NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Bennington, NE
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
No tropical storm or hurricane has passed within 75 miles of Bennington, Nebraska since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 126 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 11 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 126
- EF3 or stronger
- 11
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
8 deaths in all
What the records show for Bennington
The highest rating among the 126 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4 or EF4, reached 4 times; the most recent, on April 26, 2024, passed within a mile of the city centre. The deadliest, an F4 on May 6, 1975, killed 3 people. Of the 126, 9 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 58 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 38. The most recent tornado was on April 17, 2025. Bennington has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 54% of the 91 Nebraska cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 268 times since 1956, with stones up to 4.5 inches (grapefruit size). Bennington has more hail reports within 10 miles than 85% of the 91 Nebraska cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Bennington
By decade
- 2020s19(3 EF3+)
- 2010s18
- 2000s21
- 1990s17(2 EF3+)
- 1980s9(1 EF3+)
- 1970s15(1 EF3+)
- 1960s9(1 EF3+)
- 1950s18(3 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 1975 | F4 | 10 mi | 8 mi | 3 / 133 |
| Apr 25, 1957 | F4 | 15 mi | 89.8 mi | 1 / 8 |
| Apr 26, 2024 | EF4 | in town | 31.89 mi | 0 / 4 |
| Aug 13, 1952 | F4 | 22 mi | 26.7 mi | 0 / 20 |
| May 16, 1999 | F3 | 22 mi | 7.5 mi | 2 / 16 |
| Apr 17, 2025 | EF3 | 5 mi | 8.12 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 26, 2024 | EF3 | 16 mi | 19.06 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 16, 1999 | F3 | 23 mi | 6.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 15, 1988 | F3 | 17 mi | 2.8 mi | 0 / 34 |
| Aug 18, 1968 | F3 | 14 mi | 21.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 13, 1952 | F3 | 14 mi | 44.4 mi | 0 / 1 |
| May 7, 1988 | F2 | 12 mi | 16.2 mi | 2 / 1 |
The strongest 12 of 126, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Bennington
The Storm Prediction Center has 268 hail reports within 10 miles of Bennington since 1956, made on 139 separate days. Of these, 199 were 1 inch across or larger, and 40 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4.5 inches (grapefruit size), fell on June 3, 2014. The most recent report is from April 21, 2025. June has the most reports, 59.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Bennington
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Valley NWS, NE, 11 miles west of Bennington at 1,145 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 33°F and 15°F. June is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.9 inches; the year adds up to 33.2 inches over 57 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 25 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 136 nights a year. Snowfall averages 31.8 inches a year, most of it in February. That 33.2 inches is more than at 62 of the 68 Nebraska stations used on this site (91%). Omaha, 10 miles southeast, has its own station (Omaha Eppley Airfield, NE): 32.1 inches a year, 1.1 less than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 87°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 33 | 15 | 0.9 | 2 | 7.4 |
| Feb | 38 | 19 | 1.0 | 3 | 9.5 |
| Mar | 50 | 30 | 1.8 | 4 | 5.0 |
| Apr | 62 | 41 | 3.1 | 7 | 1.4 |
| May | 73 | 53 | 4.7 | 8 | 0.1 |
| Jun | 83 | 64 | 5.3 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 87 | 68 | 4.0 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 84 | 65 | 4.3 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 78 | 56 | 3.0 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 65 | 43 | 2.4 | 5 | 1.0 |
| Nov | 50 | 31 | 1.4 | 2 | 1.2 |
| Dec | 37 | 20 | 1.3 | 3 | 6.2 |
| Year | 62 | 42 | 33.2 | 57 | 31.8 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Valley NWS, NE (1,145 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Bennington
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 186 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Bennington: 151 thunderstorm wind reports, 18 flash floods, 10 floods, 5 heavy rain events and 2 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 8, and the NWS estimated $9.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 110 mph, on August 9, 2025. May has had the most flash floods, 7 of 18. Of the 89 Nebraska cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 77 have had fewer than Bennington.
October 1, 2002: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Bennington — 3 injured, $3.0 million damage.
August 9, 2025: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Bennington — 2 injured, $2.7 million damage.
NWS: “A damaging wind event swept across Washington County, Nebraska, during the morning hours of August 9th, 2025, with a path of damage extending from the southwest to the eastern portion of the county.”
June 12, 2010: flood 8 miles from the centre of Bennington — 1 injured, $2.0 million damage.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Douglas County, which includes Bennington, has been named in 29 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1967, 26 of them major disasters (by incident: 15 severe storms, 7 floods, 3 tornadoes, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, on October 22, 2025. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Douglas County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for tornadoes, hail and strong wind; Relatively High for inland flooding, lightning and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $233.9 million a year, the highest of 93 Nebraska counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $88.1 million (38%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.
Cities near Bennington
- Elkhorn, NE7 mi
- Valley, NE9 mi
- Omaha, NE10 mi
- Fort Calhoun, NE10 mi
- Waterloo, NE10 mi
- Arlington, NE12 mi
- Blair, NE12 mi
- La Vista, NE14 mi
- Carter Lake, IA14 mi
- Yutan, NE14 mi
- Papillion, NE17 mi
- Fremont, NE17 mi
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