NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Welsh, LA
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
46 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Welsh, Louisiana since 1851, 15 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Delta in 2020. Since 1950, 159 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 15
- Tropical storms
- 31
- Tornadoes
- 159
- EF3 or stronger
- 5
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
3 deaths in all
What the records show for Welsh
The strongest storm to pass near Welsh was Laura in 2020, a Category 4 hurricane with 133 mph winds when its centre passed 28 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was Delta in 2020, whose centre crossed the city. The record near Welsh begins with an unnamed storm in 1856; the most recent system was Delta in 2020. The 1970s and the 2000s were the busiest decades, with 5 systems each. Of the 46 systems, 11 have come since 2000. Welsh has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 55% of the 245 Louisiana cities on this site. The highest rating among the 159 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 5 times; the most recent, on November 21, 1992, came within 8 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on October 29, 1974, killed 2 people. Of the 159, 12 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 81 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 24. The most recent tornado was on November 5, 2024. Welsh has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 87% of the 245 Louisiana cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 29 times since 1983, with stones up to 2.5 inches (tennis ball size). Of the 245 Louisiana cities, 65% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Welsh.
Compare Welsh's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Welsh
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | DeltaOct 10 | overhead | Category 1 (83 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2020 | LauraAug 27 | 28 mi | Category 4 (133 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2019 | BarryJul 13 | 8 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2017 | HarveyAug 30 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2017 | CindyJun 22 | 55 mi | Tropical storm (49 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2011 | LeeSep 4 | 55 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2008 | GustavSep 1 | 45 mi | Tropical storm (70 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2007 | HumbertoSep 13 | 37 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2005 | RitaSep 24 | 62 mi | Category 2 (106 mph) | Category 5 |
| 2004 | IvanSep 23 | 73 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 5 |
| 2002 | LiliOct 3 | 28 mi | Category 1 (74 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1992 | AndrewAug 26 | 68 mi | Category 1 (90 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1985 | JuanOct 30 | 33 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1985 | DannyAug 15 | 12 mi | Category 1 (76 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1982 | ChrisSep 11 | 45 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1980 | DanielleSep 5 | 68 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1979 | ClaudetteJul 24 | 64 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1978 | DebraAug 29 | 34 mi | Tropical storm (41 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1974 | CarmenSep 8 | 14 mi | Category 1 (81 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1973 | Unnamed 1973 stormSep 12 | 10 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1971 | EdithSep 16 | 35 mi | Category 1 (87 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1965 | BetsySep 10 | 74 mi | Category 1 (75 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1957 | BerthaAug 10 | 54 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1957 | AudreyJun 27 | 44 mi | Category 2 (101 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1955 | Unnamed 1955 stormAug 27 | 17 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1954 | BarbaraJul 29 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1947 | Unnamed 1947 stormSep 20 | 52 mi | Tropical storm (67 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1940 | Unnamed 1940 stormSep 24 | overhead | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1940 | Unnamed 1940 stormAug 7 | 62 mi | Category 2 (98 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1938 | Unnamed 1938 stormAug 15 | 38 mi | Tropical storm (64 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1937 | Unnamed 1937 stormOct 3 | 58 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1932 | Unnamed 1932 stormSep 19 | 65 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1926 | Unnamed 1926 stormAug 26 | 38 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1920 | Unnamed 1920 stormSep 22 | 73 mi | Tropical storm (66 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1918 | Unnamed 1918 stormAug 6 | 34 mi | Category 3 (113 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1908 | Unnamed 1908 stormAug 1 | 1 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1905 | Unnamed 1905 stormSep 29 | 34 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1898 | Unnamed 1898 stormSep 20 | 13 mi | Tropical storm (48 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1897 | Unnamed 1897 stormSep 13 | 52 mi | Category 1 (86 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1886 | Unnamed 1886 stormOct 13 | 47 mi | Category 1 (85 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1886 | Unnamed 1886 stormJun 14 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (71 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1882 | Unnamed 1882 stormSep 15 | 54 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1875 | Unnamed 1875 stormSep 18 | 34 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1865 | Unnamed 1865 stormSep 13 | 38 mi | Category 1 (90 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1863 | Unnamed 1863 stormSep 30 | 14 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1856 | Unnamed 1856 stormAug 11 | 56 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 4 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Welsh: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Welsh
