miles southeast, has its own station (Des Moines Wsfo-Johnston, IA): 36.4 inches a year, 0.2 more than here, and the same July average high, 85°F.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Perry, IA
Month	High °F	Low °F	Precip. in	Days ≥ 0.1"
Jan	30	10	1.0	3
Feb	34	14	1.1	3
Mar	48	26	2.0	4
Apr	61	37	4.1	7
May	72	49	5.2	9
Jun	82	60	4.9	9
Jul	85	64	4.4	7
Aug	83	61	4.1	6
Sep	77	52	3.4	6
Oct	64	39	2.7	6
Nov	48	27	1.9	4
Dec	35	17	1.4	3
Year	60	38	36.2	66

Averages for 1991–2020 at Perry, IA (950 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 Perry

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 187 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Perry: 110 thunderstorm wind reports, 36 heavy rain events, 32 floods, 8 flash floods and 1 lightning strike. They killed 0 people and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $77.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on July 21, 2008. August has had the most flash floods, 4 of 8. Of the 240 Iowa cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 58 have had fewer than Perry.

May 23, 2007: thunderstorm wind 6 miles from the centre of Perry — 1 injured, $25,000 damage.
June 1, 2008: flood 6 miles from the centre of Perry — $50.1 million damage.
June 12, 2010: flood 8 miles from the centre of Perry — $20.0 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

Dallas County, which includes Perry, has been named in 20 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 18 of them major disasters (by incident: 9 severe storms, 6 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 1 hurricane). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding, on May 24, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Dallas County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, hail and strong wind; Relatively Low for inland flooding, lightning and heat waves; Very Low for hurricanes. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $39.7 million a year, the 9th highest of 99 Iowa counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $16.9 million (43%), 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 Perry

All Iowa cities →All hurricanes since 1851 →Compare Perry with another place →

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