Minnesota natural disasters

The state's storm and disaster record · population 5,703,552 · 87 counties and county equivalents

NOAA's Storm Events Database records 56,536 storm events in Minnesota since 1950, 50,664 of them since 1996 when every event type began to be recorded, and the Storm Prediction Center counts 2,216 tornadoes in the state since 1950. The most frequent records are hail reports (15,756). In NOAA's storm record since 1950, the deadliest tornado day in Minnesota was August 6, 1969: tornadoes and the storms that came with them killed 15 people in the state; the deadliest of them in Minnesota, the Fifty Lakes tornado, killed 12 (SPC). FEMA has made 81 declarations for Minnesota since 1957, 76 for natural hazards; 63 were major disasters.

The record, 1950 to 2026

Storm events recorded in Minnesota each year (2026 to June 30, 2026). Before 1996 NOAA recorded only tornadoes (from 1950), thunderstorm wind and hail (from 1955).

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
1955: wind and hail recorded from 1955
1996: all 48 event types from 1996

Storm events recorded: 56,5361950 to June 30, 2026
Deaths recorded: 2982,843 injuries
Damage, 2025 dollars: $15.8Bas filed (scale steps before 1993)
Tornadoes (SPC): 2,2161950 to 2025
FEMA declarations: 8163 major disasters

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026 (file revision 20260918); tornado count: NOAA Storm Prediction Center, 1950-2025; damage in 2025 dollars (BLS CPI-U). Search the record at NCEI.

What natural disasters happen in Minnesota?

By NOAA's records, Minnesota's most frequent hazards are hail reports (15,756), severe thunderstorm wind events (13,697), winter storm records (12,156); the deadliest are tornadoes (101 deaths). Each hazard is counted over the years NOAA has recorded it everywhere: tornadoes since 1950, hail and thunderstorm wind since 1955, everything else since 1996. Open a hazard for its years, months, counties and worst events.

Minnesota: records by hazard to June 30, 2026
Hazard	Records	Last 10 years	Killed	Injured	Damage	Counties
Hail	15,756	3,748	0	30	$1.9B	87 of 87
Severe thunderstorm wind	13,697	3,790	22	158	$1.7B	87 of 87
Winter storms	12,156	4,630	63	209	$151M	87 of 87
Extreme cold	4,238	1,914	35	19	$1.5M	87 of 87
Floods	2,680	774	23	40	$3.2B	87 of 87
Tornadoes	2,433	531	101	1,987	$8.7B	87 of 87
High wind and dust storms	1,541	489	8	27	$24M	86 of 87
Drought	1,446	623	0	0	$110M	45 of 87
Heat	807	270	19	258	$1.6M	85 of 87
Fog, smoke and funnel clouds	787	192	7	18	$246K	82 of 87
Heavy rain	668	184	4	3	$480K	69 of 87
Lightning	288	38	11	82	$34M	72 of 87
Wildfires	27	13	0	6	$29M	15 of 87
Rip currents and high surf	11	8	5	6	$202K	4 of 87
Landslides and avalanches	1	0	0	0	–	1 of 87

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: every record counted once in the state; "last 10 years" is 2017-2026 (2026 to June 30, 2026).

What were the deadliest disasters in Minnesota?

The storms with the most deaths since 1950, from the National Weather Service's own entries. NOAA files one storm as several records when it crosses forecast zones and counties or changes type, and groups them under one episode; each row here is an episode, with its totals and the narrative of its deadliest record. Before 1996 tornado records carry no episode and stand alone. The narrative says what happened: some deaths the National Weather Service files under a weather type had another cause beside the weather.

