NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Columbia, MO
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 Columbia, Missouri since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 79 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 3 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 79
- EF3 or stronger
- 3
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
1 deaths in all
What the records show for Columbia
The highest rating among the 79 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 3 times; the most recent, on November 10, 1998, passed within a mile of the city centre. The deadliest, an F1 on April 10, 2001, killed 1 person. Of the 79, 10 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 21 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 17. The most recent tornado was on April 20, 2025. Of the 334 Missouri cities on this site, 66% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Columbia. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 218 times since 1958, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Columbia has more hail reports within 10 miles than 85% of the 334 Missouri cities.
Compare Columbia's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Columbia
By decade
- 2020s3
- 2010s3
- 2000s15
- 1990s19(3 EF3+)
- 1980s15
- 1970s9
- 1960s7
- 1950s8
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 10, 1998 | F3 | in town | 2 mi | 0 / 16 |
| Nov 27, 1990 | F3 | in town | 12 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Nov 27, 1990 | F3 | 8 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 20, 2025 | EF2 | 17 mi | 2.61 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Mar 13, 2006 | F2 | 18 mi | 13 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Apr 8, 1999 | F2 | 7 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 8, 1999 | F2 | 6 mi | 4 mi | 0 / 5 |
| Sep 7, 1992 | F2 | 23 mi | 10.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 14, 1982 | F2 | 23 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 12, 1980 | F2 | 9 mi | 42.7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 26, 1973 | F2 | 12 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Oct 14, 1966 | F2 | 25 mi | 7.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 79, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Columbia
The Storm Prediction Center has 218 hail reports within 10 miles of Columbia since 1958, made on 123 separate days. Of these, 131 were 1 inch across or larger, and 11 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on March 12, 2006. The most recent report is from November 17, 2025. May has the most reports, 71.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Columbia
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Columbia U Of M, MO, in Columbia at 770 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 69°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 23°F. May is the wettest at 5.2 inches of precipitation on average and December the driest at 2.2 inches; the year adds up to 44.7 inches over 71 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 41 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 93 nights a year. Snowfall averages 17.4 inches a year, most of it in January. That 44.7 inches is more than at 77 of the 134 Missouri stations used on this site (57%). Ashland, 12 miles south, has its own station (Columbia Regional Airport, MO): 41.4 inches a year, 3.3 less than here, and the same July average high, 89°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 39 | 23 | 2.4 | 4 | 5.9 |
| Feb | 45 | 27 | 2.3 | 5 | 4.8 |
| Mar | 56 | 36 | 3.2 | 7 | 2.0 |
| Apr | 67 | 46 | 4.8 | 8 | 0.3 |
| May | 76 | 56 | 5.2 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 85 | 65 | 5.1 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 89 | 69 | 4.6 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 88 | 67 | 4.1 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 80 | 59 | 4.3 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 68 | 47 | 3.5 | 6 | 0.1 |
| Nov | 55 | 37 | 3.0 | 5 | 0.8 |
| Dec | 44 | 27 | 2.2 | 5 | 3.5 |
| Year | 66 | 46 | 44.7 | 71 | 17.4 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Columbia U Of M, MO (770 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 Columbia
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 132 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Columbia: 96 thunderstorm wind reports, 22 flash floods, 8 lightning strikes and 6 floods. They killed 1 person and injured 27, and the NWS estimated $801,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 82 mph, on May 18, 2026. Of the 334 Missouri cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 185 have had fewer than Columbia.
June 17, 2009: lightning strike 9 miles from the centre of Columbia — 1 killed.
August 28, 2008: thunderstorm wind 3 miles from the centre of Columbia — 20 injured.
NWS: “A line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved through the Columbia, Missouri area around 711 pm. There was a tent revival occurring north of the city and when the storms hit, the high winds caused the tent to collapse.”
November 17, 2015: flood 9 miles from the centre of Columbia — 2 injured.
NWS: “Between 3 and 5 inches of rain fell over two days in Boone County. This caused streams, creeks and low water crossings to flood.”
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 Columbia's 3 ZIP codes have filed 153 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $3.7 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1995: 13 claims (8% of all) and $45,000. The year with the most claims was 1981, with 23. 20% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 172 Missouri cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 122 have fewer than Columbia.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1995 | 13 | $45,000 |
Boone County, which includes Columbia, has been named in 27 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1973, 19 of them major disasters (by incident: 12 severe storms, 6 floods, 5 ice storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, on September 1, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Boone County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for tornadoes, strong wind and lightning; Relatively Moderate for inland flooding and heat waves; Relatively Low for hail; Very Low for hurricanes. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $75.1 million a year, the 8th highest of 115 Missouri counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $41.3 million (55%), 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 Columbia
- Hallsville, MO12 mi
- Ashland, MO12 mi
- Harrisburg, MO15 mi
- Hartsburg, MO18 mi
- Sturgeon, MO18 mi
- New Bloomfield, MO20 mi
- Fulton, MO21 mi
- Centralia, MO21 mi
- Boonville, MO22 mi
- Fayette, MO23 mi
- Auxvasse, MO23 mi
- Holts Summit, MO25 mi
All Missouri cities →All hurricanes since 1851 →Compare Columbia with another place →