NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Saint Joseph, MO
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 Saint Joseph, Missouri since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 86 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 4 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 86
- EF3 or stronger
- 4
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
1 deaths in all
What the records show for Saint Joseph
The highest rating among the 86 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 4 times; the most recent, on May 29, 2004, came within 17 miles. The deadliest, an F2 on June 25, 1994, killed 1 person. Of the 86, 15 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 32 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 24. The most recent tornado was on May 19, 2025. Of the 334 Missouri cities on this site, 59% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Saint Joseph. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 155 times since 1955, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Saint Joseph has more hail reports within 10 miles than 70% of the 334 Missouri cities.
Compare Saint Joseph's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Saint Joseph
By decade
- 2020s5
- 2010s2
- 2000s25(1 EF3+)
- 1990s9
- 1980s10(1 EF3+)
- 1970s6
- 1960s19(1 EF3+)
- 1950s10(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 29, 2004 | F3 | 17 mi | 7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 26, 1984 | F3 | 14 mi | 32 mi | 0 / 9 |
| Apr 10, 1965 | F3 | 8 mi | 23.2 mi | 0 / 11 |
| May 18, 1959 | F3 | 25 mi | 6.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 25, 1994 | F2 | 21 mi | 0.8 mi | 1 / 2 |
| Apr 15, 2006 | F2 | 19 mi | 13 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 30, 2006 | F2 | 16 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 8 |
| Apr 26, 1991 | F2 | 18 mi | 25 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Apr 3, 1981 | F2 | 9 mi | 1.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 16, 1973 | F2 | in town | 6 mi | 0 / 14 |
| May 18, 1971 | F2 | 13 mi | 55.4 mi | 0 / 6 |
| Jul 26, 1969 | F2 | 1 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 86, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Saint Joseph
The Storm Prediction Center has 155 hail reports within 10 miles of Saint Joseph since 1955, made on 89 separate days. Of these, 85 were 1 inch across or larger, and 9 reached 2 inches. The largest size, 2.75 inches (baseball size), was reported on 2 days, most recently September 11, 2000. The most recent report is from March 13, 2024. May has the most reports, 40.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Saint Joseph
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is St Joseph Rosecrans Airport, MO, 5 miles west of Saint Joseph at 818 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 67°F; January is the coolest, at 37°F and 17°F. May is the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.7 inches; the year adds up to 34.9 inches over 56 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 39 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 126 nights a year. That 34.9 inches is more than at 0 of the 134 Missouri stations used on this site (0%). Troy, KS, 16 miles west, has its own station (Troy 3N, KS): 37.0 inches a year, 2.1 more than here, and a July average high of 87°F against 88°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 37 | 17 | 0.7 | 2 |
| Feb | 43 | 21 | 1.0 | 3 |
| Mar | 55 | 32 | 2.1 | 5 |
| Apr | 66 | 42 | 3.7 | 7 |
| May | 76 | 54 | 4.9 | 7 |
| Jun | 85 | 64 | 4.8 | 8 |
| Jul | 88 | 67 | 4.7 | 5 |
| Aug | 86 | 65 | 3.8 | 5 |
| Sep | 80 | 54 | 3.2 | 5 |
| Oct | 68 | 43 | 2.8 | 5 |
| Nov | 53 | 31 | 1.9 | 3 |
| Dec | 41 | 21 | 1.3 | 3 |
| Year | 65 | 42 | 34.9 | 56 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at St Joseph Rosecrans Airport, MO (818 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 Saint Joseph
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 198 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Saint Joseph: 163 thunderstorm wind reports, 19 flash floods and 16 floods. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $2.0 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 89 mph, on June 19, 2010. Of the 334 Missouri cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 165 have had fewer than Saint Joseph.
July 26, 2000: thunderstorm wind 1 mile from the centre of Saint Joseph — $1.0 million damage.
NWS: “The highway department reported downed trees up to 4 feet in diameter, and a tree blown down onto a car. A 90-foot flagpole was broken.”
May 6, 2007: flood 9 miles from the centre of Saint Joseph — $500,000 damage.
March 13, 2019: flood 5 miles from the centre of Saint Joseph — $200,000 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 Saint Joseph's 6 ZIP codes have filed 290 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $9.6 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Midwest Flooding in 1993: 54 claims (19% of all) and $804,000, then Flooding in 1984 with 51 and Late spring storms in 2011 with 47. 53% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 172 Missouri cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 145 have fewer than Saint Joseph.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Midwest Flooding1993 | 54 | $804,000 |
| Flooding1984 | 51 | $642,000 |
| Late spring storms2011 | 47 | $3.5 million |
Buchanan County, which includes Saint Joseph, has been named in 28 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 21 of them major disasters (by incident: 11 severe storms, 9 floods, 4 ice storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, on September 1, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Buchanan County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for strong wind; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, hail, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Low for inland flooding. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $35.1 million a year, the 22nd highest of 115 Missouri counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $13.1 million (37%), 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.