Minnesota: the 10 storm episodes with the most deaths
Date	Record	Character	Killed	Injured	Damage
1969-08-06	Tornadoes of the day; the deadliest, Fifty Lakes, killed 12 (SPC) · TornadoCass County Every tornado record filed in the state that day (15, in 5 places; before 1996 NOAA filed no storm episodes); the totals are the day's.	F4 12.3 mi x 833 yd	15	109	$2.5M step
1965-05-06	Tornadoes of the day; the deadliest, Minneapolis to Blaine, killed 6 (SPC) · TornadoHennepin County Every tornado record filed in the state that day (10, in 5 places; before 1996 NOAA filed no storm episodes); the totals are the day's.	F4 5.9 mi x 667 yd	13	683	$25M step
1967-04-30	Tornadoes of the day; the deadliest, Waseca, killed 6 (SPC) · TornadoWaseca County Every tornado record filed in the state that day (11, in 5 places; before 1996 NOAA filed no storm episodes); the totals are the day's.	F4 18.2 mi x 267 yd	13	80	$25M step
1968-06-13	Tornadoes of the day; the deadliest, Tracy, killed 9 (SPC) · TornadoLyon County Every tornado record filed in the state that day (7, in 7 places; before 1996 NOAA filed no storm episodes); the totals are the day's.	F5 6.8 mi x 150 yd	9	150	$2.5M step
1953-05-10	Tornadoes of the day; the deadliest, Hollandale, killed 6 (SPC) · TornadoFreeborn County Every tornado record filed in the state that day (5, in 5 places; before 1996 NOAA filed no storm episodes); the totals are the day's.	F2 6.9 mi x 67 yd	8	20	$3K step
2007-08-18	Flash FloodLewiston, Winona County One storm episode: 19 records in 6 places, 2007-08-18 to 2007-08-19; the totals are the episode's. A warm front lifting northward into Iowa triggered round after round of thunderstorms with excessive rainfall across southeast Minnesota during the evening and overnight hours of August 18-19. This was after rain had fallen earlier in the day. Total rainfall amounts of 10 to 15 inches were common, which produced ...		7	32	$258M
1951-07-20	Tornadoes of the day; the deadliest, Minnetonka to Bloomington, killed 5 (SPC) · TornadoHennepin County	F3 11.6 mi x 33 yd	5	40	$25M step
2001-08-07	HeatCarlton County and St. Louis County · forecast zone Southern St. Louis / Carlton Five people died in a two-day heat wave, during which high temperatures of 91 degrees and heat indexes of 101 were reached. The victims, all in the Duluth area, included 4 males and 1 female, ranging in age from 47 to 73. All were found in rooms without air conditioning and with poor ventilation. The St. Louis County ...		5	0	–
2001-08-04	HeatYellow Medicine County · forecast zone Yellow Medicine An extensive heat wave persisted for five days and resulted in five fatalities in Minneapolis and its suburbs. All deaths occurred in Hennepin County and were determined by the county medical examiner. Three of the victims had been on medications at the time.Hot weather and tropical-like humidity pervaded the region, ...		5	0	–
1978-07-05	Tornadoes of the day; the deadliest, Fosston, killed 4 (SPC) · TornadoNorman County Every tornado record filed in the state that day (4, in 4 places; before 1996 NOAA filed no storm episodes); the totals are the day's.	F2 15.2 mi x 400 yd	4	44	$25M step

A damage figure marked "step" is a record from before 1993: NOAA then filed damage by category, and the figure is the category as entered, in the dollars of that year, not an estimate of the loss.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths direct and indirect, as filed in this state, summed over the records of each episode (EPISODE_ID); a forecast-zone record counts the zone's deaths once. A tornado's whole-track deaths (SPC), on the state's tornado page, can be higher when the track crossed a state line. Storm names from the titles of FEMA declarations that name the storm's counties.

The costliest records in Minnesota

Minnesota: the 8 records with the most damage since 1993, 2025 dollars
Date	Record	Character	Killed	Injured	Damage
1997-04-17	FloodPolk County · forecast zone West Polk		0	0	$1.1B
1998-05-15	HailBloomington, Hennepin County	0.75 in hail	0	0	$815M
2001-04-01	FloodAnoka County · forecast zone Anoka		3	1	$333M
2002-06-10	FloodRoseau County · forecast zone Roseau		0	0	$328M
1998-05-15	Thunderstorm WindSavage, Scott County		0	0	$308M
1998-05-15	TornadoRoseville, Ramsey County	F1 7 mi x 350 yd	0	0	$272M
1998-05-30	Thunderstorm WindBurnsville, Dakota County		0	7	$253M
2011-05-22	TornadoSt Louis Park, Hennepin County	EF1 6.05 mi x 880 yd	1	48	$218M

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 $25M, in the dollars of the day) holds: May 6, 1965 (tornado, Hennepin County, 6 killed); April 30, 1967 (tornado, Waseca County, 6 killed); July 20, 1951 (tornado, Hennepin County, 5 killed); April 30, 1967 (tornado, Freeborn County, 5 killed); May 6, 1965 (tornado, Anoka County, 3 killed).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, converted to 2025 dollars with the BLS CPI-U. BLS consumer price index.

Which counties in Minnesota have the most records?

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1950 attributed to each county (forecast-zone records count on every county the zone covers).

Every county in Minnesota

Billion-dollar disasters in Minnesota

NOAA counted 62 weather or climate disasters from 1980-2024 that cost at least $1 billion (adjusted for inflation) and affected Minnesota, led by severe storm (38). The most recent: Central and Eastern Tornado Outbreak and Severe Weather (2024); Upper Midwest Flooding (2024); Central and Eastern Severe Weather (2024).

