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Bronson, IA Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes

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The chance of earthquake damage in Bronson is about the same as Iowa average and is much lower than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in Bronson is lower than Iowa average and is higher than the national average.

Topics:Earthquake Index Volcano Index Tornado Index Other Weather Extremes Events Volcanos Nearby Historical Earthquake Events Historical Tornado Events

Earthquake Index, #55

Bronson, IA	0.01
Iowa	0.00
U.S.	1.81

The earthquake index value is calculated based on historical earthquake events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the earthquake level in a region. A higher earthquake index value means a higher chance of an earthquake.

Volcano Index, #1

Bronson, IA	0.0000
Iowa	0.0000
U.S.	0.0023

The volcano index value is calculated based on the currently known volcanoes using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the possibility of a region being affected by a possible volcano eruption. A higher volcano index value means a higher chance of being affected.

Tornado Index, #814

Bronson, IA	201.56
Iowa	236.74
U.S.	136.45

The tornado index value is calculated based on historical tornado events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the tornado level in a region. A higher tornado index value means a higher chance of tornado events.

Other Weather Extremes Events

A total of 3,601 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of Bronson, IA were recorded from 1950 to 2010. The following is a break down of these events:

Type	Count	Type	Count	Type	Count	Type	Count	Type	Count
Avalanche:	0	Blizzard:	42	Cold:	55	Dense Fog:	0	Drought:	9
Dust Storm:	0	Flood:	256	Hail:	1,587	Heat:	8	Heavy Snow:	30
High Surf:	0	Hurricane:	0	Ice Storm:	10	Landslide:	0	Strong Wind:	52
Thunderstorm Winds:	1,335	Tropical Storm:	0	Wildfire:	0	Winter Storm:	71	Winter Weather:	58
Other:	88

Volcanos Nearby

No volcano is found in or near Bronson, IA.

Historical Earthquake Events

No historical earthquake events that had recorded magnitudes of 3.5 or above found in or near Bronson, IA.

No historical earthquake events found in or near Bronson, IA.

Historical Tornado Events

A total of 76 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near Bronson, IA.

