NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Delano, 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 Delano, Minnesota since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 91 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 9 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 91
- EF3 or stronger
- 9
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
18 deaths in all
What the records show for Delano
The highest rating among the 91 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 4 times; the most recent, on May 6, 1965, came within 5 miles. The deadliest, an F4 on May 6, 1965, killed 6 people. Of the 91, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 40 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 30. The most recent tornado was on June 28, 2025. Delano has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 55% of the 341 Minnesota cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 147 times since 1964, with stones up to 4 inches (softball size). Delano has more hail reports within 10 miles than 72% of the 341 Minnesota cities.
Compare Delano's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Delano
By decade
- 2020s11
- 2010s15
- 2000s14
- 1990s15(2 EF3+)
- 1980s13(1 EF3+)
- 1970s5
- 1960s13(4 EF3+)
- 1950s5(2 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 21 mi | 17.3 mi | 6 / 158 |
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 5 mi | 12.3 mi | 3 / 175 |
| Jun 19, 1951 | F4 | 2 mi | 52.6 mi | 1 / 20 |
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 14 mi | 6.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 20, 1951 | F3 | 16 mi | 11.6 mi | 5 / 40 |
| Jul 1, 1997 | F3 | 12 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 16, 1992 | F3 | 18 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 8 |
| Jul 23, 1987 | F3 | 17 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 6, 1965 | F3 | 16 mi | 15.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 16, 2006 | F2 | 14 mi | 8 mi | 1 / 0 |
| May 6, 1965 | F2 | 14 mi | 11.2 mi | 1 / 175 |
| Jul 1, 1997 | F2 | 16 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 91, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Delano
The Storm Prediction Center has 147 hail reports within 10 miles of Delano since 1964, made on 71 separate days. Of these, 88 were 1 inch across or larger, and 19 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4 inches (softball size), fell on August 5, 2019. The most recent report is from September 21, 2025. June has the most reports, 36.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Delano
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Buffalo 2NE, MN, 12 miles north of Delano at 992 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 81°F and low of 61°F; January is the coolest, at 21°F and 3°F. August is the wettest at 4.5 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.7 inches; the year adds up to 31.6 inches over 54 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 6 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 163 nights a year. Snowfall averages 39.8 inches a year, most of it in December. That 31.6 inches is more than at 72 of the 124 Minnesota stations used on this site (58%). Maple Plain, 5 miles southeast, has its own station (Chanhassen Wsfo, MN): 33.0 inches a year, 1.4 more than here, and the same July average high, 81°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 21 | 3 | 0.7 | 2 | 7.3 |
| Feb | 27 | 7 | 1.0 | 2 | 8.0 |
| Mar | 39 | 21 | 1.4 | 4 | 6.8 |
| Apr | 54 | 35 | 2.6 | 5 | 2.6 |
| May | 67 | 47 | 4.2 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 77 | 57 | 4.4 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 81 | 61 | 4.3 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 79 | 59 | 4.5 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 71 | 51 | 3.4 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 57 | 37 | 2.5 | 4 | 0.2 |
| Nov | 40 | 24 | 1.5 | 3 | 5.6 |
| Dec | 27 | 11 | 1.1 | 3 | 9.3 |
| Year | 53 | 34 | 31.6 | 54 | 39.8 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Buffalo 2NE, MN (992 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 Delano
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 112 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Delano: 96 thunderstorm wind reports, 10 heavy rain events, 4 floods, 1 flash flood and 1 lightning strike. They killed 0 people and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $615,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 85 mph, on September 29, 2023.
July 17, 1997: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Delano — 3 injured.
July 17, 2015: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Delano — $250,000 damage.
June 21, 2013: thunderstorm wind 10 miles from the centre of Delano — $150,000 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 Delano's ZIP code 55328 have filed 33 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1984, and were paid $71,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 21% 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, 67 have fewer than Delano.
Wright County, which includes Delano, has been named in 17 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 13 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 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 Wright County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for strong wind; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, hail, inland flooding and lightning; Relatively Low for heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $51.2 million a year, the 10th highest of 87 Minnesota counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $29.9 million (58%), 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.