NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Bethel, MN
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 Bethel, Minnesota since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 80 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 9 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 80
- EF3 or stronger
- 9
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
15 deaths in all
What the records show for Bethel
The highest rating among the 80 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 5 times; the most recent, on July 3, 1983, came within 13 miles. The deadliest, an F4 on May 6, 1965, killed 6 people. Of the 80, 4 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 37 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 32. The most recent tornado was on August 29, 2024. Of the 341 Minnesota cities on this site, 55% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Bethel. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 93 times since 1975, with stones up to 4 inches (softball size). Bethel has more hail reports within 10 miles than 54% of the 341 Minnesota cities.
Compare Bethel's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Bethel
By decade
- 2020s5
- 2010s16
- 2000s16(1 EF3+)
- 1990s15
- 1980s9(3 EF3+)
- 1970s5
- 1960s9(2 EF3+)
- 1950s5(3 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 17 mi | 17.3 mi | 6 / 158 |
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 18 mi | 6.8 mi | 3 / 175 |
| Jun 19, 1951 | F4 | 13 mi | 52.6 mi | 1 / 20 |
| Jul 3, 1983 | F4 | 13 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 4 |
| May 21, 1957 | F4 | 22 mi | 9.2 mi | 0 / 2 |
| May 25, 2008 | EF3 | 17 mi | 5.96 mi | 1 / 17 |
| Apr 26, 1984 | F3 | 21 mi | 5.5 mi | 1 / 52 |
| Jul 23, 1987 | F3 | 20 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 24, 1958 | F3 | 22 mi | 59.4 mi | 0 / 12 |
| Sep 16, 2006 | F2 | 14 mi | 8 mi | 1 / 0 |
| Sep 21, 2005 | F2 | 15 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jul 18, 1986 | F2 | 17 mi | 4 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 80, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Bethel
The Storm Prediction Center has 93 hail reports within 10 miles of Bethel since 1975, made on 51 separate days. Of these, 49 were 1 inch across or larger, and 3 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4 inches (softball size), fell on June 14, 1981. The most recent report is from May 15, 2025. May has the most reports, 30.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Bethel
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Cedar, MN, 6 miles southwest of Bethel at 907 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 80°F and low of 62°F; January is the coolest, at 23°F and 6°F. July is the wettest at 4.8 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.9 inches; the year adds up to 34.4 inches over 67 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 4 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 162 nights a year. Snowfall averages 63.9 inches a year, most of it in January. That 34.4 inches is more than at 102 of the 124 Minnesota stations used on this site (82%). Isanti, 6 miles north, has its own station (Cambridge, MN): 29.6 inches a year, 4.8 less than here, and a July average high of 82°F against 80°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 23 | 6 | 0.9 | 3 | 13.8 |
| Feb | 28 | 10 | 1.0 | 3 | 10.7 |
| Mar | 41 | 22 | 1.8 | 4 | 11.2 |
| Apr | 56 | 35 | 3.3 | 7 | 4.1 |
| May | 69 | 47 | 4.3 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 77 | 56 | 4.6 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 80 | 62 | 4.8 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 78 | 59 | 4.1 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 71 | 51 | 3.1 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 57 | 39 | 3.1 | 5 | 0.9 |
| Nov | 41 | 25 | 1.9 | 5 | 12.7 |
| Dec | 27 | 13 | 1.5 | 3 | 10.5 |
| Year | 54 | 35 | 34.4 | 67 | 63.9 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Cedar, MN (907 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 Bethel
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 72 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Bethel: 62 thunderstorm wind reports, 6 heavy rain events, 2 flash floods, 1 flood and 1 lightning strike. They killed 0 people and injured 6, and the NWS estimated $546,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 85 mph, on August 26, 2024.
July 1, 2011: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Bethel — 6 injured, $500,000 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
Anoka County, which includes Bethel, has been named in 13 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 9 of them major disasters (by incident: 4 floods, 3 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 1 drought). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on April 7, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Anoka County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for strong wind; Relatively High for hail and lightning; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, inland flooding and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $127.5 million a year, the 4th highest of 87 Minnesota counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $85.4 million (67%), 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.