Shelby County, Iowa severe weather history spans 303 recorded events between 1955 and 2026. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 43.9% of all recorded events. It ranks #1,766 nationally and #85 in Iowa.
303
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
0
Direct injuries
$8.1M
Property damage
The record
What the Shelby County, Iowa severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Shelby County, Iowa severe weather history averages 4.3 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 92 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 42 events fall before 1990 and 261 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is tornado, with $6.8M in reported property damage. In total, 6 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Shelby County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 133 | 0 | $40K | 3 | 1967–2026 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 130 | 0 | $1.2M | 83 | 1956–2025 |
| Tornado | 30 | 0 | $6.8M | F2 | 1955–2024 |
| Funnel Cloud | 5 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1998–2024 |
| Flash Flood | 4 | 0 | $50K | 0 | 1996–2014 |
| Heavy Rain | 1 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2007–2007 |
Decade by decade
Shelby County, Iowa severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
34 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 29 touched down inside it and 5 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-04-26 | EF3 | 1 | 3 | 40.3 mi | Crossed in |
| 2024-04-26 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 9.3 mi | Touched down here |
| 1975-05-07 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1975-05-07 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 9.9 mi | Touched down here |
| 1973-09-25 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1955-05-06 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 15.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 2024-05-06 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 2024-04-26 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 13.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 2023-07-12 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 2015-11-11 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 10.2 mi | Crossed in |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
This tornado entered Shelby County from Pottawattamie County from the southwest. The tornado impacted a total of 6 farmsteads in the county as it tracked to the north northeast. Damage at these farmsteads was confined to mainly outbuilding being damaged or destroyed, trees uprooted, and electrical power poles downed. The tornado tracked across the western side of the Harlan Airport without doing damage to the airport, but a wind gust associated with the rear-flank downdraft of the storm was measured at 76 mph at the automatic observing equipment on the east side of the airport. The tornado finally ended just to the southeast of the city of Harlan.
A tornado developed just north of 1150th street and east of Highway 191 where it destroyed two barns and damaged others. The tornado track continued east with evidence of convergent flow pattern within the debris field and the cornfield as it tracked to the east.
A 1200 yard wide swath of damaging thunderstorm winds began 2.75 miles northwest of Walnut near the Pottawattamie-Shelby County line . Winds were estimated to be as high as 90 mph. Severely damaged or destroyed sheds and barns occurred. Some large trees were snapped. The wind damage ended approximately 9 miles southeast of Harlan.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Very Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
11,778
Population (ACS)
$164K
Median home value
20
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 24, 2024 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR |
| May 14, 2024 | Tornado | SEVERE STORMS 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 5, 2014 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Shelby County, Iowa?
303 events are on record between 1955 and 2026, causing 0 direct deaths and $8.1M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Shelby County?
Hail, with 133 recorded events — 43.9% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Shelby County?
34 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 29 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Shelby County?
20 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Shelby County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Shelby County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Shelby County as very low risk, placing it in the 23 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Shelby 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
- Scott County 1,008
- Sioux County 690
- Sac County 292
- Story County 1,100
- Ringgold County 312
- Tama County 431
Cite this page
“Shelby County, Iowa.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/iowa/shelby-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.