Des Moines, Iowa wind history
176
Days with wind on record
124
Carried by two or more independent sources
142
Days at 58 mph or more
120mph
Strongest measured, Jun 1998
What was searched
| Evidence | Sources | Record from | Reports within 10 mi |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ground observation | ×6 | 1996 | 1,314 |
| Radar detection | ×1 | When an address is run | None |
| Official NWS warning | ×1 | When an address is run | None |
| Federal declaration | ×1 | When an address is run | None |
Wind days by year in Des Moines, IA
Measured Estimated only 58 mph or more
Each mark is one day with wind on record, placed where it fell in the year, and each opens the record for that day. A row with nothing on it is a year with nothing on record.
Best-attested wind days near Des Moines
Most sources first
| Date | Strongest | Measured | Reports | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Aug 2020 | 85 mph | 85 mph | 46 | ×3 |
| 28 Jun 2018 | 85 mph | 85 mph | 21 | ×3 |
| 21 Sep 2007 | 85 mph | 85 mph | 4 | ×3 |
| 17 Jul 2010 | 84 mph | 84 mph | 25 | ×3 |
| 02 Oct 2007 | 81 mph | 81 mph | 3 | ×3 |
| 22 Jun 2007 | 81 mph | 81 mph | 35 | ×3 |
| 19 Sep 2013 | 79 mph | 79 mph | 53 | ×3 |
| 25 May 2008 | 77 mph | 77 mph | 27 | ×3 |
Sources per wind day near Des Moines
- One source
- 52
- Two
- 32
- Three or more
- 92
A day carried by one report is a report. A day that a spotter, a warning and an instrument all describe is a storm, and it is the kind of day a file can rest on. Every report on these days keeps its own source.
- Hail days
- 148
- Tornado days
- 18
On record within the same 10 miles. Hail history for Des Moines. A report for an address searches every family.
Strongest wind reports near Des Moines
Measured Estimated, not measured
| Date | Speed | Reading | Evidence | From centre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Jun 1998 | 120 mph | Sustained | Ground observation | 8.2 mi NW |
| 29 Jun 1998 | 120 mph | Sustained | Ground observation | 2.0 mi NNW |
| 29 Jun 1998 | 100 mph | Sustained | Ground observation | 2.5 mi NE |
| 29 Jun 1998 | 92 mph | Sustained | Ground observation | 9.0 mi NE |
| 29 Jun 1998 | 92 mph | Sustained | Ground observation | 2.0 mi NNW |
| 07 Sep 2001 | 86 mph | Sustained | Ground observation | 7.6 mi SE |
| 07 Sep 2001 | 86 mph | Sustained | Ground observation | 7.6 mi SE |
| 21 Sep 2007 | 85 mph | Sustained | Ground observation | 8.0 mi SSW |
Peak gusts at the nearest stations on record
Within 30 miles, nearest first
The archive holds no station readings within 30 miles of Des Moines yet. Station readings are fetched for the ground around an address when a report is run and kept afterwards, so they fill here once an address near Des Moines has been run. The reports above do not depend on them.
Get the wind report for an address in Des Moines, IA
Everything above is the record around Des Moines: which days, how strong, how many sources, and how far away each instrument stood. None of it says what reached one roof.
Run the address and the same archive is searched at the property: every wind report with its distance and bearing from the roof, the nearest station's readings hour by hour, the analysis grid sampled at the address and labelled as analyzed, and the federal record each figure came from, in a document that states its own method. Ready in minutes.
Questions about wind in Des Moines, IA
How many wind days has Des Moines, IA had on record?
176 days with wind on record within 10 miles of the centre of Des Moines since 1996, 124 of them carried by two or more independent sources and 176 with a gust or speed reported by an instrument or a person on the ground.
What is the strongest wind gust measured near Des Moines?
120 mph, a sustained speed measured on 29 June 1998, 8.2 miles NW of the centre of Des Moines.
When was the last damaging wind in Des Moines, IA?
The most recent day near Des Moines at or above 58 mph, the National Weather Service criterion for damaging wind, was 3 July 2026, with its strongest report 58 mph, measured.
How do I get a wind report for an address in Des Moines?
Enter the address on this page. The Titan Weather report is the paid document: it searches the same archive at the property and lists every wind report with its distance and bearing from the roof, the nearest station's readings hour by hour, and the federal source each figure came from. The calendar above this door is the same record for Des Moines, free, without an address.
Wind history near Des Moines
Within 30 miles of Des Moines, nearest first. A storm that crossed one of these crossed the others, and their counts overlap.
- Pleasant Hill 6 mi 158 days
- Windsor Heights 6 mi 200 days
- Norwalk 8 mi 153 days
- Altoona 9 mi 130 days
- West Des Moines 9 mi 184 days
- Urbandale 10 mi 190 days
- Clive 10 mi 182 days
- Johnston 10 mi 169 days
How this page is made
- What counted
- Every wind report in the archive with a point within 10 miles of the Census centre of Des Moines (41.5726, -93.6102). A wind day is a calendar date with at least one report: four sources describing one storm are one afternoon of wind, not four. A report's figure is its gust where it has one and its sustained speed otherwise, and the tables say which.
- Measured and estimated
- A speed reported by a person or an instrument on the ground, whether read from an anemometer or judged by an observer from what the wind did, is filed as observed; a speed inferred from a grid or an analysis is an estimate and is marked as one. The two are never added together.
- Severe
- A day counts as severe when its strongest figure reached 58 mph, the National Weather Service criterion for a damaging gust. Weaker wind is still on the record, and still on this page.
- Stations
- A station reading is the wind at the instrument, not at any address, and is listed with the distance from the page's centre to the instrument. Readings are fetched for the ground around an address when a report is run and held afterwards, so the stations on a page are the ones within 30 miles that the archive holds readings from.
- What this is not
- Neighbouring places share reports, so counts are not exclusive. This page is the record around a place; it is not a report on any property, and it states no opinion about what reached one.
- Terms used on this page
- Peak gust, sustained wind, independent source: each term this page uses is defined in the glossary as the report prints it.
- The record
- Searched from 1996 to today. Compiled 27 August 2026 and rebuilt daily as the archive deepens. Records are reproduced as the federal sources published them. The coverage page states what the record holds, by kind and by year.
About this record
Everything here is reproduced from public federal and volunteer weather records, as the agencies and observer networks that publish them released it. Titan Weather compiles the record; it does not observe the weather, and it is not affiliated with any source it cites.
No archive holds everything. Storms cross places where nobody is standing, instruments and observers cover some areas better than others, sources revise their records, and recent reports can take weeks to arrive and settle. Coverage also thins as the years go back: an early quiet stretch may describe who was watching rather than what the weather did. Where this page shows nothing, nothing was found in the sources searched, within the period and area it states. That is not a finding that no weather occurred.
A record sits where its source filed it. Reports made from the ground are commonly logged against a town, a landmark or an offset from one rather than the spot where the measurement was taken, so any distance shown for one carries that source's own location error. Radar detections and warning geometry are instrument-located and do not.
These pages describe the public record near a place or on a date. They do not establish what reached any particular property, and nothing here is insurance, legal or engineering advice.