NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Prior Lake, 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 Prior Lake, Minnesota since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 116 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 8 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 116
- EF3 or stronger
- 8
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
22 deaths in all
What the records show for Prior Lake
The highest rating among the 116 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 4 times; the most recent, on May 6, 1965, came within 17 miles. The deadliest, an F4 on May 6, 1965, killed 6 people. Of the 116, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 58 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 31. The most recent tornado was on June 28, 2025. Prior Lake has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 92% of the 341 Minnesota cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 241 times since 1962, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Prior Lake has more hail reports within 10 miles than 87% of the 341 Minnesota cities.
Compare Prior Lake's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Prior Lake
By decade
- 2020s20
- 2010s23
- 2000s15
- 1990s22
- 1980s10(3 EF3+)
- 1970s7
- 1960s16(4 EF3+)
- 1950s3(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 19 mi | 17.3 mi | 6 / 158 |
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 24 mi | 6.8 mi | 3 / 175 |
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 17 mi | 12.3 mi | 3 / 175 |
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 11 mi | 6.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 20, 1951 | F3 | 14 mi | 11.6 mi | 5 / 40 |
| Apr 26, 1984 | F3 | 24 mi | 5.5 mi | 1 / 52 |
| Jun 14, 1981 | F3 | 11 mi | 16.2 mi | 1 / 83 |
| Jul 27, 1987 | F3 | 20 mi | 30 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 6, 1965 | F2 | 24 mi | 11.2 mi | 1 / 175 |
| May 9, 2001 | F2 | 20 mi | 12 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Mar 29, 1998 | F2 | 14 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 29, 1998 | F2 | 16 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 116, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Prior Lake
The Storm Prediction Center has 241 hail reports within 10 miles of Prior Lake since 1962, made on 127 separate days. Of these, 132 were 1 inch across or larger, and 14 reached 2 inches. The largest size, 3 inches (tea cup size), was reported on 2 days, most recently August 24, 2006. The most recent report is from August 15, 2025. June has the most reports, 59.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Prior Lake
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Mpls Flying Cloud Airport, MN, 9 miles north of Prior Lake at 907 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 84°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 24°F and 8°F. June and August are the wettest at 4.7 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 0.6 inches; the year adds up to 30.8 inches over 55 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 14 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 145 nights a year. That 30.8 inches is more than at 62 of the 124 Minnesota stations used on this site (50%). Lakeville, 8 miles east, has its own station (Farmington 3 NW, MN): 32.3 inches a year, 1.5 more than here, and a July average high of 82°F against 84°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 24 | 8 | 0.7 | 1 |
| Feb | 29 | 12 | 0.6 | 2 |
| Mar | 42 | 24 | 1.5 | 3 |
| Apr | 57 | 37 | 2.7 | 6 |
| May | 70 | 49 | 3.9 | 8 |
| Jun | 79 | 59 | 4.7 | 8 |
| Jul | 84 | 64 | 4.3 | 6 |
| Aug | 81 | 62 | 4.7 | 6 |
| Sep | 74 | 53 | 3.1 | 5 |
| Oct | 59 | 40 | 2.3 | 5 |
| Nov | 43 | 27 | 1.4 | 3 |
| Dec | 29 | 14 | 0.9 | 2 |
| Year | 56 | 37 | 30.8 | 55 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Mpls Flying Cloud Airport, MN (907 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 Prior Lake
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 220 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Prior Lake: 168 thunderstorm wind reports, 25 heavy rain events, 18 flash floods, 8 floods and 1 lightning strike. They killed 0 people and injured 10, and the NWS estimated $339.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 98 mph, on May 30, 1998. August has had the most flash floods, 7 of 18. Of the 312 Minnesota cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 270 have had fewer than Prior Lake.
May 30, 1998: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Prior Lake — 7 injured, $140.0 million damage.
August 8, 2020: lightning strike 7 miles from the centre of Prior Lake — 3 injured, $10,000 damage.
May 15, 1998: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Prior Lake — $170.0 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 Prior Lake's ZIP code 55372 have filed 67 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $457,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The year with the most claims was 1983, with 22. 9% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 120 Minnesota cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 98 have fewer than Prior Lake.
Scott County, which includes Prior Lake, has been named in 16 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 12 of them major disasters (by incident: 9 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 2 severe storms, 1 drought). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on April 7, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Scott County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for strong wind; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, hail, inland flooding and heat waves; Relatively Low for lightning. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $66.5 million a year, the 9th highest of 87 Minnesota counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $27.3 million (41%), 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.