NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Hickman, NE
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 Hickman, Nebraska since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 137 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 11 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 137
- EF3 or stronger
- 11
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
10 deaths in all
What the records show for Hickman
The highest rating among the 137 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 2 times; the most recent, on May 22, 2004, passed within a mile of the city centre. The deadliest, an F3 on May 9, 1953, killed 5 people. Of the 137, 10 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 54 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 38. The most recent tornado was on April 17, 2025. Hickman has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 74% of the 91 Nebraska cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 139 times since 1957, with stones up to 5 inches. Of the 91 Nebraska cities, 54% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Hickman.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Hickman
By decade
- 2020s13(1 EF3+)
- 2010s15
- 2000s26(1 EF3+)
- 1990s28(3 EF3+)
- 1980s9
- 1970s18(2 EF3+)
- 1960s10(1 EF3+)
- 1950s18(3 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 22, 2004 | F4 | in town | 54 mi | 1 / 38 |
| Apr 25, 1957 | F4 | 21 mi | 89.8 mi | 1 / 8 |
| May 9, 1953 | F3 | 25 mi | 46.9 mi | 5 / 82 |
| Sep 25, 1973 | F3 | 8 mi | 169.7 mi | 3 / 42 |
| Apr 26, 2024 | EF3 | 17 mi | 5.25 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Jul 24, 1993 | F3 | 21 mi | 9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 15, 1992 | F3 | 20 mi | 14 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Apr 26, 1991 | F3 | 12 mi | 14 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Jun 15, 1975 | F3 | 23 mi | 63.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 1, 1965 | F3 | 13 mi | 12.8 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Apr 28, 1956 | F3 | 10 mi | 39.3 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Dec 15, 2021 | EF2 | 24 mi | 3.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 137, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Hickman
The Storm Prediction Center has 139 hail reports within 10 miles of Hickman since 1957, made on 93 separate days. Of these, 86 were 1 inch across or larger, and 11 reached 2 inches. The largest, 5 inches, fell on May 9, 2016. The most recent report is from May 19, 2025. June has the most reports, 39.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Hickman
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Crete 4ESE, NE, 13 miles west of Hickman at 1,460 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 34°F and 14°F. May is the wettest at 5.7 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.7 inches; the year adds up to 31.1 inches over 53 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 36 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 133 nights a year. Snowfall averages 25.3 inches a year, most of it in February. That 31.1 inches is more than at 51 of the 68 Nebraska stations used on this site (75%). Lincoln, 13 miles north, has its own station (Lincoln Municipal Airport, NE): 29.4 inches a year, 1.7 less than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 87°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 34 | 14 | 0.7 | 2 | 6.3 |
| Feb | 40 | 18 | 0.8 | 2 | 6.6 |
| Mar | 52 | 28 | 1.5 | 4 | 3.2 |
| Apr | 63 | 39 | 2.6 | 5 | 1.3 |
| May | 73 | 50 | 5.7 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 83 | 61 | 4.9 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 87 | 65 | 3.8 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 85 | 63 | 3.4 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 78 | 54 | 3.1 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 66 | 41 | 2.3 | 4 | 1.0 |
| Nov | 51 | 28 | 1.2 | 2 | 2.0 |
| Dec | 38 | 18 | 1.1 | 2 | 4.9 |
| Year | 62 | 40 | 31.1 | 53 | 25.3 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Crete 4ESE, NE (1,460 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 Hickman
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 92 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Hickman: 68 thunderstorm wind reports, 16 flash floods, 5 heavy rain events and 3 floods. They killed 1 person and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $100.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on December 15, 2021. June has had the most flash floods, 7 of 16. Of the 89 Nebraska cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 75 have had fewer than Hickman.
June 19, 2010: thunderstorm wind 1 mile from the centre of Hickman — 1 killed.
NWS: “Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 40 to 50 mph caused a boat carrying 3 people to capsize during a fishing tournament at Wagon Train Lake near Hickman. One man drowned.”
May 6, 2015: flood 3 miles from the centre of Hickman — $100.0 million damage.
NWS: “Record rainfall of 5 to 10 inches fell across Lancaster County, and the Salt Creek basin on the evening of the 6th into the early morning of the 7th. This led to significant flooding along the creek, from near Roca north through the Lincoln metro area.”
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 Hickman's ZIP code 68372 have filed 17 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1982, and were paid $185,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 12% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 41 Nebraska cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 7 have fewer than Hickman.
Lancaster County, which includes Hickman, has been named in 16 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1967, 14 of them major disasters (by incident: 7 severe storms, 5 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 1 hurricane). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, on October 22, 2025. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Lancaster County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for strong wind; Relatively High for tornadoes, hail and lightning; Relatively Moderate for inland flooding; Relatively Low for heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $115.4 million a year, the 2nd highest of 93 Nebraska counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $42.2 million (37%), 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 Hickman
- Lincoln, NE13 mi
- Eagle, NE17 mi
- Crete, NE18 mi
- Wilber, NE22 mi
- Waverly, NE22 mi
- Syracuse, NE23 mi
- Beatrice, NE25 mi
- Milford, NE25 mi
- Tecumseh, NE27 mi
- Ceresco, NE31 mi
- Seward, NE33 mi
- Ashland, NE34 mi
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