NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Mountain Iron, MN
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 Mountain Iron, Minnesota since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 11 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 1 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 11
- EF3 or stronger
- 1
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
1 deaths in all
What the records show for Mountain Iron
The strongest of the 11 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F3 on August 6, 1969; its path came within 10 miles. The deadliest, an F1 on July 1, 1958, killed 1 person. Of the 11, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 3 have come since 2000. August has had the most tornadoes, 4. The most recent tornado was on June 19, 2016. Of the 341 Minnesota cities on this site, 97% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Mountain Iron. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 52 times since 1958, with stones up to 2.5 inches (tennis ball size). Of the 341 Minnesota cities, 81% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Mountain Iron.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Mountain Iron
By decade
- 2010s2
- 2000s1
- 1990s1
- 1970s3
- 1960s2(1 EF3+)
- 1950s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 1969 | F3 | 10 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 9 |
| Aug 6, 1969 | F2 | 24 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 6, 1959 | F2 | 18 mi | 30.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 1, 1958 | F1 | 13 mi | 2 mi | 1 / 2 |
| Jun 19, 2016 | EF1 | 16 mi | 7.23 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 8, 2015 | EF1 | 16 mi | 1.58 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 25, 1974 | F1 | 9 mi | 34.7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 19, 1971 | F1 | 7 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 14, 2003 | F0 | 12 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 12, 1995 | F0 | 17 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 30, 1971 | F0 | 22 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 11 of 11, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Mountain Iron
The Storm Prediction Center has 52 hail reports within 10 miles of Mountain Iron since 1958, made on 31 separate days. Of these, 36 were 1 inch across or larger, and 2 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.5 inches (tennis ball size), fell on May 26, 1958. The most recent report is from June 12, 2024. June has the most reports, 18.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Mountain Iron
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Eveleth Wwtp, MN, 7 miles southeast of Mountain Iron at 1,445 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 77°F and low of 56°F; January is the coolest, at 17°F and -1°F. June is the wettest at 4.3 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 0.7 inches; the year adds up to 27.8 inches over 63 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 2 days a year. Lows fall below freezing on about 189 nights a year. That 27.8 inches is more than at 28 of the 124 Minnesota stations used on this site (23%). Chisholm, 10 miles west, has its own station (Hibbing Chisholm Hibbing Airport, MN): 24.9 inches a year, 2.9 less than here, and the same July average high, 77°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 17 | -1 | 0.8 | 3 |
| Feb | 22 | 2 | 0.7 | 3 |
| Mar | 35 | 14 | 1.2 | 3 |
| Apr | 49 | 28 | 2.0 | 5 |
| May | 63 | 41 | 3.0 | 7 |
| Jun | 72 | 51 | 4.3 | 9 |
| Jul | 77 | 56 | 3.9 | 8 |
| Aug | 76 | 54 | 3.5 | 7 |
| Sep | 66 | 45 | 3.4 | 7 |
| Oct | 51 | 33 | 2.6 | 6 |
| Nov | 35 | 20 | 1.4 | 4 |
| Dec | 22 | 6 | 1.0 | 4 |
| Year | 49 | 29 | 27.8 | 63 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Eveleth Wwtp, MN (1,445 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 Mountain Iron
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 44 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Mountain Iron: 39 thunderstorm wind reports, 3 flash floods and 2 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $110,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on July 22, 2014.
June 28, 2015: lightning strike 7 miles from the centre of Mountain Iron — 2 injured.
NWS: “A 51-year-old father and his 4-year-old daughter were struck and injured by lightning around 2 pm near a baseball field in Cherry, MN, which is near the Iron Range. The father and daughter were watching the baseball game.”
July 27, 2025: thunderstorm wind 6 miles from the centre of Mountain Iron — 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
St. Louis County, which includes Mountain Iron, has been named in 17 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1970, 13 of them major disasters (by incident: 9 floods, 3 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 1 drought). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms and Flooding, on June 28, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives St. Louis County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for lightning; Relatively Moderate for hail, inland flooding, strong wind and heat waves; Relatively Low for tornadoes; Very Low for coastal flooding. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $112.4 million a year, the 5th highest of 87 Minnesota counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $49.8 million (44%), 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 Mountain Iron
- Virginia, MN6 mi
- Eveleth, MN9 mi
- Chisholm, MN10 mi
- Gilbert, MN12 mi
- Hibbing, MN14 mi
- Aurora, MN20 mi
- Nashwauk, MN24 mi
- Hoyt Lakes, MN28 mi
- Bovey, MN35 mi
- Saginaw, MN42 mi
- Grand Rapids, MN44 mi
- Ely, MN45 mi
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