NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Red Lodge, MT
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 Red Lodge, Montana since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 1 tornado has touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 1
- EF3 or stronger
- 0
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Red Lodge
The only tornado within 25 miles was an F0 on March 23, 1988; its path came within 23 miles. Of the 73 Montana cities on this site, 89% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Red Lodge. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 27 times since 1975, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Red Lodge has more hail reports within 10 miles than 49% of the 73 Montana cities.
Compare Red Lodge's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Red Lodge
By decade
- 1980s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 23, 1988 | F0 | 23 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 1 of 1, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Red Lodge
The Storm Prediction Center has 27 hail reports within 10 miles of Red Lodge since 1975, made on 19 separate days. Of these, 22 were 1 inch across or larger, and 2 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on July 3, 1975. The most recent report is from June 16, 2025. June has the most reports, 15.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Red Lodge
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Red Lodge, MT, 6 miles southeast of Red Lodge at 5,646 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 81°F and low of 50°F; December is the coolest, at 36°F and 14°F. May is the wettest at 4.7 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.8 inches; the year adds up to 22.6 inches over 51 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 6 days a year, almost all from July to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 192 nights a year. Snowfall averages 141.9 inches a year, most of it in April. That 22.6 inches is more than at 54 of the 58 Montana stations used on this site (93%). Columbus, 25 miles north, has its own station (Columbus, MT): 15.7 inches a year, 6.9 less than here, and a July average high of 85°F against 81°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 38 | 14 | 0.8 | 2 | 13.5 |
| Feb | 37 | 14 | 1.1 | 3 | 19.4 |
| Mar | 46 | 22 | 1.8 | 5 | 20.2 |
| Apr | 53 | 29 | 2.8 | 6 | 25.5 |
| May | 62 | 37 | 4.7 | 8 | 6.2 |
| Jun | 72 | 44 | 2.6 | 6 | 0.6 |
| Jul | 81 | 50 | 1.5 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 81 | 49 | 1.0 | 3 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 71 | 42 | 1.6 | 4 | 2.1 |
| Oct | 56 | 31 | 2.3 | 4 | 17.0 |
| Nov | 43 | 21 | 1.4 | 3 | 18.7 |
| Dec | 36 | 14 | 1.0 | 3 | 18.7 |
| Year | 56 | 30 | 22.6 | 51 | 141.9 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Red Lodge, MT (5,646 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 Red Lodge
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 10 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Red Lodge: 3 flash floods, 3 floods, 3 thunderstorm wind reports and 1 heavy rain event. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $600,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 70 mph, on August 10, 2008.
July 1, 2011: flood 7 miles from the centre of Red Lodge — $600,000 damage.
NWS: “Flooding from June continued into July along Rock Creek near Two Mile Road. Emergency repairs were needed on the Two Mile Bridge(which was closed) north of Red Lodge.”
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 Red Lodge's ZIP code 59068 have filed 25 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1991, and were paid $1.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Yellowstone Flooding in 2022: 12 claims (48% of all) and $1.4 million. 48% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 26 Montana cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 13 have fewer than Red Lodge.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Yellowstone Flooding2022 | 12 | $1.4 million |
Carbon County, which includes Red Lodge, has been named in 13 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1978, 9 of them major disasters (by incident: 4 floods, 3 fires, 2 biological emergencies, 2 severe storms). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storm and Straight-Line Winds, on April 7, 2026. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Carbon County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for lightning; Relatively Low for hail and inland flooding; Very Low for tornadoes, strong wind and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $16.3 million a year, the 12th highest of 56 Montana counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $11.0 million (68%), 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 Red Lodge
- Columbus, MT25 mi
- Joliet, MT27 mi
- Park City, MT32 mi
- Powell, WY38 mi
- Laurel, MT40 mi
- Cody, WY47 mi
- Big Timber, MT53 mi
- Billings, MT53 mi
- Lovell, WY58 mi
- Huntley, MT66 mi
- Shepherd, MT70 mi
- Greybull, WY81 mi
All Montana cities →All hurricanes since 1851 →Compare Red Lodge with another place →