NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Whitefish, MT
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 Whitefish, Montana since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 2 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 2
- EF3 or stronger
- 0
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Whitefish
The highest rating among the 2 tornadoes within 25 miles is F0 or EF0, reached 2 times; the most recent, on April 9, 2008, came within 14 miles. Of the 73 Montana cities on this site, 73% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Whitefish. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 15 times since 1966, with stones up to 1.75 inches (golf ball size). Of the 73 Montana cities, 66% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Whitefish.
Compare Whitefish's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Whitefish
By decade
- 2000s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 9, 2008 | EF0 | 14 mi | 0.01 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 10, 2000 | F0 | 5 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 2 of 2, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Whitefish
The Storm Prediction Center has 15 hail reports within 10 miles of Whitefish since 1966. Of these, 10 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1.75 inches (golf ball size), fell on June 26, 1993. The most recent report is from July 18, 2016. July has the most reports, 8.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Whitefish
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Whitefish, MT, 3 miles east of Whitefish at 3,100 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 81°F and low of 50°F; January is the coolest, at 29°F and 16°F. June is the wettest at 3.2 inches of precipitation on average and August the driest at 0.9 inches; the year adds up to 20.1 inches over 65 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 13 days a year, almost all from July to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 195 nights a year. Snowfall averages 63.1 inches a year, most of it in December. That 20.1 inches is more than at 51 of the 58 Montana stations used on this site (88%). Kalispell, 15 miles south, has its own station (Kalispell Glacier Airport, MT): 16.8 inches a year, 3.3 less than here, and a July average high of 82°F against 81°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 29 | 16 | 1.8 | 7 | 16.5 |
| Feb | 34 | 16 | 1.3 | 5 | 7.0 |
| Mar | 43 | 23 | 1.3 | 4 | 8.0 |
| Apr | 53 | 30 | 1.6 | 5 | 1.6 |
| May | 64 | 39 | 2.0 | 7 | 0.1 |
| Jun | 70 | 45 | 3.2 | 9 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 81 | 50 | 1.4 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 80 | 48 | 0.9 | 3 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 69 | 40 | 1.3 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 53 | 31 | 1.5 | 5 | 0.4 |
| Nov | 38 | 24 | 1.7 | 6 | 8.3 |
| Dec | 29 | 18 | 2.1 | 7 | 21.2 |
| Year | 53 | 32 | 20.1 | 65 | 63.1 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Whitefish, MT (3,100 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 Whitefish
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 6 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Whitefish: 3 thunderstorm wind reports, 1 flash flood, 1 heavy rain event and 1 lightning strike. They killed 0 people and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $517,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 68 mph, on August 22, 2023.
May 29, 2008: lightning strike 10 miles from the centre of Whitefish — 2 injured.
NWS: “Two firefighters, a 25 year old woman and a 29 year old man, members of the Flahtead National Forest were struck by lightning while finishing up a mop up of a prescribed burn west of Whitefish, MT and heading back to their vehicles. The lightning directly hit two nearby trees and injuried the firefighters.”
June 15, 2022: flash flood 10 miles from the centre of Whitefish — $500,000 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 Whitefish's ZIP code 59937 have filed 13 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1996, and were paid $23,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. Of the 26 Montana cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 4 have fewer than Whitefish.
Flathead County, which includes Whitefish, has been named in 15 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1974, 9 of them major disasters (by incident: 5 fires, 3 floods, 3 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storm and Straight-Line Winds, on April 7, 2026. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Flathead County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for inland flooding and lightning; Relatively Low for heat waves; Very Low for tornadoes, hail and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $75.4 million a year, the highest of 56 Montana counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $23.8 million (32%), 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.