What the record says
On 28 September 1986, a tornado touched down near Ankeny, Iowa. The Storm Prediction Center records its path as 20 miles long and up to 250 yards wide, rated F4 on the Fujita (F) scale.
- F4Fujita rating
- 0deaths
- 0injuries
- 20 mipath length
- 250 ydmaximum width
It has its own page because it was rated 4 or 5.
This page gives the official record's figures. Numbers of deaths and injuries are sometimes revised after a survey, and they cannot convey what the day was like for the people who lived through it.
Counties it crossed
The start point was at 41.75, -93.60 and the end point at 41.77, -93.00 (latitude, longitude).
How to read this path
The Storm Prediction Center records most tornadoes as a straight line from the point where they touched down to the point where they lifted. The real path usually curved and was not the same width all the way along. The width given is the widest part. Older records are less precise, and the record starts in 1950.
Source: the NOAA Storm Prediction Center database, public domain.
Other notable tornadoes in Iowa
- Hansell, Iowa tornado15 May 1968, F5, 13 deaths, 462 injuries, 62.1 miles long
- Cedar Falls, Iowa tornado25 May 2008, EF5, 9 deaths, 70 injuries, 41 miles long
- Belmond, Iowa tornado14 October 1966, F5, 6 deaths, 172 injuries, 9.7 miles long
- Newton, Iowa tornado5 March 2022, EF4, 6 deaths, 5 injuries, 70.6 miles long
- Rhodes, Iowa tornado16 September 1978, F3, 6 deaths, 45 injuries, 31.8 miles long
- Oelwein, Iowa tornado15 May 1968, F5, 5 deaths, 156 injuries, 13.1 miles long
Other notable tornadoes of 1986
- Jacksonville, North Carolina tornado2 July 1986, F2, 3 deaths, 10 injuries, 1.5 miles long
- McMullen, Alabama tornado12 March 1986, F3, 2 deaths, 16 miles long
- Tomball, Texas tornado5 February 1986, F3, 2 deaths, 5 miles long
- Sweetwater, Texas tornado19 April 1986, F3, 1 death, 100 injuries, 4.5 miles long
- Maskell, Nebraska tornado28 July 1986, F4, 2 injuries, 52.5 miles long
All tornadoes of 1986 · Iowa tornado history · All notable tornadoes