NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Hartford, SD
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 Hartford, South Dakota since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 132 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 8 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 132
- EF3 or stronger
- 8
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
6 deaths in all
What the records show for Hartford
The highest rating among the 132 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 3 times; the most recent, on May 30, 1998, came within 25 miles. Of the 132, 7 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 57 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 52. The most recent tornado was on May 30, 2022. Hartford has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 86% of the 61 South Dakota cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 162 times since 1956, with stones up to 4.5 inches (grapefruit size). Hartford has more hail reports within 10 miles than 70% of the 61 South Dakota cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Hartford
By decade
- 2020s8
- 2010s11
- 2000s38
- 1990s23(6 EF3+)
- 1980s9
- 1970s14
- 1960s21(1 EF3+)
- 1950s8(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 30, 1998 | F4 | 25 mi | 14 mi | 6 / 150 |
| Jun 7, 1993 | F4 | 25 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 4 |
| Jun 7, 1993 | F4 | 8 mi | 54 mi | 0 / 5 |
| Jun 7, 1993 | F3 | 18 mi | 6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 7, 1993 | F3 | 21 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 7, 1993 | F3 | 13 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 24, 1965 | F3 | 19 mi | 9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 19, 1954 | F3 | 15 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 10, 2019 | EF2 | 12 mi | 0.7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 10, 2019 | EF2 | 14 mi | 0.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 10, 2019 | EF2 | 12 mi | 0.63 mi | 0 / 8 |
| Jun 17, 2014 | EF2 | 5 mi | 3.37 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 132, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Hartford
The Storm Prediction Center has 162 hail reports within 10 miles of Hartford since 1956, made on 85 separate days. Of these, 87 were 1 inch across or larger, and 6 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4.5 inches (grapefruit size), fell on July 13, 1997. The most recent report is from August 5, 2025. June has the most reports, 44.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Hartford
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Sioux Falls, SD, 11 miles east of Hartford at 1,430 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 63°F; January is the coolest, at 27°F and 9°F. June is the wettest at 4.2 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.6 inches; the year adds up to 27.8 inches over 53 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 15 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 162 nights a year. Snowfall averages 45.3 inches a year, most of it in December. That 27.8 inches is more than at 35 of the 43 South Dakota stations used on this site (81%). Baltic, 13 miles northeast, has its own station (Sioux Falls 14 NNE, SD): 29.7 inches a year, 1.9 more than here, and a July average high of 83°F against 85°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 27 | 9 | 0.6 | 2 | 8.0 |
| Feb | 32 | 13 | 0.8 | 3 | 8.6 |
| Mar | 45 | 24 | 1.6 | 4 | 7.2 |
| Apr | 59 | 36 | 3.0 | 6 | 5.1 |
| May | 71 | 48 | 3.9 | 7 | 0.1 |
| Jun | 81 | 59 | 4.2 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 85 | 63 | 3.3 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 83 | 61 | 3.3 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 76 | 52 | 2.7 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 61 | 38 | 2.4 | 4 | 1.4 |
| Nov | 45 | 25 | 1.2 | 3 | 6.2 |
| Dec | 32 | 13 | 0.8 | 2 | 8.7 |
| Year | 58 | 37 | 27.8 | 53 | 45.3 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Sioux Falls, SD (1,430 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 Hartford
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 136 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Hartford: 91 thunderstorm wind reports, 28 floods, 14 flash floods and 3 heavy rain events. They killed 0 people and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $5.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on June 11, 2010. Of the 59 South Dakota cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 48 have had fewer than Hartford.
June 24, 1998: thunderstorm wind 4 miles from the centre of Hartford — 1 injured, $200,000 damage.
June 16, 2014: flood 8 miles from the centre of Hartford — $2.0 million damage.
July 23, 2010: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Hartford — $1.0 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
Minnehaha County, which includes Hartford, has been named in 17 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 14 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 severe storms, 5 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 1 coastal storm). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, on August 15, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Minnehaha County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for tornadoes and strong wind; Relatively Moderate for hail, inland flooding and heat waves; Relatively Low for lightning. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $103.7 million a year, the highest of 66 South Dakota counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $36.0 million (35%), is from tornadoes.
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 Hartford
- Sioux Falls, SD12 mi
- Tea, SD13 mi
- Baltic, SD13 mi
- Parker, SD16 mi
- Brandon, SD19 mi
- Lennox, SD19 mi
- Harrisburg, SD19 mi
- Dell Rapids, SD20 mi
- Garretson, SD22 mi
- Madison, SD28 mi
- Larchwood, IA28 mi
- Canton, SD28 mi
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