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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Sugar Creek, 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 Sugar Creek, Missouri since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 134 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 14 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
0

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
0

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
134

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
14

50 deaths in all

What the records show for Sugar Creek

The strongest of the 134 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F5 on May 20, 1957; its path came within 9 miles, and it killed 44 people. Of the 134, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 60 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 55. The most recent tornado was on June 3, 2025. Sugar Creek has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 82% of the 334 Missouri cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 516 times since 1955, with stones up to 5.5 inches. Sugar Creek has more hail reports within 10 miles than 98% of the 334 Missouri cities.

Compare Sugar Creek's storm record with another city →

Tornadoes within 25 miles of Sugar Creek

By decade

  • 2020s14
  • 2010s30(1 EF3+)
  • 2000s16(3 EF3+)
  • 1990s7
  • 1980s13
  • 1970s12(2 EF3+)
  • 1960s26(6 EF3+)
  • 1950s16(2 EF3+)
Strongest tornadoes near Sugar Creek, Missouri
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
May 20, 1957F59 mi69.4 mi44 / 207
May 4, 2003F410 mi21 mi2 / 30
Jun 8, 1966F424 mi19.9 mi1 / 2
May 4, 2003F49 mi5 mi0 / 13
May 4, 1977F411 mi12 mi0 / 5
May 7, 1961F411 mi26.2 mi0 / 12
May 22, 1952F415 mi26.9 mi0 / 3
Jan 24, 1967F310 mi14.5 mi2 / 18
Apr 12, 1964F322 mi19.5 mi1 / 10
Mar 6, 2017EF315 mi17.74 mi0 / 12
May 2, 2008EF313 mi0.92 mi0 / 0
May 4, 1977F324 mi31.6 mi0 / 1

The strongest 12 of 134, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Sugar Creek

The Storm Prediction Center has 516 hail reports within 10 miles of Sugar Creek since 1955, made on 236 separate days. Of these, 324 were 1 inch across or larger, and 40 reached 2 inches. The largest, 5.5 inches, fell on September 18, 2010. The most recent report is from September 16, 2025. May has the most reports, 126.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Weather by month in Sugar Creek

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Independence, MO, 4 miles southeast of Sugar Creek at 985 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 38°F and 19°F. May is the wettest at 6.0 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 1.5 inches; the year adds up to 44.7 inches over 69 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 31 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 113 nights a year. Snowfall averages 13.2 inches a year, most of it in January. That 44.7 inches is more than at 76 of the 134 Missouri stations used on this site (57%). Kansas City, 6 miles west, has its own station (Kansas City Downtown Airport, MO): 38.1 inches a year, 6.6 less than here, and a July average high of 90°F against 87°F.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Independence, MO
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Snow in
Jan38191.543.6
Feb43231.942.6
Mar55332.961.7
Apr65434.470.2
May74546.090.0
Jun83645.370.0
Jul87685.170.0
Aug86665.160.0
Sep78574.860.0
Oct67453.550.4
Nov53342.441.2
Dec42241.843.5
Year644444.76913.2

Averages for 1991–2020 at Independence, MO (985 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.

Missouri weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Sugar Creek

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 478 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Sugar Creek: 369 thunderstorm wind reports, 90 flash floods, 14 floods, 3 heavy rain events and 2 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $2.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 104 mph, on June 29, 1998. August has had the most flash floods, 26 of 90. Of the 334 Missouri cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 312 have had fewer than Sugar Creek.

  • July 5, 2018: lightning strike 6 miles from the centre of Sugar Creek — 1 killed, 1 injured.

  • May 2, 2008: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Sugar Creek — $1.0 million damage.

  • March 12, 2006: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Sugar Creek — $250,000 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 Sugar Creek's ZIP code 64054 have filed 21 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1982, and were paid $250,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 19% 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, 38 have fewer than Sugar Creek.

Jackson County, which includes Sugar Creek, has been named in 26 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 19 of them major disasters (by incident: 11 severe storms, 7 floods, 3 ice storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 26, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Jackson County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for tornadoes and hail; Relatively High for inland flooding, strong wind, lightning and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $250.6 million a year, the 3rd highest of 115 Missouri counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $109.1 million (44%), 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 Sugar Creek