NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Denver, CO
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 Denver, Colorado since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 253 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 3 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 253
- EF3 or stronger
- 3
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Denver
The highest rating among the 253 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 3 times; the most recent, on June 15, 1988, passed within a mile of the city centre. Of the 253, 16 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 67 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 107. The most recent tornado was on June 13, 2025. Denver has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 93% of the 157 Colorado cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 765 times since 1955, with stones up to 4.5 inches (grapefruit size). Denver has more hail reports within 10 miles than 97% of the 157 Colorado cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Denver
By decade
- 2020s12
- 2010s23
- 2000s32
- 1990s60
- 1980s76(2 EF3+)
- 1970s25(1 EF3+)
- 1960s22
- 1950s3
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 15, 1988 | F3 | in town | 2.5 mi | 0 / 7 |
| Jun 12, 1982 | F3 | 22 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 18, 1975 | F3 | 11 mi | 4.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 18, 2025 | EF2 | 23 mi | 4.34 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 18, 2025 | EF2 | 20 mi | 0.94 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 15, 1988 | F2 | in town | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 5, 1988 | F2 | 17 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 5, 1988 | F2 | 19 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 2, 1987 | F2 | 15 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 20, 1987 | F2 | 17 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 8, 1986 | F2 | 19 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 8, 1986 | F2 | 2 mi | 1.1 mi | 0 / 6 |
The strongest 12 of 253, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Denver
The Storm Prediction Center has 765 hail reports within 10 miles of Denver since 1955, made on 276 separate days. Of these, 539 were 1 inch across or larger, and 36 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4.5 inches (grapefruit size), fell on August 5, 1983. The most recent report is from July 6, 2025. June has the most reports, 324.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Denver
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Denver-Stapleton, CO, 4 miles northeast of Denver at 5,286 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 59°F; December is the coolest, at 46°F and 18°F. Highs reach 90°F on about 42 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 156 nights a year. Snowfall averages 49.0 inches a year, most of it in March. That 15.4 inches is more than at 44 of the 91 Colorado stations used on this site (48%). Englewood, 7 miles southwest, has its own station (Marston Fltr Plt, CO): 16.7 inches a year, 1.3 more than here, and a July average high of 86°F against 90°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 47 | 18 | 0.5 | 2 | 6.4 |
| Feb | 48 | 19 | 0.5 | 2 | 7.6 |
| Mar | 56 | 27 | 1.1 | 3 | 8.8 |
| Apr | 63 | 34 | 1.7 | 4 | 6.2 |
| May | 72 | 43 | 2.3 | 5 | 1.4 |
| Jun | 84 | 53 | 1.7 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 90 | 59 | 2.1 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 88 | 57 | 1.8 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 80 | 48 | 1.5 | 3 | 0.8 |
| Oct | 67 | 36 | 1.0 | 3 | 3.9 |
| Nov | 55 | 26 | 0.7 | 2 | 7.3 |
| Dec | 46 | 18 | 0.5 | 2 | 6.6 |
| Year | 66 | 36 | 15.4 | 38 | 49.0 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Denver-Stapleton, CO (5,286 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 Denver
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 164 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Denver: 98 thunderstorm wind reports, 32 flash floods, 25 lightning strikes, 6 heavy rain events and 3 floods. They killed 4 people and injured 24, and the NWS estimated $6.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 97 mph, on June 18, 2013. Of the 144 Colorado cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 137 have had fewer than Denver.
May 14, 2007: heavy rain event in Denver — 1 killed, 1 injured.
July 19, 2016: lightning strike 10 miles from the centre of Denver — 1 killed, 1 injured.
July 24, 2018: flash flood 8 miles from the centre of Denver — 1 killed, $500,000 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 Denver's 25 ZIP codes have filed 272 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $888,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The year with the most claims was 2015, with 55. 4% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 56 Colorado cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 53 have fewer than Denver.
Denver County, which includes Denver, has been named in 11 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 6 of them major disasters (by incident: 4 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 2 snowstorms, 1 coastal storm). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 28, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Denver County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for hail and lightning; Relatively High for tornadoes, inland flooding and strong wind; Relatively Low for heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $222.0 million a year, the 2nd highest of 64 Colorado counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $93.6 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 Denver
- Englewood, CO7 mi
- Commerce City, CO7 mi
- Aurora, CO8 mi
- Greenwood Village, CO9 mi
- Lakewood, CO9 mi
- Wheat Ridge, CO10 mi
- Centennial, CO10 mi
- Henderson, CO11 mi
- Westminster, CO11 mi
- Arvada, CO12 mi
- Thornton, CO12 mi
- Littleton, CO12 mi
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