NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Leeds, AL
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
13 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Leeds, Alabama since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Zeta in 2020. Since 1950, 156 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 18 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 13
- Tornadoes
- 156
- EF3 or stronger
- 18
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
197 deaths in all
What the records show for Leeds
None of the 13 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Leeds; the strongest was Eloise in 1975, a tropical storm with 67 mph winds when its centre passed 60 miles away. The record near Leeds begins with an unnamed storm in 1881; the most recent system was Zeta in 2020, a tropical storm 7 miles away. The 1900s and the 1910s were the busiest decades, with 3 systems each. Of the 13 systems, one has come since 2000. Of the 323 Alabama cities on this site, 69% have more tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles than Leeds. The highest rating among the 156 tornadoes within 25 miles is F5, reached 2 times; the most recent, on April 8, 1998, came within 18 miles. The deadliest, an EF4 on April 27, 2011, killed 64 people. Of the 156, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 87 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 42. The most recent tornado was on November 25, 2025. Leeds has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 69% of the 323 Alabama cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 75 times since 1959, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Leeds has more hail reports within 10 miles than 65% of the 323 Alabama cities.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Leeds
Of the 13 tracks on the map, 7 were moving northeast as they passed Leeds, 3 north and 2 northwest. Eloise (1975), the strongest pass, was heading northeast; its centre passed 60 miles southeast of Leeds. None made landfall within 75 miles of Leeds; 8 of the 13 were hurricanes at their peak, none at their closest to the city. In the last 30 seasons (1996–2025), 1 came near Leeds: 0.3 a decade, against 0.8 a decade from 1851 to 1995.
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | ZetaOct 29 | 7 mi | Tropical storm (64 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1995 | OpalOct 5 | 24 mi | Tropical storm (55 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1985 | JuanNov 1 | 8 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1975 | EloiseSep 23 | 60 mi | Tropical storm (67 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1932 | Unnamed 1932 stormOct 17 | 1 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormOct 18 | 56 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormJul 8 | 23 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1912 | Unnamed 1912 stormJun 14 | 46 mi | Tropical storm (44 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1907 | Unnamed 1907 stormSep 22 | 44 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1906 | Unnamed 1906 stormJun 13 | 61 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormOct 11 | 73 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1892 | Unnamed 1892 stormSep 13 | 33 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1881 | Unnamed 1881 stormAug 29 | 52 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Leeds: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Check hail and hurricane history for any address
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Leeds
By decade
- 2020s17(3 EF3+)
- 2010s30(3 EF3+)
- 2000s40
- 1990s11(1 EF3+)
- 1980s13
- 1970s25(4 EF3+)
- 1960s13(4 EF3+)
- 1950s7(3 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8, 1998 | F5 | 18 mi | 30.3 mi | 32 / 259 |
| Apr 4, 1977 | F5 | 10 mi | 14.7 mi | 22 / 130 |
| Apr 27, 2011 | EF4 | 13 mi | 80.68 mi | 64 / 1500 |
| Apr 15, 1956 | F4 | 8 mi | 21.3 mi | 25 / 200 |
| Apr 27, 2011 | EF4 | 10 mi | 97.33 mi | 22 / 85 |
| Jan 24, 1964 | F4 | 16 mi | 3.3 mi | 10 / 6 |
| May 27, 1973 | F4 | 23 mi | 139.1 mi | 7 / 199 |
| Mar 6, 1967 | F4 | 23 mi | 20.9 mi | 2 / 25 |
| Mar 5, 1963 | F4 | 12 mi | 14.9 mi | 0 / 35 |
| Jan 25, 2021 | EF3 | 11 mi | 10.4 mi | 1 / 30 |
| Jan 23, 2012 | EF3 | 10 mi | 15.69 mi | 1 / 75 |
| Jan 10, 1975 | F3 | 14 mi | 18.8 mi | 1 / 60 |
The strongest 12 of 156, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Leeds
The Storm Prediction Center has 75 hail reports within 10 miles of Leeds since 1959, made on 58 separate days. Of these, 38 were 1 inch across or larger, and 8 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on March 21, 1959. The most recent report is from June 27, 2025. April has the most reports, 16.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Leeds
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Birmingham Airport, AL, 11 miles west of Leeds at 615 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 72°F; January is the coolest, at 55°F and 35°F. March is the wettest at 5.7 inches of precipitation on average and October the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 56.7 inches over 81 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 46% of the year's precipitation (26.1 of 56.7 inches); the other six months are wetter. October has brought the most of the 13 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (5); a normal October there has highs of 76°F and 3.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 65 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 47 nights a year. Snowfall averages 1.4 inches a year, most of it in March. That 56.7 inches is more than at 40 of the 107 Alabama stations used on this site (37%). Moody, 6 miles northeast, has its own station (Pinson, AL): 57.1 inches a year, 0.4 more than here, and a July average high of 90°F against 91°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 55 | 35 | 5.0 | 7 | 0.4 |
| Feb | 59 | 38 | 5.0 | 8 | 0.3 |
| Mar | 67 | 45 | 5.7 | 8 | 0.5 |
| Apr | 75 | 52 | 5.1 | 6 | 0.0 |
| May | 82 | 61 | 4.9 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 88 | 69 | 4.8 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 91 | 72 | 5.4 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 91 | 71 | 4.4 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 86 | 65 | 4.0 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 76 | 54 | 3.3 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Nov | 65 | 43 | 4.2 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Dec | 57 | 38 | 4.9 | 8 | 0.2 |
| Year | 74 | 54 | 56.7 | 81 | 1.4 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Birmingham Airport, AL (615 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 Leeds
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 132 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Leeds: 118 thunderstorm wind reports, 9 flash floods, 3 floods, 1 heavy rain event and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $906,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 105 mph, on February 26, 2008. September has had the most flash floods, 4 of 9. Of the 321 Alabama cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 105 have had fewer than Leeds.
April 27, 2011: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Leeds — 1 killed.
June 9, 2015: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Leeds — 1 injured.
July 24, 2017: lightning strike 7 miles from the centre of Leeds — 1 injured.
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 Leeds's ZIP code 35094 have filed 73 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $711,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The year with the most claims was 2003, with 18. 18% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 118 Alabama cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 76 have fewer than Leeds.
Jefferson County, which includes Leeds, has been named in 39 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1970, 27 of them major disasters (by incident: 18 severe storms, 10 hurricanes, 4 floods, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms and Flooding, on December 21, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Jefferson County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for tornadoes and lightning; Relatively High for inland flooding, strong wind and heat waves; Relatively Low for hurricanes; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $262.4 million a year, the 2nd highest of 67 Alabama counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $143.1 million (55%), 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.