NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Estherville, IA
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 Estherville, Iowa since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 100 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 4 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 100
- EF3 or stronger
- 4
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Estherville
The highest rating among the 100 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 4 times; the most recent, on September 20, 1980, came within 24 miles. Of the 100, 8 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 35 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 35. The most recent tornado was on August 29, 2024. Of the 241 Iowa cities on this site, 84% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Estherville. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 98 times since 1961, with stones up to 4.5 inches (grapefruit size). Estherville has more hail reports within 10 miles than 56% of the 241 Iowa cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Estherville
By decade
- 2020s5
- 2010s12
- 2000s18
- 1990s11
- 1980s13(1 EF3+)
- 1970s17(2 EF3+)
- 1960s15
- 1950s9(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 20, 1980 | F3 | 24 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 10, 1977 | F3 | 12 mi | 14.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 31, 1971 | F3 | 21 mi | 8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 21, 1953 | F3 | 13 mi | 31.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 11, 2008 | EF2 | 23 mi | 13.08 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 12, 1994 | F2 | 19 mi | 13 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 26, 1991 | F2 | 23 mi | 18 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 18, 1990 | F2 | 16 mi | 8.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 7, 1984 | F2 | 24 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 14, 1981 | F2 | 17 mi | 21.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 14, 1981 | F2 | 16 mi | 21.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 4, 1977 | F2 | 14 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 100, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Estherville
The Storm Prediction Center has 98 hail reports within 10 miles of Estherville since 1961, made on 51 separate days. Of these, 52 were 1 inch across or larger, and 6 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4.5 inches (grapefruit size), fell on June 29, 1993. The most recent report is from April 16, 2024. June has the most reports, 26.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Estherville
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Estherville Municipal Airport, IA, 4 miles east of Estherville at 1,317 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 81°F and low of 60°F; January is the coolest, at 23°F and 7°F. June is the wettest at 4.6 inches of precipitation on average and February and December the driest at 0.5 inches; the year adds up to 29.4 inches over 52 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 10 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 161 nights a year. That 29.4 inches is more than at 3 of the 124 Iowa stations used on this site (2%). Spirit Lake, 15 miles west, has its own station (Spirit Lake, IA): 29.0 inches a year, 0.4 less than here, and a July average high of 83°F against 81°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 23 | 7 | 0.6 | 1 |
| Feb | 28 | 11 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Mar | 41 | 23 | 1.5 | 4 |
| Apr | 56 | 34 | 3.1 | 6 |
| May | 69 | 46 | 4.5 | 8 |
| Jun | 79 | 57 | 4.6 | 8 |
| Jul | 81 | 60 | 3.8 | 5 |
| Aug | 79 | 57 | 3.3 | 5 |
| Sep | 73 | 49 | 3.1 | 5 |
| Oct | 59 | 36 | 2.5 | 5 |
| Nov | 42 | 23 | 1.4 | 3 |
| Dec | 28 | 12 | 0.5 | 2 |
| Year | 55 | 35 | 29.4 | 52 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Estherville Municipal Airport, IA (1,317 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 Estherville
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 167 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Estherville: 92 thunderstorm wind reports, 46 floods, 19 heavy rain events, 9 flash floods and 1 lightning strike. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $36.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on July 18, 1998. Of the 240 Iowa cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 66 have had fewer than Estherville.
June 12, 2010: flood 9 miles from the centre of Estherville — $20.0 million damage.
June 21, 2024: flood 10 miles from the centre of Estherville — $10.0 million damage.
NWS: “1 ft on June 24 at 09:00 am CDT. The river remained in flood through the end of the month and into July.”
June 26, 2010: flood 8 miles from the centre of Estherville — $1.3 million 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 Estherville's ZIP code 51334 have filed 16 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $57,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 19% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 91 Iowa cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 14 have fewer than Estherville.
Emmet County, which includes Estherville, has been named in 19 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 16 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 floods, 6 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 1 hurricane). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-Line Winds, and Tornadoes, on June 24, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Emmet County a Very Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Low for tornadoes, hail, strong wind and lightning; Very Low for inland flooding and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $14.1 million a year, the 46th highest of 99 Iowa counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $2.6 million (18%), 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 Estherville
- Spirit Lake, IA15 mi
- Milford, IA18 mi
- Jackson, MN18 mi
- Emmetsburg, IA21 mi
- Spencer, IA24 mi
- Fairmont, MN25 mi
- Lakefield, MN26 mi
- Truman, MN35 mi
- Windom, MN36 mi
- Hartley, IA36 mi
- Algona, IA37 mi
- Mountain Lake, MN38 mi
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