Tornados In Iowa (Des Moines, Iowa City, North Liberty: tornado, live in, dangerous)

[LOBUES]

Hello,

My family and I may be moving to Audubon, Iowa or the county of Audubon and we wanted to know if they get any or many tornados. Thank you.

[pioneer8]

Is that west of Des Moines. If so, I looked up the statistics for "tornado risk" in this book that has very reputable sources ,and though it doesn't mention Audubon (because it is not a major city, I presume), it does give a high number for Des Moines. The U.S. average tornado risk score is a 19- DesMoines got a 36. By this books standards that is not a very low number. Please let me add, I do not live in the area and these are stats. It looks like they use the NCDC and the NOAA to gather their info. Hope that helps.

[cw88]

I lived in North Liberty Iowa for 16 years of my life, and we didn't have a basement so I used to be scared to death of tornadoes.. but for no reason. There were occasional severe storms, but never once did a tornado come within 5 miles of us. There are only a few rare occasions where going to a basement was necessary, and just as a precaution. The small town atmosphere and pleasentness of Iowa is worth the occasional weather.

[TommyG]

I've lived here for 11 years and never seen a tornado. There've been a few nasty thunderstorms, and a couple of times when the sky turned black and looked like it was boiling, but tornadoes? Not yet.

[turdcat]

No need to worry. When the weather looks bad, get to a radio or TV and see what is going on. About ever country has a storm spotter class every spring. (usually March) Go to one and they will besides how to look for them, have to avoid them.

[Tek_Freek]

http://www.tornadochaser.net/images/frequency.jpg

[dubuqueaskme]

There will be some. If you dont like it than Iowa (along with a huge assortment of other states) is(are) not for you.

Dont like tornadoes; Dont like: Illlinois,Iowa,Wisconsin, Minnesota, N.Dakota, S.Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, KANSAS, OKLAHOMA, TEXAS, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, or West Pennsylvania.

Tornados HAPPEN. That is what makes the midwest, the midwest. But, hey, a majority of states are still left. 26.

[Tek_Freek]

http://www.tornadochaser.net/tornalley.html

Click on the three maps to the right. Bottom one gives good info.

BTW Missouri is NOT a dangerous place for tornadoes! There's a big hole that encompasses the majority of the state where there is small risk.

[steve.kelley]

Originally Posted by dubuqueaskme

There will be some. If you dont like it than Iowa (along with a huge assortment of other states) is(are) not for you.

Dont like tornadoes; Dont like: Illlinois,Iowa,Wisconsin, Minnesota, N.Dakota, S.Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, KANSAS, OKLAHOMA, TEXAS, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, or West Pennsylvania.

Tornados HAPPEN. That is what makes the midwest, the midwest. But, hey, a majority of states are still left. 26.

I lived in the Des Moines area for 3 yrs, then in Montana for 3, and now in Florida (hopefully moving back to the DSM area). One thing to point out is that with doppler radar, it is so easy to see the rotation that a tornado warning is thrown to be on the safe side, even if there is a funnel cloud visable or not. Best to be safe than sorry.

Also, Montana may get 1 or 2 a yr. We had a F-0 one day - didn't even know it til I saw it on the storm report.

As for Florida, we get ALOT of them during tropical season, but they are usually with tropical systems and are weak and short-lived.

[Robarooney]

Tornadoes are so random. Iowa City got clobbered last spring. Check out the local paper's web site - I think it is presscitizen.com or something like that.