Distance (miles)	Date	Magnitude	Start Lat/Log	End Lat/Log	Length	Width	Fatalities	Injuries	Property Damage	Crop Damage	Affected County
3.6	1979-05-08	3	42°27'N / 96°10'W				0	4	25K	0	Woodbury
6.8	1968-06-13	2	42°27'N / 96°20'W		0.10 Mile	100 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Woodbury
6.9	1994-07-05	3	42°20'N / 96°18'W		1.80 Miles	150 Yards	0	0	500K	5K	Woodbury
7.6	1983-09-05	2	42°23'N / 96°04'W		2.50 Miles	127 Yards	0	0	250K	0	Woodbury
7.9	1986-07-28	4	42°25'N / 96°23'W	42°12'N / 96°11'W	11.50 Miles	73 Yards	0	1	250.0M	0	Woodbury
8.9	1975-05-22	2	42°28'N / 96°22'W				0	0	25K	0	Woodbury
9.0	1973-06-18	2	42°29'N / 96°04'W		2.00 Miles	400 Yards	2	10	250K	0	Woodbury
9.1	1973-06-18	2	42°28'N / 96°03'W		1.00 Mile	300 Yards	0	5	250K	0	Woodbury
12.7	1964-05-05	3	42°31'N / 96°25'W	42°34'N / 96°21'W	4.10 Miles	300 Yards	0	7	2.5M	0	Woodbury
13.0	1963-05-12	2	42°13'N / 96°12'W	42°18'N / 95°55'W	15.20 Miles	50 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Woodbury
14.6	1998-06-23	2	42°12'N / 96°15'W	42°12'N / 96°15'W	2.00 Miles	50 Yards	0	0	0	0	Monona
		Brief Description: House destroyed.
15.6	1986-07-28	4	42°11'N / 96°14'W	42°11'N / 96°10'W	1.00 Mile	73 Yards	0	0	250.0M	0	Monona
17.0	1970-07-14	2	42°36'N / 96°00'W		1.00 Mile	100 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Plymouth
17.8	1986-07-28	4	42°32'N / 96°41'W	42°25'N / 96°25'W	20.00 Miles	73 Yards	0	1	25.0M	0	Dakota
18.2	2001-08-17	2	42°27'N / 96°34'W	42°26'N / 96°34'W	1.50 Miles	400 Yards	0	3	3.0M	0	Dakota
		Brief Description: A tornado completely destroyed at least ten houses and heavily damaged several others. The tornado heavily damaged the town school, including taking most of the roof off the school. The only church in town and a telephone company building were also heavily damaged. Power lines, poles, and trees were blown down, and electricity and water service were knocked out. Three empty box cars on the southeast side of Jackson were toppled. Three injuries included a woman with a broken leg and cuts rescued from the rubble of a house, and two children with minor injuries.
20.2	1964-09-07	2	42°42'N / 96°15'W		2.00 Miles	250 Yards	0	0	250K	0	Plymouth
22.6	1967-06-14	2	42°09'N / 96°29'W		0.50 Mile	33 Yards	0	0	250K	0	Thurston
25.9	1991-08-07	2	42°47'N / 96°10'W		1.50 Miles	63 Yards	0	0	250K	0	Plymouth
27.0	1963-03-16	2	42°48'N / 96°12'W		2.00 Miles	200 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Plymouth
27.9	1964-05-08	3	42°47'N / 96°10'W	42°49'N / 95°59'W	9.30 Miles	200 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Plymouth
29.3	1965-06-07	3	42°52'N / 96°18'W	42°48'N / 96°05'W	11.50 Miles	100 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Plymouth
30.3	1954-05-27	2	42°49'N / 96°05'W	42°51'N / 96°02'W	2.30 Miles	200 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Plymouth
30.4	1954-06-17	3	42°07'N / 96°42'W	42°12'N / 96°42'W	5.70 Miles	163 Yards	1	0	250K	0	Thurston
30.5	1965-09-09	2	42°03'N / 95°54'W	42°07'N / 95°43'W	10.20 Miles	100 Yards	0	0	250K	0	Monona
30.8	1964-09-07	2	42°47'N / 95°58'W	42°47'N / 95°48'W	7.90 Miles	200 Yards	0	0	250K	0	Plymouth
30.8	1978-07-05	2	42°54'N / 96°33'W	42°47'N / 96°10'W	20.80 Miles	30 Yards	0	0	2.5M	0	Plymouth
31.6	1953-06-07	2	42°45'N / 96°36'W	42°52'N / 96°26'W	11.30 Miles	200 Yards	0	0	0K	0	Plymouth
32.2	1963-06-09	2	42°46'N / 96°37'W		2.00 Miles	33 Yards	0	2	25K	0	Plymouth
32.8	1967-06-14	2	42°53'N / 96°10'W		1.00 Mile	100 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Plymouth
33.2	1991-08-07	2	42°49'N / 95°49'W	42°45'N / 95°47'W	5.00 Miles	80 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Cherokee
33.4	1991-08-07	2	42°49'N / 95°54'W	42°49'N / 95°49'W	3.00 Miles	80 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Plymouth
33.6	1967-06-14	3	42°48'N / 96°35'W	42°52'N / 96°29'W	6.20 Miles	500 Yards	0	3	250K	0	Plymouth
34.1	1986-07-28	4	42°41'N / 96°58'W	42°32'N / 96°41'W	20.00 Miles	73 Yards	0	0	25.0M	0	Dixon
34.2	1991-05-28	2	41°56'N / 96°24'W		1.00 Mile	440 Yards	0	0	250K	0	Burt
34.9	1984-06-07	2	42°39'N / 95°44'W	42°46'N / 95°35'W	10.00 Miles	77 Yards	0	0	2.5M	0	Cherokee
35.9	1991-05-27	3	41°53'N / 96°28'W	41°56'N / 96°20'W	6.00 Miles	1760 Yards	0	2	2.5M	0	Burt
36.0	1964-05-05	3	42°34'N / 96°21'W	43°11'N / 95°26'W	62.90 Miles	300 Yards	0	0	2.5M	0	Plymouth
36.1	1991-05-28	2	41°56'N / 95°57'W	41°56'N / 95°53'W	5.00 Miles	60 Yards	0	0	250K	0	Monona
36.6	1992-05-16	2	42°22'N / 97°01'W	42°21'N / 96°50'W	8.00 Miles	100 Yards	0	0	2.5M	0	Dixon
36.8	1992-06-16	2	41°52'N / 96°25'W	41°55'N / 96°21'W	4.00 Miles	150 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Burt
