Hawaii tornadoes

Name: Tornadoes in Hawaii, 1950-2025
Creator: NOAA Storm Prediction Center
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Every recorded tornado since 1950 · 4 counties with a record

Hawaii has recorded 41 tornadoes from 1950 through 2025, about 1.6 a year since 2000, with 0 rated F3/EF3 or stronger (NOAA Storm Prediction Center). The costliest was the March 24, 2002 tornado ($98,000 in 2025 dollars). Hawaii ranks 48th of 52 states and territories by count and 39th of 51 per square mile.

Tornadoes in Hawaii, 1950 to 2025

Tornadoes per year (SPC; a tornado that crossed a state line counts in each state it touched).

recorded, no damage figure
under $1 million
$1 million or more
$10 million or more
$100 million or more, or 10 deaths
$1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
a year with a death
1996: tornado reports rose with NEXRAD Doppler radar, mid-1990s (SPC)

Tornadoes: 411950 to 2025
A year since 2000: 1.6average
Deaths: 06 injuries
F3/EF3 or stronger: 00% of tornadoes
Busiest year: 19715 tornadoes

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025 (state segments). SPC severe weather database.

Are tornadoes common in Hawaii?

Hawaii averages about 1.6 tornadoes a year since 2000, 48th of 52 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 1971 (5). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Hawaii records 64 tornadoes since 1950, 39th of 51 states and territories by that measure.

Source: NOAA SPC, tornadoes 1950-2025, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.

Which counties in Hawaii have the most tornadoes?

Per square mile, Honolulu County leads Hawaii: 19 days with a tornado record since 1950, 31.6 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Honolulu County has the most tornado records (20 since 1950); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).

Honolulu County 31.6 (20)
Kauai County 9.7 (6)
Maui County 4.3 (5)
Hawaii County 2.2 (10)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1950 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.

When is tornado season in Hawaii?

44% of its tornadoes since 1950 fell in February and March. The busiest month is March (11 tornadoes).

The values, month by month

Jan 6 · Feb 7 · Mar 11 · Apr 3 · May 2 · Jun 1 · Jul 0 · Aug 0 · Sep 4 · Oct 0 · Nov 2 · Dec 5 (records).

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, state segments by the month they began, 1950-2025.

Where have the strongest tornadoes tracked in Hawaii?

F2/EF2
F3/EF3
F4/EF4
F5/EF5
no end point filed

4 tornadoes rated 2 or higher drawn from start to end of the whole track (a track that crossed into Hawaii from another state is drawn in full); 37 rated 0 or 1 are left off the map.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, start and end points of each track; county lines: Census Bureau cartographic boundaries (2017), via us-atlas. SPC severe weather database. Census cartographic boundary files.

The strongest tornadoes in Hawaii

Hawaii: the highest-rated tornadoes, 1950-2025
Date	Counties	Rating	Path in state	Width
1971-01-28	Kailua · Hawaii	F2	1 mi	100 yd
1982-02-11	East Honolulu · Honolulu	F2	0.1 mi	10 yd
1982-02-11	Maunawili · Honolulu	F2	0.1 mi	10 yd
1982-03-18	Schofield Barracks · Honolulu	F2	0.1 mi	10 yd
1957-01-21	Honolulu	F1	2.5 mi	10 yd
1967-12-17	Kauai	F1	2.5 mi	70 yd
1971-01-28	Honolulu	F1	1.7 mi	33 yd
1980-03-20	Hawaii	F1	1 mi	10 yd
1971-06-15	Honolulu	F1	0.5 mi	17 yd
1988-03-25	Hawaii	F1	0.2 mi	10 yd

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database; F scale before February 1, 2007, EF scale after.

