Grand Island, NE Tornado History — 227 Tornadoes Since 1950
How many tornadoes has Grand Island, NE had?
Grand Island has had 227 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including 20 violent (EF3+) tornadoes.
When was the most recent tornado near Grand Island?
The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Grand Island was an Unrated on June 24, 2025.
When is tornado season in Grand Island?
May is historically the peak month for tornadoes near Grand Island, with 82 on record. Spring through early summer (April–June) generally sees the highest activity across most of the central and southern United States.
At a Glance
Recent Tornado Activity Near Grand Island
The last 20 years of confirmed tornadoes within 25 miles — 42 total, averaging 2.1 per year over this window.
Preliminary tornado reports near Grand Island since December 29, 2025
These are 2 preliminary reports, not confirmed tornadoes. They have not yet been through an NWS damage survey, and are not counted in the confirmed totals above.
Preliminary reports are revised, merged, and sometimes withdrawn — historically about 23% are consolidated downward once surveys complete. Ratings are omitted until a survey assigns one.
Confirmed records above are complete through December 29, 2025. NOAA publishes the confirmed archive annually, so tornadoes after that date appear here first and move into the totals above once finalized.
Within 25 miles of Grand Island. Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center preliminary storm reports, updated daily.
Tornadoes by Decade
Tornadoes by Enhanced Fujita Rating
F0–F5 ratings (pre-2007) are grouped with their EF equivalents. The Enhanced Fujita scale replaced the original Fujita scale in February 2007.
Tornadoes by Month
Casualties on Record Near Grand Island
13 fatalities have been recorded within 25 miles of Grand Island since 1950, across 5 events. 338 injuries have been reported across all events. 1980 was the deadliest year on record.
The deadliest single event was a F5 on May 5, 1964, which caused 4 fatalities along a 79.7-mile track.
Notable Tornadoes Near Grand Island
About Tornadoes in Grand Island
This overview was written August 10, 2026. The tornado counts and notable-event figures elsewhere on this page reflect the latest data and may differ from this summary.
The night of June 4, 1980, left a permanent mark on Grand Island, Nebraska: an F4 tornado nearly a mile wide crawled through the city, killing 3 people, injuring 110, and causing roughly $275 million in damage. Nights like that are possible here because Grand Island sits on the open plains of the Platte River valley, where warm, humid air drawn north from the Gulf of Mexico meets drier air spilling east off the High Plains. When strong jet-stream winds race aloft in late spring and early summer, that collision can organize rotating supercells, and the flat valley floor offers little terrain to weaken them.
The violent storms in the NOAA Storm Prediction Center database for this area reach back well before 1980. On May 6, 1964, an F5 tracked close to 80 miles across the region, killing 4 people and injuring 50, and on May 8, 1965, an F4 followed a path of roughly 125 miles, killing 4 and injuring 53. An F4 on April 8, 1978, left one person injured along a 31-mile track, while an unusually wide F3 on May 8, 1993, churned about 75 miles through the countryside. The danger persists in the modern era: an EF3 on April 26, 2024, carved a nine-mile path near the city. The same ingredients that fueled those earlier storms still come together on the central Plains.