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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Liberty Lake, WA

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 Liberty Lake, Washington since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 14 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
0

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
0

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
14

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
0

no recorded deaths

What the records show for Liberty Lake

The highest rating among the 14 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2, reached 2 times; the most recent, on May 6, 1957, came within 13 miles. Of the 14, one had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 5 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 5. The most recent tornado was on April 18, 2024. Liberty Lake has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 84% of the 226 Washington cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 12 times since 1975, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Liberty Lake has more hail reports within 10 miles than 96% of the 226 Washington cities.

Compare Liberty Lake's storm record with another city →

Tornadoes within 25 miles of Liberty Lake

By decade

  • 2020s3
  • 2010s2
  • 1990s4
  • 1980s2
  • 1960s1
  • 1950s2
Strongest tornadoes near Liberty Lake, Washington
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
May 6, 1957F213 mi1.5 mi0 / 0
Jun 15, 1954F221 mi0.5 mi0 / 0
May 31, 1997F124 mi5 mi0 / 0
Apr 12, 1984F18 mi1 mi0 / 0
Oct 17, 1983F125 mi0.5 mi0 / 0
Apr 18, 2024EF022 mi0.01 mi0 / 0
May 6, 2022EF010 mi2.14 mi0 / 0
May 6, 2022EF020 mi0.59 mi0 / 0
Aug 9, 2016EF025 mi0.2 mi0 / 0
Jul 22, 2016EF022 mi0.2 mi0 / 0
Apr 27, 1999F019 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Sep 9, 1994F03 mi0.5 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 14, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Liberty Lake

The Storm Prediction Center has 12 hail reports within 10 miles of Liberty Lake since 1975, made on 9 separate days. Of these, 7 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on August 11, 2022, the most recent report. June has the most reports, 6.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Radar-estimated hail days in Liberty Lake since 2019 →

Weather by month in Liberty Lake

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Spokane Felts Field, WA, 11 miles west of Liberty Lake at 1,953 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 56°F; December is the coolest, at 37°F and 26°F. December is the wettest at 2.2 inches of precipitation on average and August the driest at 0.5 inches; the year adds up to 17.4 inches over 56 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 29 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 123 nights a year. That 17.4 inches is more than at 28 of the 86 Washington stations used on this site (33%). Post Falls, ID, 8 miles northeast, has its own station (Coeur D'Alene, ID): 25.3 inches a year, 7.9 more than here, and a July average high of 83°F against 87°F.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Spokane Felts Field, WA
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"
Jan38262.07
Feb43271.35
Mar51321.87
Apr60371.54
May70441.75
Jun76501.55
Jul87560.71
Aug86550.52
Sep76470.72
Oct60381.55
Nov45312.07
Dec37262.28
Year613917.456

Averages for 1991–2020 at Spokane Felts Field, WA (1,953 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.

Washington weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Liberty Lake

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 21 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Liberty Lake: 13 thunderstorm wind reports, 4 floods, 3 heavy rain events and 1 lightning strike. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $2.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 72 mph, on May 31, 1997.

  • February 12, 2014: flood 10 miles from the centre of Liberty Lake — $2.0 million damage.

    NWS: “Numerous areas across Spokane County experienced flooding on the 12th of February. Due to frozen grounds, the flood problems persisted through the 14th in some cases.”

  • March 18, 2017: flood 5 miles from the centre of Liberty Lake — $300,000 damage.

  • March 18, 2017: flood 2 miles from the centre of Liberty Lake — $200,000 damage.

    NWS: “0 feet at 10:00 AM PST on March 18th. 7 feet at 8:30 PM on the 23rd.”

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

Spokane County, which includes Liberty Lake, has been named in 33 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 14 of them major disasters (by incident: 17 fires, 6 floods, 4 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Wildfires, on February 15, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Spokane County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for strong wind; Relatively Moderate for inland flooding, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Low for tornadoes and hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $98.8 million a year, the 11th highest of 39 Washington counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $52.9 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 Liberty Lake