From NWS
2009: A long-lived very severe thunderstorm traveled roughly along and just south of Highway 20 from northeastern Crawford County to Black Hawk County between about 8 am and noon. The storm produced copious amounts of very large hail as well as strong straight-line winds that drove the hail with much force, increasing the resulting damage. The storm cycled in intensity several times along its path with the first peak producing particularly severe hail damage along a swath through eastern Sac County and into far western Calhoun County. The second peak produced a path of even greater damage through Webster County, just missing Fort Dodge to the south and resulting in total destruction of crops around Callender and Otho. The largest hail fell with the third peak in Hardin and Grundy counties where the worst damage occurred in and around Eldora. Hail 3 inches in diameter or larger was driven by 70 to 100 mph winds severely damaging virtually every structure and vehicle in the city and devastating all crops, trees, and vegetation. Some cars and trucks had every window broken and their bodies riddled with large dents. Nearly every north and west facing window in the city was broken, all but a few buildings required significant roof repair or replacement, and the siding was stripped completely off of some houses. At Pine Lake State Park just east of Eldora several participants in an archery competition were caught outside in the storm and suffered from large welts and bruises. Elsewhere there were numerous other injuries including reports of lacerations and broken bones from the wind-driven hail. Countless birds and wild animals were also killed during the storm.

1934: A summer of record breaking heat continued as the temperature rose all the way to 116 F at Keokuk which set the all-time Iowa August record. The reliability of this reading has been questioned, however it does remain the highest official temperature on record in Iowa in the month of August. The second-highest temperature of 115 F also occurred on this date at Keosauqua and on the previous day at Ottumwa. Other high temperatures recorded on the 9th included 113 F at Fairfield and Lamoni, 112 F at Albia and Knoxville, and 111 F at Atlantic and Winterset.

1922: A very severe hail storm struck west central Iowa with the greatest damage in Crawford, Shelby, Audubon, and Guthrie counties. An observer wrote that “the principal damage was to corn but chickens and young pigs were reported killed by the score and two cows were killed…in portions of the area whole sections were hailed out so completely that not a single stalk of corn was left standing. In Guthrie County fields were white with hail and ditches two feet deep were completely filled. Four days after the storm there was sufficient hail in the ditches to make ice cream.”

9 August 1930 → Perryville, TN reached 113 degrees, setting the record high for the state. 9 August 1945 → An American B-29 dropped a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. The second choice of targets was actually Kokura, which was the location of a large munitions plant. However, the cloud cover over Kokura that day prevented the dropping of the bomb, even after 3 attempts. So, the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki instead. 9 August 2003 → Europe sweltered in a deadly heat wave as Britain and Germany both recorded their hottest temperatures since records had been kept. The temperature soared to 105 degrees at Roth in Bavaria and 100.2 degrees in London.

Posted under Weather History