The longest tornado paths in Hawaii

Hawaii: the longest paths inside the state, 1950-2025
Date	Tornado and counties	Rating	Path in state	Width
2004-02-28	Hawaii	F0	5 mi	25 yd
2005-01-09	Kauai	F0	5 mi	10 yd
1957-01-21	Honolulu	F1	2.5 mi	10 yd
1967-12-17	Kauai	F1	2.5 mi	70 yd
1971-12-18	Kauai	F0	2.5 mi	100 yd
1971-01-28	Honolulu	F1	1.7 mi	33 yd
1975-11-26		F0	1.5 mi	60 yd
2012-03-09	Honolulu	EF0	1.29 mi	10 yd
1971-01-28	Kailua · Hawaii	F2	1 mi	100 yd
1980-03-20	Hawaii	F1	1 mi	10 yd

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, state segments: path length and width inside the state. SPC severe weather database.

Tornadoes in every Hawaii county

All 4 counties: tornadoes whose track touched each, and the strongest

Hawaii: tornadoes whose track touched each county since 1950, most first
County	Tornadoes	Strongest
Honolulu County	20	F/EF2
Hawaii County	8	F/EF2
Kauai County	6	F/EF1
Maui County	5	F/EF0

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database: whole tornadoes whose track touched the county (any state segment listing it). SPC severe weather database.

The costliest tornadoes in Hawaii

Hawaii: the most damaging tornadoes since 1993, 2025 dollars
Date	Record	Character	Killed	Injured	Damage
2002-03-24	TornadoAnahola, Kauai County At 1455 HST, a tornado touched down in Anahola Valley near the park and then skipped over homes and moved toward Anahola's Bayview and Papaa areas before moving to the south end of neighboring Moloaa Valley and dissipating. Six homes sustained roof and wall damage in the Bayview and Papaa locales. Small trees and ...	F0 1 mi x 30 yd	0	0	$98K

Before 1993 NOAA filed damage by category, not amount, so the list above starts in 1993. The highest category filed here before then (entered as $2.5M, in the dollars of the day) holds: January 28, 1971 (tornado, Hawaii County).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

Are tornadoes becoming more frequent in Hawaii?

Hawaii's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. The Storm Prediction Center notes that tornado reports rose especially around the installation of the NEXRAD Doppler radar network in the mid-1990s, so a rising count is partly better detection; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.

Tornadoes: Hawaii and the United States by decade
Decade	Hawaii	United States	Hawaii's share
1950s	2	4,837	0.04%
1960s	5	6,863	0.07%
1970s	9	8,633	0.10%
1980s	11	8,250	0.13%
1990s	0	12,205	0
2000s	11	12,892	0.09%
2010s	3	12,232	0.02%
2020-25	0	8,234	0

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, state segments.

The most recent tornadoes in Hawaii

The 12 most recent records, to June 30, 2026
Date	Record	Character	Injured	Damage
2015-04-23	TornadoEwa Beach, Honolulu County	EF0 1 mi x 10 yd	0	–
2012-03-09	TornadoKailua, Honolulu County	EF0 1.29 mi x 10 yd	0	–
2011-02-11	TornadoI Kihei, Maui County	EF0 0.01 mi x 10 yd	0	–
2009-02-11	TornadoBarbers Pt Housing, Honolulu County	EF0 0.36 mi x 15 yd	1	–
2008-12-13	TornadoPakala Village, Kauai County	EF0 0.85 mi x 10 yd	0	–
2008-09-23	TornadoLanai Airport, Maui County	EF0 0.81 mi x 5 yd	0	–
2006-03-25	TornadoHaiku, Maui County	F0 1 mi x 10 yd	0	–
2006-03-23	TornadoKaumalapau Harbor, Maui County	F0 1 mi x 20 yd	0	–
2005-12-04	TornadoAiea, Honolulu County	F0 0.1 mi x 10 yd	0	–
2005-01-08	TornadoWaimea, Kauai County	F0 5 mi x 10 yd	0	–
2004-02-27	TornadoPahala, Hawaii County	F0 5 mi x 25 yd	0	–
2004-02-07	TornadoAiea, Honolulu County	F0 1 mi x 15 yd	0	–

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.