NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Madison, 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 Madison, Wisconsin since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was an unnamed storm in 1900. Since 1950, 116 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 10 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 1
- Tornadoes
- 116
- EF3 or stronger
- 10
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
13 deaths in all
What the records show for Madison
None of the 1 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Madison; the strongest was an unnamed storm in 1900, a tropical storm with 56 mph winds when its centre passed 45 miles away. Madison is tied for the most tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles among the 416 Wisconsin cities on this site. The strongest of the 116 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F5 on June 7, 1984; its path came within 15 miles, and it killed 9 people. Of the 116, 12 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 58 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 44. The most recent tornado was on July 16, 2025. Madison has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 84% of the 416 Wisconsin cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 240 times since 1958, with stones up to 4 inches (softball size). Madison has more hail reports within 10 miles than any other of the 416 Wisconsin cities.
Compare Madison's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Madison
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | Unnamed 1900 stormSep 11 | 45 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 4 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Madison: 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 Madison
By decade
- 2020s14
- 2010s21(1 EF3+)
- 2000s23(1 EF3+)
- 1990s12(1 EF3+)
- 1980s15(1 EF3+)
- 1970s11(1 EF3+)
- 1960s16(5 EF3+)
- 1950s4
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 7, 1984 | F5 | 15 mi | 36 mi | 9 / 200 |
| Aug 2, 1967 | F3 | 4 mi | 0.1 mi | 2 / 5 |
| Aug 18, 2005 | F3 | 10 mi | 18.6 mi | 1 / 23 |
| Jun 16, 2014 | EF3 | 8 mi | 0.96 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 17, 1992 | F3 | 7 mi | 16 mi | 0 / 30 |
| Jun 4, 1975 | F3 | 14 mi | 2.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 16, 1967 | F3 | 22 mi | 27.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 16, 1963 | F3 | 17 mi | 9.6 mi | 0 / 13 |
| Aug 16, 1963 | F3 | 17 mi | 9.6 mi | 0 / 13 |
| Aug 16, 1963 | F3 | 17 mi | 9.6 mi | 0 / 13 |
| Mar 27, 1991 | F2 | 15 mi | 32 mi | 1 / 5 |
| Feb 8, 2024 | EF2 | 22 mi | 25.9 mi | 0 / 1 |
The strongest 12 of 116, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Madison
The Storm Prediction Center has 240 hail reports within 10 miles of Madison since 1958, made on 99 separate days. Of these, 162 were 1 inch across or larger, and 24 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4 inches (softball size), fell on July 2, 1960. The most recent report is from May 15, 2025. April and May have the most reports, 54 each.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Madison
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Uw Arboretum - Madison, WI, 2 miles southwest of Madison at 870 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 82°F and low of 61°F; January is the coolest, at 28°F and 11°F. June is the wettest at 5.7 inches of precipitation on average and January and February the driest at 1.7 inches; the year adds up to 40.1 inches over 73 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 10 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 157 nights a year. That 40.1 inches is more than at 162 of the 165 Wisconsin stations used on this site (98%). Middleton, 6 miles northwest, has its own station (Charmany Farm, WI): 39.3 inches a year, 0.8 less than here, and the same July average high, 82°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 28 | 11 | 1.7 | 4 |
| Feb | 32 | 14 | 1.7 | 5 |
| Mar | 44 | 25 | 2.3 | 5 |
| Apr | 57 | 36 | 4.2 | 8 |
| May | 69 | 47 | 4.6 | 9 |
| Jun | 78 | 57 | 5.7 | 8 |
| Jul | 82 | 61 | 4.7 | 7 |
| Aug | 81 | 59 | 4.1 | 6 |
| Sep | 74 | 51 | 3.9 | 6 |
| Oct | 61 | 39 | 3.0 | 6 |
| Nov | 46 | 29 | 2.3 | 5 |
| Dec | 33 | 18 | 1.9 | 5 |
| Year | 57 | 37 | 40.1 | 73 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Uw Arboretum - Madison, WI (870 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 Madison
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 202 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Madison: 152 thunderstorm wind reports, 19 flash floods, 12 heavy rain events, 12 lightning strikes and 7 floods. They killed 4 people and injured 4, and the NWS estimated $87.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on May 31, 1998. June has had the most flash floods, 8 of 19. Of the 374 Wisconsin cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 353 have had fewer than Madison.
August 22, 2007: lightning strike 2 miles from the centre of Madison — 3 killed, 2 injured, $10,000 damage.
NWS: “Lightning struck a power-pole, causing the attached power-line to fall onto a water-covered ground around a bus stop. As a result, three people were electrocuted - two of them while standing in the water waiting for a bus, and another person who got off of the bus.”
August 27, 2007: lightning strike 5 miles from the centre of Madison — 1 killed.
May 31, 1998: thunderstorm wind in Madison — 2 injured, $3.3 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
Flood insurance policyholders in Madison's 10 ZIP codes have filed 112 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $1.2 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Storm in 2008: 10 claims (9% of all) and $48,000. The year with the most claims was 2018, with 22. 14% 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, 116 have fewer than Madison.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Storm2008 | 10 | $48,000 |
Dane County, which includes Madison, has been named in 19 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1976, 14 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 severe storms, 3 snowstorms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 floods). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on April 4, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Dane County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for tornadoes, hail, inland flooding, strong wind and lightning; Relatively Moderate for heat waves; Very Low for hurricanes. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $182.0 million a year, the 2nd highest of 72 Wisconsin counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $84.0 million (46%), 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.