NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Springfield, 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 Springfield, Minnesota since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 77 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 2 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 77
- EF3 or stronger
- 2
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
2 deaths in all
What the records show for Springfield
The strongest of the 77 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F4 on March 29, 1998; its path came within 10 miles, and it killed 1 person. Of the 77, 2 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 37 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 37. The most recent tornado was on August 26, 2024. Of the 341 Minnesota cities on this site, 58% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Springfield. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 58 times since 1976, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Of the 341 Minnesota cities, 75% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Springfield.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Springfield
By decade
- 2020s12
- 2010s10
- 2000s15
- 1990s14(2 EF3+)
- 1980s10
- 1970s6
- 1960s6
- 1950s4
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 29, 1998 | F4 | 10 mi | 73.5 mi | 1 / 19 |
| Jun 16, 1992 | F3 | 19 mi | 13 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 25, 2010 | EF2 | 17 mi | 0.33 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 16, 1992 | F2 | 21 mi | 7.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 16, 1992 | F2 | 25 mi | 5.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 16, 1992 | F2 | 23 mi | 8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 23, 1981 | F2 | 21 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 21, 1981 | F2 | 5 mi | 54.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 9, 1977 | F2 | 16 mi | 5.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 14, 1976 | F2 | 21 mi | 13.5 mi | 0 / 6 |
| Jul 16, 1963 | F2 | 17 mi | 5.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 18, 1962 | F2 | 15 mi | 42.4 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 77, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Springfield
The Storm Prediction Center has 58 hail reports within 10 miles of Springfield since 1976, made on 40 separate days. Of these, 27 were 1 inch across or larger, and 6 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on August 4, 1976. The most recent report is from October 24, 2023. June and July have the most reports, 14 each.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Springfield
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Springfield 1 NW, MN, in Springfield at 1,066 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 82°F and low of 60°F; January is the coolest, at 23°F and 4°F. June is the wettest at 4.6 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.7 inches; the year adds up to 29.7 inches over 55 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 12 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 169 nights a year. Snowfall averages 42.3 inches a year, most of it in December. That 29.7 inches is more than at 52 of the 124 Minnesota stations used on this site (42%). Sleepy Eye, 13 miles east, has its own station (New Ulm 2 SE, MN): 31.1 inches a year, 1.4 more than here, and the same July average high, 82°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 23 | 4 | 0.7 | 2 | 6.8 |
| Feb | 28 | 8 | 0.8 | 2 | 7.5 |
| Mar | 40 | 21 | 1.6 | 4 | 7.7 |
| Apr | 56 | 33 | 3.1 | 6 | 3.8 |
| May | 69 | 46 | 4.3 | 8 | 0.2 |
| Jun | 79 | 57 | 4.6 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 82 | 60 | 4.0 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 80 | 57 | 3.5 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 74 | 48 | 2.9 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 60 | 36 | 2.0 | 4 | 0.5 |
| Nov | 42 | 23 | 1.4 | 3 | 5.3 |
| Dec | 28 | 11 | 0.8 | 2 | 10.5 |
| Year | 55 | 34 | 29.7 | 55 | 42.3 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Springfield 1 NW, MN (1,066 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 Springfield
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 46 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Springfield: 38 thunderstorm wind reports, 7 floods and 1 flash flood. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $1.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 86 mph, on July 20, 1998.
May 14, 2023: flood 9 miles from the centre of Springfield — $1.2 million damage.
NWS: “Properties on the south side of Comfrey were sandbagged as overland flow and ponding resulted in water encroaching on properties. County Highway 1 was closed north of Highway 30 due to water over the roadway.”
July 3, 2018: flood 5 miles from the centre of Springfield — $385,000 damage.
NWS: “The excessive rainfall across Redwood County continued to flow into Brown County, especially along the Cottonwood River. There were numerous county roads along this river that were impassable during the height of the flooding.”
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 Springfield's ZIP code 56087 have filed 12 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1983, and were paid $376,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 33% 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, 7 have fewer than Springfield.
Brown County, which includes Springfield, has been named in 20 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 16 of them major disasters (by incident: 11 floods, 3 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 tornadoes). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms and Flooding, on June 28, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Brown County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for strong wind; Relatively Low for tornadoes, hail, inland flooding and heat waves; Very Low for lightning. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $24.4 million a year, the 25th highest of 87 Minnesota counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $8.4 million (34%), 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 Springfield
- Sleepy Eye, MN13 mi
- Mountain Lake, MN21 mi
- Redwood Falls, MN22 mi
- Saint James, MN25 mi
- New Ulm, MN26 mi
- Windom, MN27 mi
- Madelia, MN31 mi
- Tracy, MN32 mi
- Olivia, MN36 mi
- Winthrop, MN37 mi
- Lake Crystal, MN38 mi
- Truman, MN39 mi
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