Iowa’s 2024 Tornado Season Is Already Historic

We've seen plenty of tornadoes this year already.

Tornado season isn't even done yet. We have about a month left of it technically but it's already left it's mark in the history books in Iowa.

Most recently, right before Memorial Day weekend, we had 16 tornadoes in Iowa (and what was classified as a derecho). The Tuesday prior, we had a lot of tornadoes touch down in the state too, devastating Greenfield. That was a lot in one week and so far we're standing at over 80 tornadoes in Iowa this year, making it the most May tornadoes Iowa has had in 20 years.

It's an active tornado season over much of the country and Iowa is no exception. Check out the latest map:

A lot of that is centered in Iowa. We're a hot minute away from breaking Iowa's record of most tornadoes in a year (that was set in 2021, with 146 tornadoes total, mostly coming from that derecho in December).

But 2024 is already in the top 10 years with the most tornadoes in Iowa's history, according to Des Moines Register.

So why are we getting smacked with tornadoes this year in particular? Experts say it's because of a "stagnant weather pattern" that's just caused all kinds of messes like supercells and rotating thunderstorms across the country.

May generally is the most tornado-heavy month for the country and meteorologists are saying we could see less of that gross weather starting next week because of a large-scale weather pattern shift. We can only hope so.