NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Burnsville, 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 Burnsville, Minnesota since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 117 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 9 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 117
- EF3 or stronger
- 9
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
21 deaths in all
What the records show for Burnsville
The highest rating among the 117 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 4 times; the most recent, on May 6, 1965, came within 23 miles. The deadliest, an F4 on May 6, 1965, killed 6 people. Of the 117, 12 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 60 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 27. The most recent tornado was on June 28, 2025. Burnsville has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 92% of the 341 Minnesota cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 334 times since 1956, with stones up to 4 inches (softball size). Burnsville has more hail reports within 10 miles than 93% of the 341 Minnesota cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Burnsville
By decade
- 2020s22
- 2010s22
- 2000s16
- 1990s20
- 1980s11(4 EF3+)
- 1970s7
- 1960s15(4 EF3+)
- 1950s4(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 16 mi | 17.3 mi | 6 / 158 |
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 19 mi | 6.8 mi | 3 / 175 |
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 23 mi | 12.3 mi | 3 / 175 |
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 14 mi | 6.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 20, 1951 | F3 | 8 mi | 11.6 mi | 5 / 40 |
| Apr 26, 1984 | F3 | 18 mi | 5.5 mi | 1 / 52 |
| Jun 14, 1981 | F3 | 4 mi | 16.2 mi | 1 / 83 |
| Jul 27, 1987 | F3 | 22 mi | 30 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 23, 1987 | F3 | 25 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 9, 2001 | F2 | 21 mi | 12 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Mar 29, 1998 | F2 | 15 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 29, 1998 | F2 | 20 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 117, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Burnsville
The Storm Prediction Center has 334 hail reports within 10 miles of Burnsville since 1956, made on 153 separate days. Of these, 193 were 1 inch across or larger, and 11 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4 inches (softball size), fell on July 8, 1966. The most recent report is from August 15, 2025. May has the most reports, 94.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Burnsville
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Farmington 3 NW, MN, 8 miles southeast of Burnsville at 980 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 82°F and low of 63°F; January is the coolest, at 23°F and 8°F. June is the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 0.8 inches; the year adds up to 32.3 inches over 59 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 7 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 150 nights a year. Snowfall averages 41.0 inches a year, most of it in January. That 32.3 inches is more than at 80 of the 124 Minnesota stations used on this site (65%). Savage, 5 miles west, has its own station (Mpls Flying Cloud Airport, MN): 30.8 inches a year, 1.5 less than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 82°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 23 | 8 | 1.1 | 3 | 10.5 |
| Feb | 28 | 12 | 0.8 | 2 | 6.4 |
| Mar | 41 | 24 | 1.7 | 4 | 8.0 |
| Apr | 56 | 36 | 2.7 | 5 | 1.8 |
| May | 69 | 48 | 3.9 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 78 | 59 | 4.9 | 9 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 82 | 63 | 4.2 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 79 | 60 | 4.4 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 72 | 52 | 3.2 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 58 | 39 | 2.8 | 5 | 0.3 |
| Nov | 42 | 27 | 1.6 | 3 | 7.0 |
| Dec | 28 | 14 | 1.0 | 2 | 7.0 |
| Year | 55 | 37 | 32.3 | 59 | 41.0 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Farmington 3 NW, MN (980 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 Burnsville
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 279 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Burnsville: 217 thunderstorm wind reports, 27 heavy rain events, 22 flash floods, 9 lightning strikes and 4 floods. They killed 0 people and injured 14, and the NWS estimated $363.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 98 mph, on May 30, 1998. August has had the most flash floods, 9 of 22. Of the 312 Minnesota cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 281 have had fewer than Burnsville.
May 30, 1998: thunderstorm wind 3 miles from the centre of Burnsville — 7 injured, $140.0 million damage.
August 8, 2020: lightning strike 7 miles from the centre of Burnsville — 3 injured, $10,000 damage.
April 22, 2008: lightning strike 9 miles from the centre of Burnsville — 3 injured.
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
Flood insurance policyholders in Burnsville's 2 ZIP codes have filed 20 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $520,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 35% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 120 Minnesota cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 45 have fewer than Burnsville.
Dakota County, which includes Burnsville, has been named in 16 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 12 of them major disasters (by incident: 6 floods, 5 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 Dakota County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for strong wind; Relatively High for tornadoes, hail and lightning; Relatively Moderate for inland flooding and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $133.7 million a year, the 3rd highest of 87 Minnesota counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $56.6 million (42%), 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 Burnsville
- Apple Valley, MN4 mi
- Savage, MN5 mi
- Bloomington, MN5 mi
- Lakeville, MN6 mi
- Eagan, MN6 mi
- Rosemount, MN7 mi
- Richfield, MN8 mi
- Prior Lake, MN8 mi
- Edina, MN10 mi
- Farmington, MN10 mi
- Mendota Heights, MN10 mi
- Eden Prairie, MN11 mi
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