NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Jefferson, WI
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
1 tropical system has passed within 75 miles of Jefferson, Wisconsin since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was an unnamed storm in 1900. Since 1950, 126 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 1
- Tornadoes
- 126
- EF3 or stronger
- 5
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
6 deaths in all
What the records show for Jefferson
None of the 1 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Jefferson; the strongest was an unnamed storm in 1900, a tropical storm with 58 mph winds when its centre passed 29 miles away. Jefferson is tied for the most tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles among the 416 Wisconsin cities on this site. The strongest of the 126 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F4 on April 27, 1984; its path came within 21 miles, and it killed 1 person. The deadliest, an F2 on April 11, 1965, killed 3 people. Of the 126, 6 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 60 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 36. The most recent tornado was on July 16, 2025. Jefferson has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 91% of the 416 Wisconsin cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 88 times since 1960, with stones up to 4.25 inches. Jefferson has more hail reports within 10 miles than 75% of the 416 Wisconsin cities.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Jefferson
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | Unnamed 1900 stormSep 11 | 29 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Jefferson: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Jefferson
By decade
- 2020s27
- 2010s13
- 2000s20(1 EF3+)
- 1990s11(1 EF3+)
- 1980s19(2 EF3+)
- 1970s18
- 1960s13(1 EF3+)
- 1950s5
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 27, 1984 | F4 | 21 mi | 6.5 mi | 1 / 14 |
| Aug 18, 2005 | F3 | 10 mi | 18.6 mi | 1 / 23 |
| Jun 17, 1992 | F3 | 24 mi | 16 mi | 0 / 30 |
| Jun 5, 1980 | F3 | 9 mi | 10.7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 24, 1967 | F3 | 18 mi | 24.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 11, 1965 | F2 | 5 mi | 14.5 mi | 3 / 28 |
| Mar 27, 1991 | F2 | in town | 32 mi | 1 / 5 |
| Feb 8, 2024 | EF2 | 7 mi | 25.9 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jun 21, 2010 | EF2 | 17 mi | 5.22 mi | 0 / 15 |
| Jun 25, 1998 | F2 | 24 mi | 2.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 8, 1988 | F2 | 7 mi | 27 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 28, 1986 | F2 | 9 mi | 9 mi | 0 / 1 |
The strongest 12 of 126, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Jefferson
The Storm Prediction Center has 88 hail reports within 10 miles of Jefferson since 1960, made on 58 separate days. Of these, 55 were 1 inch across or larger, and 10 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4.25 inches, fell on May 11, 2011. The most recent report is from April 18, 2025. May has the most reports, 22.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Jefferson
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Jefferson Wwtp, WI, in Jefferson at 783 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 82°F and low of 62°F; January is the coolest, at 27°F and 11°F. June is the wettest at 5.0 inches of precipitation on average and January and February the driest at 1.6 inches; the year adds up to 38.7 inches over 73 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 12 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 143 nights a year. That 38.7 inches is more than at 152 of the 165 Wisconsin stations used on this site (92%). Fort Atkinson, 6 miles southwest, has its own station (Fort Atkinson, WI): 35.5 inches a year, 3.2 less than here, and a July average high of 83°F against 82°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 27 | 11 | 1.6 | 5 |
| Feb | 31 | 14 | 1.6 | 5 |
| Mar | 43 | 25 | 2.1 | 5 |
| Apr | 56 | 36 | 4.0 | 8 |
| May | 69 | 48 | 4.5 | 8 |
| Jun | 79 | 58 | 5.0 | 8 |
| Jul | 82 | 62 | 4.5 | 5 |
| Aug | 80 | 61 | 4.3 | 6 |
| Sep | 74 | 52 | 3.7 | 6 |
| Oct | 60 | 41 | 3.1 | 6 |
| Nov | 45 | 29 | 2.4 | 5 |
| Dec | 33 | 18 | 1.9 | 6 |
| Year | 57 | 38 | 38.7 | 73 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Jefferson Wwtp, WI (783 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 Jefferson
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 138 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Jefferson: 99 thunderstorm wind reports, 26 floods, 5 lightning strikes, 4 flash floods and 4 heavy rain events. They killed 0 people and injured 8, and the NWS estimated $142.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on June 23, 2004.
May 31, 1998: thunderstorm wind 2 miles from the centre of Jefferson — 8 injured, $2.9 million damage.
June 8, 2008: flash flood 8 miles from the centre of Jefferson — $137.2 million damage.
August 19, 2007: flash flood 8 miles from the centre of Jefferson — $600,000 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 Jefferson's ZIP code 53549 have filed 49 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $2.2 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Storm in 2008: 13 claims (27% of all) and $549,000. 31% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 128 Wisconsin cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 94 have fewer than Jefferson.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Storm2008 | 13 | $549,000 |
Jefferson County, which includes Jefferson, has been named in 14 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 10 of them major disasters (by incident: 5 severe storms, 3 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 1 drought). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding, on June 30, 2026. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Jefferson County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, hail, inland flooding, strong wind and lightning; Relatively Low for heat waves; Very Low for hurricanes. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $41.8 million a year, the 16th highest of 72 Wisconsin counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $22.7 million (54%), 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 Jefferson
- Fort Atkinson, WI6 mi
- Johnson Creek, WI6 mi
- Lake Mills, WI8 mi
- Sullivan, WI10 mi
- Cambridge, WI12 mi
- Whitewater, WI12 mi
- Palmyra, WI13 mi
- Watertown, WI14 mi
- Deerfield, WI16 mi
- Waterloo, WI16 mi
- Dousman, WI16 mi
- Ixonia, WI17 mi
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