NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit West St 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 West St Paul, Minnesota since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 106 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 10 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 106
- EF3 or stronger
- 10
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
23 deaths in all
What the records show for West St Paul
The highest rating among the 106 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 4 times; the most recent, on July 3, 1983, came within 24 miles. The deadliest, an F4 on May 6, 1965, killed 6 people. Of the 106, 6 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 54 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 28. The most recent tornado was on June 28, 2025. West St Paul has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 80% of the 341 Minnesota cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 378 times since 1956, with stones up to 4 inches (softball size). West St Paul has more hail reports within 10 miles than 95% of the 341 Minnesota cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of West St Paul
By decade
- 2020s17
- 2010s17
- 2000s20(1 EF3+)
- 1990s14
- 1980s10(4 EF3+)
- 1970s6
- 1960s14(3 EF3+)
- 1950s8(2 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 13 mi | 17.3 mi | 6 / 158 |
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 12 mi | 6.8 mi | 3 / 175 |
| Jul 3, 1983 | F4 | 24 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 4 |
| May 6, 1965 | F4 | 21 mi | 6.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 20, 1951 | F3 | 8 mi | 11.6 mi | 5 / 40 |
| May 25, 2008 | EF3 | 19 mi | 5.96 mi | 1 / 17 |
| Apr 26, 1984 | F3 | 10 mi | 5.5 mi | 1 / 52 |
| Jun 14, 1981 | F3 | 2 mi | 16.2 mi | 1 / 83 |
| Jul 23, 1987 | F3 | 19 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 24, 1958 | F3 | 18 mi | 59.4 mi | 0 / 12 |
| May 10, 1953 | F2 | 22 mi | 105.7 mi | 4 / 27 |
| Sep 21, 2005 | F2 | 20 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 1 |
The strongest 12 of 106, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in West St Paul
The Storm Prediction Center has 378 hail reports within 10 miles of West St Paul since 1956, made on 143 separate days. Of these, 256 were 1 inch across or larger, and 21 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, 139.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in West St Paul
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is St Paul Downtown Airport, MN, 3 miles northeast of West St 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%). Mendota Heights, 3 miles southwest, has its own station (Minneapolis/St Paul Airport, MN): 31.7 inches a year, 2.4 more than here, and the same July average high, 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 West St Paul
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 277 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of West St Paul: 232 thunderstorm wind reports, 25 flash floods, 10 heavy rain events, 8 lightning strikes and 2 floods. They killed 3 people and injured 18, and the NWS estimated $48.0 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, 13 of 25. Of the 312 Minnesota cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 287 have had fewer than West St Paul.
July 26, 2007: heavy rain event 5 miles from the centre of West St Paul — 2 killed.
September 20, 2007: flash flood 5 miles from the centre of West St Paul — 1 killed, $200,000 damage.
May 30, 1998: thunderstorm wind 4 miles from the centre of West St 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 West St Paul's ZIP code 55118 have filed 47 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $2.8 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 26% 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, 83 have fewer than West St Paul.
Dakota County, which includes West St Paul, has been named in 16 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 12 of them major disasters (by incident: 6 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 Dakota County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for strong wind; Relatively High for tornadoes, hail and lightning; Relatively Moderate for inland flooding and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $133.7 million a year, the 3rd highest of 87 Minnesota counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $56.6 million (42%), 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 West St Paul
- South St Paul, MN3 mi
- Mendota Heights, MN3 mi
- Saint Paul, MN4 mi
- Inver Grove Heights, MN5 mi
- Newport, MN5 mi
- St Paul Park, MN7 mi
- Eagan, MN7 mi
- Roseville, MN8 mi
- Maplewood, MN8 mi
- Woodbury, MN9 mi
- Oakdale, MN9 mi
- Richfield, MN9 mi
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