NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Nowata, OK
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 Nowata, Oklahoma since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 141 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 7 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 141
- EF3 or stronger
- 7
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
7 deaths in all
What the records show for Nowata
The highest rating among the 141 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4 or EF4, reached 3 times; the most recent, on May 6, 2024, came within 17 miles. Of the 141, 12 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 54 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 41. The most recent tornado was on November 4, 2024. Of the 216 Oklahoma cities on this site, 67% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Nowata. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 100 times since 1957, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Of the 216 Oklahoma cities, 85% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Nowata.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Nowata
By decade
- 2020s11(1 EF3+)
- 2010s33
- 2000s10
- 1990s28(2 EF3+)
- 1980s20
- 1970s9(2 EF3+)
- 1960s13
- 1950s17(2 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 2024 | EF4 | 17 mi | 40.8 mi | 2 / 33 |
| Sep 27, 1959 | F4 | 24 mi | 20.4 mi | 1 / 1 |
| Apr 26, 1991 | F4 | 15 mi | 4 mi | 0 / 22 |
| Jun 8, 1974 | F3 | 20 mi | 63.6 mi | 2 / 80 |
| Jul 2, 1992 | F3 | 23 mi | 4 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Mar 18, 1979 | F3 | 19 mi | 7.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 9, 1959 | F3 | 3 mi | 23.4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 26, 1991 | F2 | 20 mi | 6 mi | 1 / 10 |
| Jun 27, 1983 | F2 | 21 mi | 5 mi | 1 / 0 |
| Apr 30, 2019 | EF2 | 8 mi | 9.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 19, 2003 | F2 | 18 mi | 20 mi | 0 / 3 |
| May 26, 1996 | F2 | 3 mi | 30 mi | 0 / 1 |
The strongest 12 of 141, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Nowata
The Storm Prediction Center has 100 hail reports within 10 miles of Nowata since 1957, made on 80 separate days. Of these, 46 were 1 inch across or larger, and 10 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on May 4, 2003. The most recent report is from May 26, 2024. May has the most reports, 29.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Nowata
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Bartlesville 3, OK, 22 miles west of Nowata at 715 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 93°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 48°F and 22°F. June is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 1.9 inches; the year adds up to 39.7 inches over 61 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 71 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 109 nights a year. That 39.7 inches is more than at 46 of the 82 Oklahoma stations used on this site (56%). Talala, 12 miles south, has its own station (Claremore 2 ENE, OK): 46.1 inches a year, 6.4 more than here, and a July average high of 92°F against 93°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 48 | 22 | 2.0 | 3 |
| Feb | 53 | 26 | 1.9 | 4 |
| Mar | 62 | 34 | 2.9 | 5 |
| Apr | 71 | 44 | 4.0 | 6 |
| May | 79 | 54 | 4.9 | 9 |
| Jun | 88 | 64 | 5.3 | 7 |
| Jul | 93 | 68 | 3.7 | 5 |
| Aug | 92 | 66 | 3.3 | 5 |
| Sep | 85 | 57 | 3.5 | 5 |
| Oct | 74 | 45 | 3.5 | 5 |
| Nov | 61 | 33 | 2.5 | 4 |
| Dec | 49 | 25 | 2.2 | 4 |
| Year | 71 | 45 | 39.7 | 61 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Bartlesville 3, OK (715 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 Nowata
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 103 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Nowata: 84 thunderstorm wind reports, 15 flash floods and 4 floods. They killed 4 people and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $4.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on September 7, 2012. Of the 216 Oklahoma cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 100 have had fewer than Nowata.
September 7, 2012: thunderstorm wind 3 miles from the centre of Nowata — 3 killed, $250,000 damage.
NWS: “An intense downburst destroyed a double wide mobile home, killing three occupants.”
July 4, 2004: thunderstorm wind 4 miles from the centre of Nowata — 1 killed, $20,000 damage.
NWS: “Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew a tree down onto a mobile home. The tree landed on a 6 year old girl who was in bed.”
August 23, 2002: thunderstorm wind in Nowata — $3.5 million damage.
NWS: “Thunderstorm winds measured at 74 miles an hour at a nearby mesonet site and estimated at 80 miles an hour at Nowata did widespread damage in and around Nowata. Several hundred trees and power poles were damaged or blown down.”
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 Nowata's ZIP code 74048 have filed 13 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1999, and were paid $442,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. Of the 92 Oklahoma cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 7 have fewer than Nowata.
Nowata County, which includes Nowata, has been named in 32 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1986, 24 of them major disasters (by incident: 15 severe storms, 8 ice storms, 3 tornadoes, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storm and Straight-Line Winds, on October 7, 2026. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Nowata County a Very Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for strong wind; Relatively Low for tornadoes, lightning and heat waves; Very Low for hurricanes, hail and inland flooding. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $8.3 million a year, the 58th highest of 77 Oklahoma counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $2.2 million (27%), 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 Nowata
- Talala, OK12 mi
- Chelsea, OK14 mi
- Oologah, OK18 mi
- Bartlesville, OK18 mi
- Dewey, OK18 mi
- Ramona, OK19 mi
- Coffeyville, KS24 mi
- Collinsville, OK25 mi
- Vinita, OK26 mi
- Claremore, OK27 mi
- Adair, OK27 mi
- Caney, KS28 mi
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