NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Dawson, 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 Dawson, Minnesota since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 63 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 4 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 63
- EF3 or stronger
- 4
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
1 deaths in all
What the records show for Dawson
The strongest of the 63 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F4 on July 25, 2000; its path came within 19 miles, and it killed 1 person. Of the 63, 2 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 46 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 20. The most recent tornado was on June 28, 2025. Of the 341 Minnesota cities on this site, 73% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Dawson. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 85 times since 1959, with stones up to 3.5 inches. Of the 341 Minnesota cities, 50% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Dawson.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Dawson
By decade
- 2020s16(1 EF3+)
- 2010s15
- 2000s15(1 EF3+)
- 1990s7(2 EF3+)
- 1980s3
- 1970s1
- 1960s4
- 1950s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 25, 2000 | F4 | 19 mi | 9 mi | 1 / 15 |
| Jun 28, 2025 | EF3 | 25 mi | 9.71 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Jun 16, 1992 | F3 | 16 mi | 2.5 mi | 0 / 6 |
| Jun 16, 1992 | F3 | 14 mi | 6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 12, 2022 | EF2 | 23 mi | 0.43 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jul 20, 1951 | F2 | 3 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 4 |
| Jun 28, 2025 | EF1 | 24 mi | 4.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 28, 2025 | EF1 | 13 mi | 1.23 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 30, 2022 | EF1 | 23 mi | 18.34 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 30, 2022 | EF1 | 16 mi | 1.77 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 12, 2022 | EF1 | 15 mi | 1.08 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 12, 2022 | EF1 | 23 mi | 0.55 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 63, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Dawson
The Storm Prediction Center has 85 hail reports within 10 miles of Dawson since 1959, made on 59 separate days. Of these, 51 were 1 inch across or larger, and 8 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3.5 inches, fell on May 3, 1959. The most recent report is from August 14, 2025. June has the most reports, 31.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Dawson
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Madison Wwtp, MN, 8 miles northwest of Dawson at 1,075 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 83°F and low of 61°F; January is the coolest, at 22°F and 3°F. June is the wettest at 3.8 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.5 inches; the year adds up to 25.6 inches over 52 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 16 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 168 nights a year. Snowfall averages 46.9 inches a year, most of it in December. That 25.6 inches is more than at 14 of the 124 Minnesota stations used on this site (11%). Montevideo, 17 miles east, has its own station (Montevideo 1SW, MN): 29.7 inches a year, 4.1 more than here, and a July average high of 82°F against 83°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 22 | 3 | 0.5 | 2 | 7.7 |
| Feb | 26 | 7 | 0.6 | 2 | 9.3 |
| Mar | 39 | 20 | 1.3 | 3 | 7.7 |
| Apr | 55 | 33 | 2.4 | 5 | 5.8 |
| May | 69 | 47 | 3.2 | 7 | 0.1 |
| Jun | 79 | 58 | 3.8 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 83 | 61 | 3.6 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 80 | 58 | 3.4 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 73 | 49 | 2.6 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 58 | 36 | 2.5 | 5 | 0.9 |
| Nov | 41 | 22 | 1.1 | 2 | 5.5 |
| Dec | 27 | 9 | 0.6 | 2 | 9.9 |
| Year | 54 | 33 | 25.6 | 52 | 46.9 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Madison Wwtp, MN (1,075 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 Dawson
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 63 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Dawson: 62 thunderstorm wind reports and 1 heavy rain event. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $920,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on May 12, 2022.
July 1, 1997: thunderstorm wind 10 miles from the centre of Dawson — $400,000 damage.
May 30, 2022: thunderstorm wind 3 miles from the centre of Dawson — $250,000 damage.
NWS: “Severe winds destroyed a machine shop north of Dawson.”
June 20, 2022: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Dawson — $200,000 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
Flood insurance policyholders in Dawson's ZIP code 56232 have filed 32 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1992, and were paid $197,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1997: 24 claims (75% of all) and $166,000. 78% 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, 66 have fewer than Dawson.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1997 | 24 | $166,000 |
Lac qui Parle County, which includes Dawson, has been named in 21 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 17 of them major disasters (by incident: 10 floods, 7 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 1 drought). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms and Flooding, on July 19, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Lac qui Parle County a Very Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Low for tornadoes, hail, strong wind and heat waves; Very Low for inland flooding and lightning. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $7.0 million a year, the 73rd highest of 87 Minnesota counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $3.0 million (43%), 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 Dawson
- Madison, MN10 mi
- Montevideo, MN17 mi
- Canby, MN19 mi
- Appleton, MN21 mi
- Minneota, MN24 mi
- Granite Falls, MN25 mi
- Ortonville, MN33 mi
- Clara City, MN33 mi
- Milbank, SD34 mi
- Benson, MN35 mi
- Marshall, MN36 mi
- Renville, MN42 mi
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