NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Crete, 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 Crete, Nebraska since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 124 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 15 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 124
- EF3 or stronger
- 15
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
10 deaths in all
What the records show for Crete
The highest rating among the 124 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 3 times; the most recent, on May 22, 2004, came within 9 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on May 9, 1953, killed 5 people. Of the 124, 7 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 46 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 49. The most recent tornado was on July 1, 2024. Crete has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 50% of the 91 Nebraska cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 140 times since 1955, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Of the 91 Nebraska cities, 52% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Crete.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Crete
By decade
- 2020s8(1 EF3+)
- 2010s24(1 EF3+)
- 2000s14(2 EF3+)
- 1990s26(4 EF3+)
- 1980s8
- 1970s17(2 EF3+)
- 1960s11(1 EF3+)
- 1950s16(4 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 22, 2004 | F4 | 9 mi | 54 mi | 1 / 38 |
| Apr 25, 1957 | F4 | 12 mi | 89.8 mi | 1 / 8 |
| Jun 13, 2001 | F4 | 17 mi | 8 mi | 0 / 2 |
| May 9, 1953 | F3 | 10 mi | 46.9 mi | 5 / 82 |
| Sep 25, 1973 | F3 | 24 mi | 169.7 mi | 3 / 42 |
| Apr 26, 2024 | EF3 | 25 mi | 5.25 mi | 0 / 3 |
| May 11, 2014 | EF3 | 16 mi | 19.14 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 24, 1993 | F3 | 15 mi | 9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 15, 1992 | F3 | 10 mi | 14 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jun 15, 1992 | F3 | 12 mi | 21 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 13, 1990 | F3 | 23 mi | 25 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 15, 1975 | F3 | 10 mi | 63.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 124, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Crete
The Storm Prediction Center has 140 hail reports within 10 miles of Crete since 1955, made on 101 separate days. Of these, 74 were 1 inch across or larger, and 8 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on September 7, 2001. The most recent report is from June 16, 2022. June has the most reports, 53.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Crete
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Crete 4ESE, NE, 5 miles east of Crete at 1,460 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 34°F and 14°F. May is the wettest at 5.7 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.7 inches; the year adds up to 31.1 inches over 53 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 36 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 133 nights a year. Snowfall averages 25.3 inches a year, most of it in February. That 31.1 inches is more than at 51 of the 68 Nebraska stations used on this site (75%). Milford, 12 miles northwest, has its own station (Seward, NE): 28.9 inches a year, 2.2 less than here, and a July average high of 86°F against 87°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 34 | 14 | 0.7 | 2 | 6.3 |
| Feb | 40 | 18 | 0.8 | 2 | 6.6 |
| Mar | 52 | 28 | 1.5 | 4 | 3.2 |
| Apr | 63 | 39 | 2.6 | 5 | 1.3 |
| May | 73 | 50 | 5.7 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 83 | 61 | 4.9 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 87 | 65 | 3.8 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 85 | 63 | 3.4 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 78 | 54 | 3.1 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 66 | 41 | 2.3 | 4 | 1.0 |
| Nov | 51 | 28 | 1.2 | 2 | 2.0 |
| Dec | 38 | 18 | 1.1 | 2 | 4.9 |
| Year | 62 | 40 | 31.1 | 53 | 25.3 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Crete 4ESE, NE (1,460 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 Crete
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 112 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Crete: 65 thunderstorm wind reports, 34 floods, 10 flash floods and 3 heavy rain events. They killed 0 people and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $112.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 104 mph, on June 16, 2017. June has had the most flash floods, 5 of 10. Of the 89 Nebraska cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 58 have had fewer than Crete.
August 9, 2025: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Crete — 5 injured, $3.4 million damage.
NWS: “A severe thunderstorm moved through the northwest portion of Lancaster County, Nebraska, generating a swath of very strong winds on the morning of August 9th, 2025.”
May 6, 2015: flood 8 miles from the centre of Crete — $100.0 million damage.
May 7, 2015: flood 5 miles from the centre of Crete — $4.8 million damage.
NWS: “Heavy rainfall of 3 to 7 inches across the Big Blue River basin led to minor flooding along the river near Crete. The flooding was even more significant to the south of the river gauge near DeWitt where the entire town was inundated with flooding leading to evacuations.”
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 Crete's ZIP code 68333 have filed 21 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1981, and were paid $48,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 33% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 41 Nebraska cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 9 have fewer than Crete.
Saline County, which includes Crete, has been named in 21 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1967, 19 of them major disasters (by incident: 9 severe storms, 5 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 2 tornadoes). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, on October 22, 2025. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Saline County a Very Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for hail and strong wind; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes; Relatively Low for inland flooding and lightning; Very Low for heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $12.4 million a year, the 31st highest of 93 Nebraska counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $4.3 million (35%), 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 Crete
- Wilber, NE9 mi
- Milford, NE12 mi
- Hickman, NE18 mi
- Lincoln, NE20 mi
- Seward, NE21 mi
- Beatrice, NE27 mi
- Eagle, NE30 mi
- Waverly, NE31 mi
- Geneva, NE34 mi
- Ceresco, NE35 mi
- Fairbury, NE35 mi
- York, NE37 mi
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