Worth County, Iowa severe weather history spans 300 recorded events between 1952 and 2025. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 31.3% of all recorded events. It ranks #1,782 nationally and #86 in Iowa.
300
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
6
Direct injuries
$18.1M
Property damage
The record
What the Worth County, Iowa severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Worth County, Iowa severe weather history averages 4.1 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2010s, with 102 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 31 events fall before 1990 and 269 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is tornado, with $13.1M 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 Worth County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 94 | 0 | $476K | 2.75 | 1974–2025 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 92 | 0 | $1.4M | 70 | 1971–2025 |
| Heavy Rain | 47 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2009–2024 |
| Flash Flood | 29 | 0 | $2.6M | 0 | 1999–2024 |
| Tornado | 24 | 0 | $13.1M | F4 | 1952–2024 |
| Flood | 6 | 0 | $530K | 0 | 1998–2013 |
| Funnel Cloud | 5 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1996–2017 |
| Lightning | 3 | 0 | $27K | 0 | 1997–2020 |
Decade by decade
Worth County, Iowa severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
24 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 22 touched down inside it and 2 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967-04-30 | EF4 | 0 | 0 | 13.3 mi | Touched down here |
| 1967-04-30 | EF4 | 0 | 1 | 7.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 1953-05-10 | EF4 | 0 | 3 | 26.6 mi | Crossed in |
| 1974-05-28 | EF3 | 0 | 3 | 3.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 1971-07-12 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 15.4 mi | Touched down here |
| 1967-04-30 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 17.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 1980-09-20 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 10.2 mi | Crossed in |
| 1964-08-29 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 11.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 1964-08-29 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 2022-04-12 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 1.2 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Worth County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 29, 1974 | Tornado | 0 | 3 | $2.5M | |
| May 29, 2006 | Hail | NORTHWOOD | 0 | 2 | $0 |
| May 1, 1967 | 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
Tornado developed south of Highway 9 and west of Warbler Avenue and moved northeast. The tornado encountered a farmstead on the south side of Highway 9 producing EF1 damage to trees and an outbuilding. The tornado continued northeast and remained in rural farmland the rest of its path.
This tornado developed to the west southwest of Kensett and raced northeast passing on east of Northwood near the Northwood Municipal Airport. There was a few outbuildings damaged along the path with only EF0 rating. The tornado dissipated about 2 miles northeast of Northwood.
The air mass over Iowa became very unstable during the late afternoon hours. Dew point temperatures soared into the lower 70s F. with surface temperatures reaching the middle 80s to lower 90s F. CAPE values reached 3500 J-kg-1 by the latter part of the afternoon. A small cluster of thunderstorms developed over north-central Iowa. One of them became severe and produced inch diameter hail west of Northwood.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Very Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
7,350
Population (ACS)
$146K
Median home value
16
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 |
| Jul 2, 2013 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Worth County, Iowa?
300 events are on record between 1952 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths and $18.1M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Worth County?
Hail, with 94 recorded events — 31.3% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Worth County?
24 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 22 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Worth County?
16 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Worth County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Worth County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Worth County as very low risk, placing it in the 10 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Worth 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
- Woodbury County 856
- Wright County 351
- Winneshiek County 440
- Winnebago County 317
- Webster County 758
- Wayne County 332
Cite this page
“Worth County, Iowa.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/iowa/worth-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.