Pocahontas County, Iowa severe weather history spans 356 recorded events between 1953 and 2025. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 40.7% of all recorded events. It ranks #1,451 nationally and #64 in Iowa.
356
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
2
Direct injuries
$26.6M
Property damage
The record
What the Pocahontas County, Iowa severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Pocahontas County, Iowa severe weather history averages 4.9 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2010s, with 131 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 49 events fall before 1990 and 307 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is tornado, with $24.0M in reported property damage. In total, 8 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Pocahontas County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 145 | 0 | $587K | 4.5 | 1969–2025 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 93 | 0 | $1.4M | 78 | 1960–2025 |
| Tornado | 45 | 0 | $24.0M | F4 | 1953–2024 |
| Heavy Rain | 42 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2008–2023 |
| Funnel Cloud | 16 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2008–2025 |
| Flash Flood | 8 | 0 | $400K | 0 | 1998–2023 |
| Flood | 6 | 0 | $170K | 0 | 1996–2010 |
| Lightning | 1 | 0 | $15K | 0 | 2006–2006 |
Decade by decade
Pocahontas County, Iowa severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
52 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 43 touched down inside it and 9 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979-06-28 | EF4 | 3 | 26 | 14.9 mi | Touched down here |
| 2011-04-09 | EF4 | 0 | 0 | 3.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 1995-05-27 | EF4 | 0 | 0 | 36.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 2011-04-09 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 29.4 mi | Crossed in |
| 1953-06-07 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 30.7 mi | Crossed in |
| 2022-04-12 | EF2 | 0 | 1 | 7.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 2011-04-09 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 0.9 mi | Touched down here |
| 2004-05-21 | EF2 | 0 | 15 | 12.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 1993-06-29 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 15.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1990-06-19 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 16.0 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Pocahontas County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 12, 2022 | Tornado | PALMER | 0 | 1 | $150K |
| Jun 7, 1984 | Tornado | 0 | 1 | $2.5M |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
This is a continuation of a large wedge tornado. This tornado started in Sac County, clipped southeast Buena Vista County and continued in Pocahontas County. This tornado continued to produce numerous satellite tornadoes through Pocahontas County. This produced an unusual and varying debris field.
An intense EF4 satellite tornado on the west flank of a large wedge tornado passing through western Pocahontas county. This tornado approached from the northwest and completely destroyed a home leaving little debris at the site. Grove of mature hardwood trees near the home was decimated and debarked and a large combine in the machine shed was tossed and rolled several hundred feet. This tornado also absorbed the circulation of an EF2 satellite tornado.
Tornado developed a few miles east northeast of Palmer and moved northeast to north for the entire path. The tornado destroyed a farm buildings and also snapped several power poles producing the EF2 rating. Otherwise, much of the path was in rural cropland with a large dust cloud enveloping the tornado for much of its life.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Very Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
7,046
Population (ACS)
$98K
Median home value
22
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 24, 2024 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR |
| Feb 23, 2022 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR |
| Mar 23, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Mar 23, 2019 | Flood | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR |
| Aug 20, 2018 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Pocahontas County, Iowa?
356 events are on record between 1953 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths and $26.6M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Pocahontas County?
Hail, with 145 recorded events — 40.7% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Pocahontas County?
52 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 43 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Pocahontas County?
22 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Pocahontas County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Pocahontas County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Pocahontas County as very low risk, placing it in the 33 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Pocahontas County, Iowa severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Plymouth County 692
- Polk County 2,151
- Palo Alto County 345
- Pottawattamie County 564
- Page County 349
- Poweshiek County 371
Cite this page
“Pocahontas County, Iowa.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/iowa/pocahontas-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.