NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Saint Paul, 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 Saint Paul, Minnesota since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 115 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 11 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 115
- EF3 or stronger
- 11
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
24 deaths in all
What the records show for Saint Paul
The highest rating among the 115 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 5 times; the most recent, on July 3, 1983, came within 21 miles. The deadliest, an F4 on May 6, 1965, killed 6 people. Of the 115, 7 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 57 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 36. The most recent tornado was on August 29, 2024. Saint Paul has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 91% of the 341 Minnesota cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 461 times since 1956, with stones up to 4 inches (softball size). Saint Paul has more hail reports within 10 miles than 99% of the 341 Minnesota cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Saint Paul
By decade
- 2020s16
- 2010s19
- 2000s22(1 EF3+)
- 1990s17
- 1980s10(4 EF3+)
- 1970s8
- 1960s14(3 EF3+)
- 1950s9(3 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 10 mi | 17.3 mi | 6 / 158 |
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 10 mi | 6.8 mi | 3 / 175 |
| Jun 19, 1951 | F4 | 22 mi | 52.6 mi | 1 / 20 |
| Jul 3, 1983 | F4 | 21 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 4 |
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 21 mi | 6.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 20, 1951 | F3 | 10 mi | 11.6 mi | 5 / 40 |
| May 25, 2008 | EF3 | 16 mi | 5.96 mi | 1 / 17 |
| Apr 26, 1984 | F3 | 8 mi | 5.5 mi | 1 / 52 |
| Jun 14, 1981 | F3 | in town | 16.2 mi | 1 / 83 |
| Jul 23, 1987 | F3 | 16 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 24, 1958 | F3 | 15 mi | 59.4 mi | 0 / 12 |
| May 10, 1953 | F2 | 23 mi | 105.7 mi | 4 / 27 |
The strongest 12 of 115, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Saint Paul
The Storm Prediction Center has 461 hail reports within 10 miles of Saint Paul since 1956, made on 164 separate days. Of these, 303 were 1 inch across or larger, and 29 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4 inches (softball size), fell on July 8, 1966. The most recent report is from September 21, 2025. May has the most reports, 164.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Saint Paul
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is St Paul Downtown Airport, MN, 3 miles southeast of Saint Paul at 700 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 83°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 24°F and 9°F. June is the wettest at 4.6 inches of precipitation on average and January and February the driest at 0.5 inches; the year adds up to 29.3 inches over 54 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 12 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 146 nights a year. That 29.3 inches is more than at 47 of the 124 Minnesota stations used on this site (38%). Roseville, 4 miles northwest, has its own station (U Of Mn St Paul, MN): 32.8 inches a year, 3.5 more than here, and a July average high of 81°F against 83°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 24 | 9 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Feb | 29 | 13 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Mar | 42 | 25 | 1.4 | 4 |
| Apr | 57 | 37 | 2.6 | 6 |
| May | 69 | 49 | 4.0 | 8 |
| Jun | 79 | 59 | 4.6 | 8 |
| Jul | 83 | 64 | 4.0 | 6 |
| Aug | 80 | 62 | 4.1 | 6 |
| Sep | 72 | 53 | 3.1 | 5 |
| Oct | 58 | 40 | 2.5 | 5 |
| Nov | 42 | 27 | 1.3 | 3 |
| Dec | 29 | 15 | 0.7 | 2 |
| Year | 55 | 38 | 29.3 | 54 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at St Paul Downtown Airport, MN (700 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 Paul
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 327 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Saint Paul: 272 thunderstorm wind reports, 28 flash floods, 17 heavy rain events, 7 lightning strikes and 3 floods. They killed 3 people and injured 17, and the NWS estimated $41.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 86 mph, on May 30, 1998. June has had the most flash floods, 12 of 28. Of the 312 Minnesota cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 294 have had fewer than Saint Paul.
July 26, 2007: heavy rain event 2 miles from the centre of Saint Paul — 2 killed.
NWS: “Rain moved across a portion of St. Paul.”
September 20, 2007: flash flood 6 miles from the centre of Saint Paul — 1 killed, $200,000 damage.
May 30, 1998: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Saint Paul — 11 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
Flood insurance policyholders in Saint Paul's 12 ZIP codes have filed 79 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $1.2 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Severe flooding in 2001: 13 claims (16% of all) and $391,000. 28% 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, 101 have fewer than Saint Paul.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Severe flooding2001 | 13 | $391,000 |
Ramsey County, which includes Saint Paul, has been named in 19 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 15 of them major disasters (by incident: 9 floods, 5 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 1 drought). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on April 7, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Ramsey County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for tornadoes, hail, inland flooding, strong wind and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for lightning. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $181.4 million a year, the 2nd highest of 87 Minnesota counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $68.5 million (38%), 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 Saint Paul
- West St Paul, MN4 mi
- Roseville, MN4 mi
- Maplewood, MN6 mi
- South St Paul, MN6 mi
- Mendota Heights, MN6 mi
- Oakdale, MN7 mi
- Newport, MN8 mi
- Minneapolis, MN8 mi
- Vadnais Heights, MN8 mi
- Inver Grove Heights, MN9 mi
- Shoreview, MN9 mi
- Woodbury, MN9 mi
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