By decade
- 2020s17
- 2010s37
- 2000s27
- 1990s25(1 EF3+)
- 1980s16
- 1970s18(3 EF3+)
- 1960s13
- 1950s6(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 29, 1974 | F3 | 14 mi | 31.3 mi | 2 / 52 |
| Nov 21, 1992 | F3 | 8 mi | 6 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Apr 17, 1973 | F3 | 20 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 12, 1971 | F3 | 20 mi | 3.6 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Apr 4, 1952 | F3 | 4 mi | 36.7 mi | 0 / 10 |
| Apr 10, 2024 | EF2 | 22 mi | 1.05 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 27, 2021 | EF2 | 25 mi | 2.2 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Aug 29, 2017 | EF2 | 14 mi | 2.18 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 21, 2012 | EF2 | 24 mi | 4.16 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Dec 24, 2009 | EF2 | 24 mi | 5.58 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 2, 1999 | F2 | 18 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 2, 1999 | F2 | 10 mi | 4 mi | 0 / 2 |
The strongest 12 of 159, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Welsh
The Storm Prediction Center has 29 hail reports within 10 miles of Welsh since 1983, made on 26 separate days. Of these, 18 were 1 inch across or larger, and 3 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.5 inches (tennis ball size), fell on May 12, 2024, the most recent report. March and April have the most reports, 7 each.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Welsh
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Jennings, LA, 11 miles east of Welsh at 25 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 73°F; January is the coolest, at 60°F and 42°F. August is the wettest at 6.8 inches of precipitation on average and March the driest at 3.8 inches; the year adds up to 63.6 inches over 79 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (34.2 of 63.6 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 46 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (22); a normal September there has highs of 88°F and 5.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 73 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 14 nights a year. That 63.6 inches is more than at 58 of the 81 Louisiana stations used on this site (72%). Iowa, 10 miles west, has its own station (Moss Bluff 2 NNW, LA): 69.3 inches a year, 5.7 more than here, and an August average high of 92°F against 91°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Lake Charles, LA, 23 miles west, averaged 89°F in August and 59°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to September.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 60 | 42 | 6.3 | 7 | 59 |
| Feb | 64 | 45 | 4.3 | 7 | 61 |
| Mar | 71 | 52 | 3.8 | 6 | 68 |
| Apr | 77 | 58 | 4.8 | 5 | 74 |
| May | 84 | 66 | 5.5 | 5 | 81 |
| Jun | 89 | 72 | 6.6 | 9 | 87 |
| Jul | 90 | 74 | 5.4 | 9 | 89 |
| Aug | 91 | 73 | 6.8 | 8 | 89 |
| Sep | 88 | 69 | 5.8 | 7 | 86 |
| Oct | 80 | 59 | 4.7 | 5 | 79 |
| Nov | 70 | 49 | 4.9 | 6 | 70 |
| Dec | 63 | 44 | 4.7 | 7 | 63 |
| Year | 77 | 58 | 63.6 | 79 | 76 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Jennings, LA (25 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Lake Charles, LA, from NOAA Tides & Currents. 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 Welsh
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 46 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Welsh: 40 thunderstorm wind reports, 4 flash floods and 2 floods. They killed 0 people and injured 6, and the NWS estimated $2.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 66 mph, on January 11, 2020.
February 26, 1998: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Welsh — 3 injured, $300,000 damage.
February 26, 1998: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Welsh — 3 injured, $200,000 damage.
October 13, 2001: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Welsh — $1.0 million 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 Welsh's ZIP code 70591 have filed 97 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $2.6 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Mid-summer severe storms in 2016: 38 claims (39% of all) and $1.6 million, then Flooding in 1980 with 18. 72% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 219 Louisiana cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 75 have fewer than Welsh.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-summer severe storms2016 | 38 | $1.6 million |
| Flooding1980 | 18 | $185,000 |
Jefferson Davis Parish, which includes Welsh, has been named in 42 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1971, 22 of them major disasters (by incident: 25 hurricanes, 4 severe storms, 3 coastal storms, 3 floods). The latest major disaster declaration was Hurricane Ida, on August 29, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Jefferson Davis Parish a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for lightning; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes and tornadoes; Relatively Low for hail, inland flooding, coastal flooding, strong wind and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $27.7 million a year, the 27th highest of 64 Louisiana counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $10.4 million (37%), is from hurricanes.
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).
Welsh in the notable storm records: Hurricane Rita (2005)
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.
Cities near Welsh
- Jennings, LA10 mi
- Iowa, LA10 mi
- Lake Arthur, LA13 mi
- Bell City, LA17 mi
- Kinder, LA17 mi
- Elton, LA18 mi
- Morse, LA20 mi
- Iota, LA21 mi
- Basile, LA22 mi
- Lake Charles, LA23 mi
- Gueydan, LA24 mi
- Ragley, LA24 mi
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