Thornton, Iowa Weather
Thornton, Iowa — live current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts, NWS alerts, radar and satellite imagery, soil and crop conditions for Thornton, Cerro Gordo County.
Full aviation weather for Thornton is published on the Mason City Municipal Airport (KMCW) page, 24 km away. It carries the current METAR decoded into plain language — surface wind, visibility, cloud layers and ceiling, temperature and dewpoint, and altimeter setting — alongside the raw observation as transmitted. 6 airfields within reach of Thornton have their own pages, listed below.
The Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) is shown across its full validity period, with each change group broken out so you can see when conditions are expected to shift. Flight category is derived automatically — VFR, MVFR, IFR or LIFR — from reported ceiling and visibility, with runway details and field elevation alongside. Observations update roughly hourly and forecasts several times a day.
Other airports near Thornton: Hampton Municipal Airport (KHPT) 28 km · Forest City Municipal Airport (KFXY) 38 km · Clarion Municipal Airport (KCAV) 38 km · Eagle Grove Municipal Airport (KEAG) 51 km · Allison Municipal Airport (K98) 51 km
Conditions reported at KMCW describe the airfield itself. Weather 24 km away can differ, particularly in terrain or near the coast. For conditions at Thornton specifically, see the current conditions and forecast above.
Soil conditions, frost risk and crop weather for Thornton.
About Thornton, Iowa
Thornton rests in a landscape of broad, fertile horizons, where the land swells and recedes with a quiet, agricultural grace. It lies 17.2 miles south-south-west of Mason City, IA (from Mason City, IA: bearing 213°T), and is situated 9.3 miles west-north-west of Sheffield. The sky here is a vast, ever-changing canvas, often brushed with the pale gold of dawn or deepening to an indigo so profound at dusk it feels almost tangible. Fields of corn and soybeans, stretching to the edge of sight, form a patchwork quilt of greens and yellows, broken only by the darker, more intimate shadows of farmsteads and the occasional cluster of trees that mark a distant lane. The air, especially after a summer rain, carries the clean scent of turned earth and growing things, a perfume that speaks of the enduring connection between the people of Thornton and the land they cultivate. Thornton’s story is intrinsically tied to the rich soil that defines its surroundings, a legacy of pioneering farmers who saw opportunity in this expanse of prairie. The local economy, still largely rooted in agriculture, hums with the steady rhythm of planting and harvest, the grain elevators standing as silent sentinels of prosperity. While the days in Thornton move with a gentle, unhurried cadence, a quiet resilience underpins the community. It’s a place where history isn't always etched in grand monuments but can be felt in the weathered wood of an old barn or the shared knowledge passed down through generations, a subtle but persistent echo of lives lived and work done.
Live animated radar for Thornton and surroundings — RainViewer.
NOAA GOES-16 GEOCOLOR — live animated loop updated every 10 minutes. Shows cloud cover, storm systems and weather patterns across the continental US.
Source: NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East · Public domain · Auto-updates on page reload
| Location | Thornton, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa |
| Coordinates | 42.944688°N, 93.384649°W |
| Timezone | Central Time (America/Chicago) |
| ZIP Code(s) | 50479 |
| Area Code | 515 |
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Weather data | Open-Meteo (open-source), NOAA National Weather Service |
About This Thornton, Iowa Weather Page
This page provides live weather conditions and forecasts for Thornton, Iowa, including current conditions, a 24-hour hourly forecast, 7-day outlook, NWS extended text forecast, precipitation radar and NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery. Aviation weather — live METAR observations and TAF forecasts — is published separately on the pages for the nearest reporting airports, linked from the aviation section above. Additional sections may include tide predictions, wave height, wave direction and sea-surface temperature, a barometric pressure trend, and a solunar-based fishing forecast with a fishing-conditions rating for coastal localities, and soil temperature, crop weather and live USGS river gauge data for agricultural areas near a monitored waterway. All data updates automatically on every page visit.
Location data for Thornton includes coordinates 42.944688°N, 93.384649°W, situated in Cerro Gordo County. ZIP code 50479. Telephone area code: 515. Timezone: Central Time (America/Chicago).
Weather data is sourced from the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) and the open-source Open-Meteo API. River and stream data is sourced from the USGS National Water Information System. Tide predictions are sourced from NOAA CO-OPS; marine and solunar data are modeled from Open-Meteo and public sunrise/moon calculations and should be treated as a general guide alongside on-the-water conditions. Radar is provided by RainViewer. Satellite imagery is sourced from NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East and is public domain.
