With the way the summer’s starting out, we sometimes forget what the weather was like in the past. Here’s a little history of Iowa weather on this day, June 23 for the years 1981, 1952 and 1880.|
With the way the summer’s starting out, we sometimes forget what the weather was like in the past. Here’s a little history of Iowa weather on this day, June 23 for the years 1981, 1952 and 1880.
The most destructive hail storm for Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota was in 1981. There were 33 counties in Iowa reporting major crop damage totaling 181 million dollars, plus 280 million in Minnesota. The total 461 million nearly tripled the next highest hail damage recorded in all of United States history. Hail the size of tennis balls were reported at Otranto. The worst damage occurred in Winnebago, Worth and Mitchell counties. Buchanan County Fairgrounds in Independence lost their grandstand to 60 to 70 mph winds, and an airplane was thrown into a field from Oelwein Airport. Five to six inches of rain fell leaving many roads underwater across Northern Iowan and urban flooding occurred in downtown Cedar Rapids.
In 1952, a F4 tornado hit areas around Cleghorn, Meriden and Larrabee in Cherokee County. A evening passenger train from Sioux City warned the people of the approaching storm, so injuries were only four.
A severe hail storm struck Sioux City in 1880 in the early morning hours. A train conductor in the area apparently reported being able to scoop up a bucket full of hail with the average size as large as a hen’s egg. Trees were stripped of leaves and bark, fruit crops were gone, rain flooded streets, wooden sidewalks torn up and damage to some home.
There’s an attached video of one of yesterdays down pours on the north side of Mason City.