37.6	1970-06-15	2	42°02'N / 97°25'W	42°28'N / 96°25'W	59.10 Miles	33 Yards	0	0	0K	0	Madison
38.3	1958-04-01	2	42°44'N / 95°42'W	42°51'N / 95°38'W	8.30 Miles	200 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Cherokee
38.5	1984-06-07	2	42°25'N / 95°35'W	42°35'N / 95°21'W	16.00 Miles	150 Yards	0	1	2.5M	0	Ida
39.1	1969-07-26	3	42°20'N / 95°36'W	42°02'N / 95°25'W	22.50 Miles	200 Yards	0	0	250K	0	Ida
39.2	1955-05-26	2	42°14'N / 97°00'W	42°19'N / 96°55'W	6.50 Miles	167 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Wayne
39.4	2008-06-11	3	41°51'N / 96°01'W	41°54'N / 95°52'W	7.00 Miles	440 Yards	4	48	0K	0K	Monona
		Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: This tornado tragically hit a boyscout camp north of Little Sioux Iowa killing 4 young scouts. The tornado initially touched down in Burt county Nebraska, crossed into Harrison county Iowa near mile marker 97 on Interstate 29, and then finally crossed into Monona county Iowa about 4 miles north of Little Sioux. In Monona county the tornado entered the Little Sioux Scout Ranch, destroying the rangers home near the entrance of the park giving it a rating of EF3. The storm then blew down trees and destroyed bunk houses at the camp. Four scouts were killed in one bunk house when a brick chimney collapsed on them. In total 48 people were injured at the camp. The tornado continued to topple trees as it tracked into Preparation Canyon State Park. Just before it entered the park a farmstead sustained damage. The tornado hit another farmstead about 2.5 miles southwest of Moorhead where trees were blown down and sheds damaged. The tornado then began to weaken and finally lifted about 2 miles southwest of Moorhead. The total path length was around 14 miles. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A very strong and unseasonably cold upper level low pressure system that was tracking across the northern plains brought a strong low level jet to the region during the early morning hours of June 11th. The warm and unstable air that worked north into the region helped spawn early morning severe thunderstorms across eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa. Later that day as the upper level system worked into the central Dakotas, a cold front pushed across the region. This helped set off another round of thunderstorms that developed over east central Nebraska by late afternoon. Isolated small supercell thunderstorms initially developed ahead of the cold front over eastern Nebraska, but they were quickly overtaken by a broken line of larger supercell thunderstorms, some of the heavy precipitation type, that developed along the cold front. Cell mergers and training were observed well into the evening hours as the activity quickly spread across southwest Iowa. The storms produced a total of 8 confirmed tornadoes in the Omaha/Valley warning area which covers eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa.
39.8	1978-07-05	2	43°02'N / 96°15'W	42°56'N / 96°03'W	11.90 Miles	200 Yards	0	0	2.5M	0	Sioux
40.1	1954-06-17	3	42°05'N / 97°03'W	42°07'N / 96°42'W	17.90 Miles	163 Yards	0	0	250K	0	Stanton
41.1	2008-06-11	2	41°48'N / 96°06'W	41°51'N / 96°01'W	5.00 Miles	440 Yards	0	0	0K	0K	Harrison
		Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: This is a continuation of the tornado that initially touched down in Burt county Nebraska, about 4.5 miles west of Little Sioux Iowa. The tornado eventually reached EF3 strength in Monona county when it hit a boyscout camp where 4 fatalities and 48 injuries occurred. The tornado crossed into Harrison county near mile marker 97 on Interstate 29 where a semi-truck was flipped. The tornado snapped power poles northeast of there with an estimated strength of EF2 in Harrison county. The tornado then crossed into Monona county Iowa about 4 miles north of Little Sioux. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A very strong and unseasonably cold upper level low pressure system that was tracking across the northern plains brought a strong low level jet to the region during the early morning hours of June 11th. The warm and unstable air that worked north into the region helped spawn early morning severe thunderstorms across eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa. Later that day as the upper level system worked into the central Dakotas, a cold front pushed across the region. This helped set off another round of thunderstorms that developed over east central Nebraska by late afternoon. Isolated small supercell thunderstorms initially developed ahead of the cold front over eastern Nebraska, but they were quickly overtaken by a broken line of larger supercell thunderstorms, some of the heavy precipitation type, that developed along the cold front. Cell mergers and training were observed well into the evening hours as the activity quickly spread across southwest Iowa. The storms produced a total of 8 confirmed tornadoes in the Omaha/Valley warning area which covers eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa.