Minnesota: billion-dollar disasters by type, 1980-2024
Type	Events	Total cost (NOAA's range)
Severe Storm	38	$20.0B-$50.0B
Drought	12	$10.0B-$20.0B
Flooding	6	$5.0B-$10.0B
Winter Storm	3	$100M-$250M
Wildfire	2	$100M-$250M
Freeze	1	$5M-$100M

Every one of the 62, newest first

Central and Eastern Tornado Outbreak and Severe Weather2024
Upper Midwest Flooding2024
Central and Eastern Severe Weather2024
Central, Southern, Eastern Severe Weather2024
Minnesota Hail Storms2023
North Central and Eastern Severe Weather2023
North Central and Southeastern Severe Weather2023
Northeastern Flooding and North Central Severe Weather2023
Central Severe Weather2023
Southern/Midwestern Drought and Heatwave2023
Central Tornado Outbreak and Eastern Severe Weather2023
Central and Eastern Winter Storm and Cold Wave2022
North Central and Eastern Severe Weather2022
North Central Hail Storms2022
North Central Severe Weather2022
North Central Hail Storms2022
Southern Severe Weather2022
Western/Central Drought and Heat Wave2022
Midwest Derecho and Tornado Outbreak2021
Ohio Valley Hail Storms2021
Western Drought and Heat Wave2021
Central Severe Weather - Derecho2020
Central Severe Weather2020
Missouri River and North Central Flooding2019
Minnesota Hail Storm and Upper Midwest Severe Weather2017
North Central Severe Weather and Tornadoes2017
Midwest Tornado Outbreak2017
Midwest Severe Weather2013
Western/Plains Drought/Heat Wave2013
Southern Plains/Midwest/Northeast Severe Weather2012
U.S. Drought/Heat Wave2012
Rockies and Midwest Derecho2011
North Central Severe Weather2011
Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes2011
Midwest/Mid-Atlantic Severe Weather2008
Midwest Tornadoes and Severe Weather2008
Midwest Flooding2008
U.S. Drought2008
Western/Eastern Drought/Heat Wave2007
Western Wildfires2007
Central Severe Weather2006
North Central Severe Weather and Tornadoes2006
Midwest/Plains/Southeast Drought2006
California Wildfires2003
Midwest/Plains Severe Weather2003
Western/Central Drought/Heat Wave2003
North Central Severe Weather2001
Midwest/Ohio Valley Hail and Tornadoes2001
Central and Eastern Severe Storms and Flooding1998
Northern Plains and Great Lakes Derecho, Tornadoes1998
Minnesota Severe Storms/Hail1998
Northern Plains Flooding1997
Midwest/Plains Tornadoes1994
Northern Plains and Ohio Valley Severe Weather1993
Midwest Flooding1993
U.S. Drought1991
U.S. Drought/Heat Wave1988
Winter Storm, Cold Wave1985
Freeze/Cold Wave1983
Midwest/Plains/Southeast Tornadoes1982
Midwest/Southeast/Northeast Winter Storm, Cold Wave1982
Central/Eastern Drought/Heat Wave1980

Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters, state summary for Minnesota, 1980-2024 (NCEI's last update; the product is archived). A disaster that affected several states counts in each. NCEI billion-dollar disasters.

Federal disaster declarations in Minnesota

FEMA has made 81 declarations for Minnesota since 1957: 63 major disasters, 8 emergencies and 10 fire management assistance declarations. The most common incident types are flood (31), severe storm (26), fire (10).

1950s 1
1960s 6
1970s 18
1980s 2
1990s 14
2000s 14
2010s 15
2020s 11

The 15 most recent declarations in Minnesota
Declared	Number	Type	Title	Areas named
2025-10-22	DR-4894	Straight-Line Winds	Severe Storms and Straight-Line Winds	1
2025-05-14	FM-5583	Fire	Munger Shaw Fire	1
2024-06-28	DR-4797	Flood	Severe Storms and Flooding	32
2023-07-19	DR-4722	Flood	Severe Storms and Flooding	26
2022-08-09	DR-4666	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding	23
2022-07-13	DR-4659	Flood	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding	19
2022-07-08	DR-4658	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding	23
2020-04-07	DR-4531	Biological	Covid-19 Pandemic	107
2020-03-13	EM-3508	Biological	Covid-19	1
2020-03-13	EM-3503	Biological	Covid-19	1
2020-03-13	EM-3453	Biological	Covid-19	105
2019-06-12	DR-4442	Flood	Severe Winter Storm, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding	55
2019-02-01	DR-4414	Flood	Severe Storms and Flooding	1
2018-09-05	DR-4390	Flood	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding	31
2016-11-02	DR-4290	Flood	Severe Storms and Flooding	10

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.

Flood insurance claims in Minnesota

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $155 million on 12,290 claims in 86 Minnesota counties. Claims count insured losses only.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims, as of September 8, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.

FEMA's modeled risk across Minnesota's counties

How FEMA's National Risk Index rates Minnesota's counties overall: a model of expected future loss from 18 hazards, not a count of events.

Relatively High 2
Relatively Moderate 6
Relatively Low 36
Very Low 43

Source: FEMA National Risk Index, county table, December 2025 release. FEMA's National Risk Index map.