NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Mc Gehee, AR
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
12 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Mc Gehee, Arkansas since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Laura in 2020. Since 1950, 81 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 7 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 12
- Tornadoes
- 81
- EF3 or stronger
- 7
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
8 deaths in all
What the records show for Mc Gehee
None of the 12 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Mc Gehee; the strongest was an unnamed storm in 1888, a tropical storm with 68 mph winds when its centre passed 42 miles away. The record near Mc Gehee begins with an unnamed storm in 1888; the most recent system was Laura in 2020, a tropical storm 74 miles away. Of the 12 systems, one has come since 2000. Mc Gehee has more tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles than 94% of the 213 Arkansas cities on this site. The highest rating among the 81 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 3 times; the most recent, on November 24, 2001, came within 20 miles. The deadliest, an F4 on April 3, 1968, killed 5 people. Of the 81, 6 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 48 have come since 2000. February has had the most tornadoes, 14. The most recent tornado was on January 5, 2025. Of the 213 Arkansas cities, 69% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Mc Gehee. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 57 times since 1984, with stones up to 4.25 inches. Of the 213 Arkansas cities, 77% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Mc Gehee.
Compare Mc Gehee's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Mc Gehee
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | LauraAug 27 | 74 mi | Tropical storm (48 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1969 | CamilleAug 18 | 75 mi | Tropical storm (55 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1965 | BetsySep 11 | 51 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1957 | AudreyJun 28 | 24 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormJun 17 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1932 | Unnamed 1932 stormSep 20 | 68 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1923 | Unnamed 1923 stormOct 16 | 11 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormJul 7 | 70 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1909 | Unnamed 1909 stormSep 21 | 4 mi | Tropical storm (59 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1905 | Unnamed 1905 stormSep 30 | 14 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1891 | Unnamed 1891 stormJul 7 | 53 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormAug 20 | 42 mi | Tropical storm (68 mph) | Category 3 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Mc Gehee: 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 Mc Gehee
By decade
- 2020s10
- 2010s11
- 2000s27(3 EF3+)
- 1990s5
- 1980s5
- 1970s16(1 EF3+)
- 1960s2(1 EF3+)
- 1950s5(2 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 3, 1968 | F4 | 23 mi | 33.7 mi | 5 / 16 |
| Nov 24, 2001 | F4 | 20 mi | 30.3 mi | 0 / 48 |
| Apr 17, 1978 | F4 | 25 mi | 3.6 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Feb 24, 2007 | EF3 | 19 mi | 29.1 mi | 0 / 28 |
| Feb 24, 2001 | F3 | 5 mi | 42 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 23, 1957 | F3 | 21 mi | 5.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 28, 1955 | F3 | 14 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Feb 17, 1976 | F2 | 17 mi | 29.5 mi | 3 / 46 |
| Jan 2, 2023 | EF2 | 7 mi | 42.77 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 27, 2021 | EF2 | 23 mi | 1.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 11, 2020 | EF2 | 19 mi | 23.38 mi | 0 / 4 |
| Jan 11, 2020 | EF2 | 20 mi | 17.66 mi | 0 / 1 |
The strongest 12 of 81, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Mc Gehee
The Storm Prediction Center has 57 hail reports within 10 miles of Mc Gehee since 1984, made on 44 separate days. Of these, 38 were 1 inch across or larger, and 4 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4.25 inches, fell on February 5, 2008. The most recent report is from March 23, 2025. March has the most reports, 14.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Mc Gehee
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Dermott 3 NE, AR, 5 miles south of Mc Gehee at 145 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 72°F; January is the coolest, at 51°F and 34°F. April is the wettest at 6.1 inches of precipitation on average and August the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 56.4 inches over 74 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 41% of the year's precipitation (22.9 of 56.4 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 12 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (4); a normal September there has highs of 86°F and 3.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 86 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 47 nights a year. Snowfall averages 1.3 inches a year, most of it in January and February. That 56.4 inches is more than at 80 of the 95 Arkansas stations used on this site (84%). Dumas, 20 miles north, has its own station (Dumas, AR): 51.2 inches a year, 5.2 less than here, and a July average high of 92°F against 91°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 51 | 34 | 5.5 | 7 | 0.5 |
| Feb | 55 | 37 | 5.4 | 7 | 0.5 |
| Mar | 64 | 45 | 5.5 | 7 | 0.3 |
| Apr | 73 | 53 | 6.1 | 7 | 0.0 |
| May | 82 | 62 | 5.0 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 88 | 69 | 4.0 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 91 | 72 | 3.9 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 91 | 70 | 3.0 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 86 | 64 | 3.1 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 76 | 52 | 4.4 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Nov | 63 | 43 | 4.5 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Dec | 53 | 37 | 6.0 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Year | 73 | 53 | 56.4 | 74 | 1.3 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Dermott 3 NE, AR (145 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 Mc Gehee
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 140 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Mc Gehee: 82 thunderstorm wind reports, 52 flash floods, 5 floods and 1 lightning strike. They killed 0 people and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $7.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on October 30, 2009. April has had the most flash floods, 10 of 52. Of the 212 Arkansas cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 181 have had fewer than Mc Gehee.
April 28, 2026: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Mc Gehee — 1 injured.
May 5, 2011: flood 9 miles from the centre of Mc Gehee — $2.2 million damage.
NWS: “Flooding along the Mississippi River caused extensive flooding of low lying farmland along the river. All of the flood waters were within the mainline levee.”
October 12, 2009: flash flood 8 miles from the centre of Mc Gehee — $1.1 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 Mc Gehee's ZIP code 71654 have filed 121 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $1.8 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Late winter severe storms in 2016: 24 claims (20% of all) and $531,000, then Central U.S. April Flooding in 2025 with 14. The year with the most claims was 1994, with 31. 34% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 103 Arkansas cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 84 have fewer than Mc Gehee.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Late winter severe storms2016 | 24 | $531,000 |
| Central U.S. April Flooding2025 | 14 | $697,000 |
Desha County, which includes Mc Gehee, has been named in 21 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1973, 14 of them major disasters (by incident: 6 floods, 5 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 hurricanes). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding, on May 21, 2025. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Desha County a Very Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Low for hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, strong wind and heat waves; Very Low for inland flooding and lightning. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $6.5 million a year, the 66th highest of 75 Arkansas counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $2.4 million (36%), 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 Mc Gehee
- Dermott, AR9 mi
- Dumas, AR20 mi
- Lake Village, AR20 mi
- Monticello, AR22 mi
- Greenville, MS25 mi
- Rosedale, MS28 mi
- Gould, AR28 mi
- Leland, MS33 mi
- Star City, AR34 mi
- Shaw, MS35 mi
- Eudora, AR36 mi
- Hamburg, AR37 mi
All Arkansas cities →All hurricanes since 1851 →Compare Mc Gehee with another place →