41.1	1952-06-23	4	42°45'N / 95°51'W	42°54'N / 95°25'W	24.10 Miles	400 Yards	0	4	2.5M	0	Cherokee
41.3	1999-05-16	2	42°08'N / 95°41'W	42°07'N / 95°19'W	16.00 Miles	80 Yards	0	0	500K	0	Crawford
		Brief Description: As was mentioned above, the weather pattern was very active over the central U.S. A cold front had become stationary to the west of Iowa during the afternoon of the 16th. This set the stage for a serious weather situation. During the afternoon, 70 degree F. surface dew point temperatures were widespread for the first time of the season. The airmass became very unstable as the upper levels were still relatively cool. CAPE values during the few hours just prior to the development of the thunderstorms were in excess of 5000 J/kg. The situation became explosive as thunderstorms formed along and just ahead of the cold front over western Iowa. A little later in the afternoon, thunderstorms formed over northeast Iowa along the nose of the low level jet and just north of the surface warm front. These two features combined to produce a variety of severe weather across much of Iowa. The first of the severe weather broke out over west central Iowa. This was on the form of tornadoes. The strongest tornado in the Des Moines CWA touched down in Crawford County near Ricketts. The tornado was F2 strength and caused damage to 10 farmsteads along the way. One farmstead reported the house as being destroyed. The tornado had a duel structure with the two tornadoes about 2.5 miles apart north and west of Ricketts. This tornado was on the ground from near the western county line to a point north of Deloit. This was by far the strongest tornado in the CWA. There were several brief touchdowns and one that was on the ground for a couple miles, west of Denison. During the late afternoon and early evening hours, there were several reports of brief touchdowns from west central into central Iowa. One tornado touched down briefly in Audubon County, another southeast of Bedford in Taylor County destroyed a trailer there and tore a roof off of a shed. Another tornado touched down briefly in rural areas west of Perry in Dallas County. The tornado did little damage however. The same storm knocked down power lines and trees south of Perry as winds were recorded at around 70 MPH a short time later. The final touchdown was brief near Ames, in Story County. There were a few reports of high winds as the line in western Iowa transformed into more of a bow echo structure. A 67 MPH wind gust was recorded at the Creston Airport in Union County. As the storms moved across Dallas County, winds of around 65 MPH blew trees down on a commercial chicken house, killing 5000 laying hens. Winds gusted to 61 MPH at both the NWS office in Johnston and at nearby Ankeny, both in Polk County. As the bow echo continued to move north and east, winds around 65 MPH swept through the Marshalltown area. Damage was reported at a trailer court there as the skirting on some of the trailers was torn off and one of the trailer houses was nearly blown off its supports. The line of storms and high winds made its way northeast into the Wellsburg area of Grundy County, causing extensive damage on a farmstead just southeast of the town. Hail was widespread with all of the thunderstorms as they moved across the state. Many areas reported hail nearly dime size. Reports of hail of up to an inch were quite common as well. Some of the larger hail reports included golf ball size hail in Cass County at Atlantic and baseball size hail reported at both Boone in Boone County and south of Plainfield in Bremer County. Once the severe weather started to wind down, flash flooding was a fairly widespread problem, especially near the warm front over that was over northeast Iowa. The storms associated with the cold front produced flash flooding in Cass County at both Atlantic and Griswold. For the most part, the storms with the cold front were moving too quickly to cause much in the way of flooding, though urban flooding was reported in some areas. The big flooding was over the northeast part of the state. Those areas were hit twice with heavy rain and severe weather, once in the morning and once with this event. Widespread flash flooding took place in Black Hawk, Bremer, Butler, and Hardin Counties. Rains of 4 to 6 inches