NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Waterloo, NE
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 Waterloo, Nebraska since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 137 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 9 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 137
- EF3 or stronger
- 9
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
6 deaths in all
What the records show for Waterloo
The highest rating among the 137 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4 or EF4, reached 4 times; the most recent, on April 26, 2024, passed within a mile of the city centre. The deadliest, an F4 on May 6, 1975, killed 3 people. Of the 137, 8 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 66 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 40. The most recent tornado was on April 17, 2025. Waterloo has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 74% of the 91 Nebraska cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 288 times since 1956, with stones up to 4.5 inches (grapefruit size). Waterloo has more hail reports within 10 miles than 89% of the 91 Nebraska cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Waterloo
By decade
- 2020s22(3 EF3+)
- 2010s22
- 2000s22
- 1990s15
- 1980s11(1 EF3+)
- 1970s15(1 EF3+)
- 1960s9(1 EF3+)
- 1950s21(3 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 1975 | F4 | 13 mi | 8 mi | 3 / 133 |
| Apr 25, 1957 | F4 | 11 mi | 89.8 mi | 1 / 8 |
| Apr 26, 2024 | EF4 | in town | 31.89 mi | 0 / 4 |
| Aug 13, 1952 | F4 | 12 mi | 26.7 mi | 0 / 20 |
| Apr 17, 2025 | EF3 | 14 mi | 8.12 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 26, 2024 | EF3 | 21 mi | 19.06 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 15, 1988 | F3 | 22 mi | 2.8 mi | 0 / 34 |
| Aug 18, 1968 | F3 | 18 mi | 21.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 13, 1952 | F3 | 4 mi | 44.4 mi | 0 / 1 |
| May 7, 1988 | F2 | 6 mi | 16.2 mi | 2 / 1 |
| May 12, 2023 | EF2 | 24 mi | 5.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 16, 2017 | EF2 | 21 mi | 13.99 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 137, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Waterloo
The Storm Prediction Center has 288 hail reports within 10 miles of Waterloo since 1956, made on 141 separate days. Of these, 214 were 1 inch across or larger, and 25 reached 2 inches. The largest size, 4.5 inches (grapefruit size), was reported on 2 days, most recently May 4, 2003. The most recent report is from April 21, 2025. June has the most reports, 76.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Waterloo
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Valley NWS, NE, 6 miles northwest of Waterloo at 1,145 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 33°F and 15°F. June is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.9 inches; the year adds up to 33.2 inches over 57 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 25 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 136 nights a year. Snowfall averages 31.8 inches a year, most of it in February. That 33.2 inches is more than at 62 of the 68 Nebraska stations used on this site (91%). Gretna, 10 miles south, has its own station (Gretna 4NE, NE): 33.3 inches a year, 0.1 more than here, and a July average high of 86°F against 87°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 33 | 15 | 0.9 | 2 | 7.4 |
| Feb | 38 | 19 | 1.0 | 3 | 9.5 |
| Mar | 50 | 30 | 1.8 | 4 | 5.0 |
| Apr | 62 | 41 | 3.1 | 7 | 1.4 |
| May | 73 | 53 | 4.7 | 8 | 0.1 |
| Jun | 83 | 64 | 5.3 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 87 | 68 | 4.0 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 84 | 65 | 4.3 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 78 | 56 | 3.0 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 65 | 43 | 2.4 | 5 | 1.0 |
| Nov | 50 | 31 | 1.4 | 2 | 1.2 |
| Dec | 37 | 20 | 1.3 | 3 | 6.2 |
| Year | 62 | 42 | 33.2 | 57 | 31.8 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Valley NWS, NE (1,145 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 Waterloo
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 206 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Waterloo: 165 thunderstorm wind reports, 19 flash floods, 18 floods, 3 heavy rain events and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $42.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on July 31, 2024. May has had the most flash floods, 7 of 19. Of the 89 Nebraska cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 78 have had fewer than Waterloo.
August 9, 2025: thunderstorm wind 2 miles from the centre of Waterloo — 1 killed, 1 injured, $3.8 million damage.
NWS: “A highly damaging swath of severe thunderstorm winds moved across Douglas County, Nebraska, predominantly impacting the western and northern parts of the county, including the Omaha metropolitan area on the morning on August 9th, 2025.”
June 12, 2010: flood 9 miles from the centre of Waterloo — 1 injured, $2.0 million damage.
June 1, 2010: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Waterloo — 1 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 Waterloo's ZIP code 68069 have filed 152 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $3.6 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from March 2019 Midwest Flooding in 2019: 53 claims (35% of all) and $2.9 million. 38% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 41 Nebraska cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 33 have fewer than Waterloo.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| March 2019 Midwest Flooding2019 | 53 | $2.9 million |
Douglas County, which includes Waterloo, has been named in 29 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1967, 26 of them major disasters (by incident: 15 severe storms, 7 floods, 3 tornadoes, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, on October 22, 2025. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Douglas County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for tornadoes, hail and strong wind; Relatively High for inland flooding, lightning and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $233.9 million a year, the highest of 93 Nebraska counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $88.1 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 Waterloo
- Elkhorn, NE3 mi
- Yutan, NE5 mi
- Valley, NE5 mi
- Gretna, NE10 mi
- Bennington, NE10 mi
- Omaha, NE13 mi
- Ashland, NE14 mi
- La Vista, NE14 mi
- Springfield, NE15 mi
- Arlington, NE15 mi
- Fremont, NE16 mi
- Papillion, NE16 mi
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