for the day were common in these areas, as well as areas to the northeast of that. Governor Vilsack declared 12 Iowa counties disaster areas. Butler, Bremer and Black Hawk Counties in the Des Moines CWA were declared disaster areas. All of these same counties were later declared Presidential Disaster Areas. Some of the more serious damage in the Central Iowa CWA was in Black Hawk and Bremer Counties. In Black Hawk County, U.S. Highway 218 was closed for a time by flooded water. The Cedar River caused considerable flooding in the area. The town of Dunkerton was approximately 50% evacuated as waters rose. The Sewage plant there was inundated by the high water. There was damage caused to many public roadways around the county. Some of the bridges over smaller creeks were declared unsafe. The County Engineer stated damages in Black Hawk County were at least $1,200,000, including $560,000 in damage to ditches, roads, culverts, and bridges. Damage in the town of Dunkerton were placed at $500,000 to public infrastructure. The county also reported $183,000 in damages to parks. In Bremer County, numerous homes in the town of Tripoli reported sewer backups into the basements. In the town of Denver, 25 homes reported at least 6 feet of water in the basement. Of those 25 homes, five of them had basement wall damage. Fifteen business in the town had anywhere from 2 inches to 8 feet of water in the basement. Bremer County reported damages to 19 culvert sites, 55 road sites, 2 bridge abutments, and 8 driveway washouts. Damage from these items alone were at least $200,000. In Butler County the county Engineer reported 20 to 30 sites affected with estimated damage of $150,000. One Bridge sustained at least $60,000 damage. Needless to say, numerous county and state roads were under water and closed as well throughout the area. The flooding in these areas was described as worse than the flooding in 1993. In many areas it was worse than the record floods of 1968. Farther to the southwest flash flooding also occurred in Cass County. Damage was not as serious there as the amount of rainfall was not as great. One basement was completely flooded in the town of Griswold. Flooding was serious enough in Atlantic to not only flood several homes but also buckle the pavement on one of the streets in town.
41.5	1992-05-16	2	42°24'N / 97°02'W	42°22'N / 97°01'W	2.00 Miles	100 Yards	0	0	2.5M	0	Cedar
41.6	1980-05-29	2	42°39'N / 96°59'W	42°41'N / 96°55'W	3.30 Miles	60 Yards	0	0	2.5M	0	Dixon
41.8	1963-06-09	2	42°23'N / 97°20'W	42°35'N / 96°43'W	34.10 Miles	33 Yards	0	0	250K	0	Cedar
41.8	1955-06-17	2	42°15'N / 97°06'W	42°21'N / 96°56'W	10.60 Miles	40 Yards	0	0	3K	0	Wayne
42.8	1981-09-26	2	42°47'N / 96°53'W				0	0	25K	0	Clay
42.9	1964-04-20	2	42°14'N / 97°01'W				0	0	3K	0	Wayne
43.2	1953-06-19	2	42°13'N / 97°01'W				0	1	3K	0	Wayne
43.3	1967-08-01	2	41°59'N / 96°50'W		2.00 Miles	33 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Cuming
43.4	1987-07-07	2	43°01'N / 96°29'W	43°00'N / 96°27'W	2.00 Miles	50 Yards	0	0	250K	0	Sioux
44.4	1968-04-03	2	42°59'N / 95°49'W		0.50 Mile	100 Yards	0	0	25K	0	O'brien
44.7	1968-09-22	3	43°01'N / 96°04'W	43°04'N / 95°59'W	4.70 Miles	50 Yards	0	0	2.5M	0	Sioux
44.9	1967-08-16	2	42°47'N / 96°56'W				0	0	25K	0	Clay
45.0	1998-05-28	2	42°33'N / 97°08'W	42°33'N / 97°01'W	8.00 Miles	250 Yards	0	1	0	0	Cedar
		Brief Description: Three farms damaged. Eight to ten power poles downed 8 -10 miles east southeast of Hartington. Injury occurred about 9 miles east of Hartington southeast of the Highway 84/57 interchange.
45.2	1953-06-07	2	42°22'N / 95°29'W	42°29'N / 95°10'W	17.80 Miles	833 Yards	0	0	0K	0	Ida
45.6	1966-06-02	2	43°06'N / 96°24'W	43°02'N / 96°11'W	11.50 Miles	300 Yards	0	0	25K	0	Sioux
46.1	1965-06-07	3	42°55'N / 96°48'W				0	0	0K	0	Union
46.2	1964-08-10	2	42°25'N / 97°07'W				0	0	25K	0	Cedar
46.5	1984-06-07	2	42°19'N / 95°23'W	42°27'N / 95°13'W	12.00 Miles	100 Yards	0	1	2.5M	0	Ida
46.9	1950-07-15	4	41°48'N / 96°36'W	41°44'N / 96°25'W	10.00 Miles	440 Yards	0	33	2.5M	0	Burt
46.9	1987-07-07	2	43°04'N / 96°37'W	43°01'N / 96°29'W	6.00 Miles	50 Yards	0	0	0K	0	Union
47.0	1984-06-11	2	42°47'N / 96°59'W				0	0	25K	0	Clay
47.2	1963-03-16	2	42°47'N / 95°26'W		2.00 Miles	250 Yards	0	0	3K	0	Cherokee
48.4	1979-08-08	2	43°04'N / 95°53'W		0.40 Mile	100 Yards	0	0	2.5M	0	Sioux
48.8	1992-06-16	3	41°52'N / 95°32'W	41°59'N / 95°30'W	7.00 Miles	200 Yards	0	3	2.5M	0	Crawford
49.1	1960-06-15	2	41°42'N / 96°17'W				0	0	25K	0	Burt

* The information on this page is based on the global volcano database, the U.S. earthquake database of 1638-1985, and the U.S. Tornado and Weather Extremes database of 1950-2010.