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Howard County, Missouri severe weather history spans 228 recorded events between 1956 and 2025. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 45.2% of all recorded events. It ranks #2,264 nationally and #99 in Missouri.
228
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
1
Direct injuries
$1.8M
Property damage
The record
What the Howard County, Missouri severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Howard County, Missouri severe weather history averages 3.3 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 86 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 35 events fall before 1990 and 193 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is tornado, with $1.0M in reported property damage. In total, 6 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Howard County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 103 | 0 | $110K | 3 | 1958–2023 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 75 | 0 | $325K | 75 | 1956–2025 |
| Flash Flood | 20 | 0 | $300K | 0 | 2003–2019 |
| Flood | 19 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1999–2020 |
| Tornado | 10 | 0 | $1.0M | F3 | 1958–2019 |
| Heavy Rain | 1 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1998–1998 |
Decade by decade
Howard County, Missouri severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
9 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 7 touched down inside it and 2 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-03-12 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 35.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 1959-09-27 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 6.4 mi | Touched down here |
| 1984-04-03 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 mi | Touched down here |
| 1983-05-18 | EF1 | 0 | 1 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1981-04-13 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 30.1 mi | Crossed in |
| 2019-05-22 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 2006-03-12 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1966-05-23 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1958-06-10 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Howard County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 19, 1983 | Tornado | 0 | 1 | $250K |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Tornado crossed from Saline county into Howard county…8 miles southwest of Glasgow at 2046 CST. F2 damage was noted to several farmsteads to the northwest of Fayette before the tornado dissipated at 2102 CST…2 miles east of Armstrong.
The breakdown of the Howard County District #2 levee caused at least two other levees to fail, which caused more running water to enter into the farmlands of southern Howard County, as well as the towns of Franklin and New Franklin. The overall value of the damage from this event is unknown.
Howard County District #2 levee failed allowing the already flooding Missouri River to spill into low lying areas of southern Howard County. Most of this area consisted of farmland, but the cities of Franklin and New Franklin received several inches of running water. News articles from across the local region indicated that crops planted earlier in the growing season in the southern part of the county were lost. Monetary damages are unknown from this flood event. This flash flooding event carried into the first couple days of June.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Very Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
10,147
Population (ACS)
$159K
Median home value
29
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 30, 2026 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Sep 1, 2021 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Mar 26, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Jul 9, 2019 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Jan 2, 2016 | Flood | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | EM |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Howard County, Missouri?
228 events are on record between 1956 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths and $1.8M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Howard County?
Hail, with 103 recorded events — 45.2% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Howard County?
9 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 7 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Howard County?
29 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Howard County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Howard County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Howard County as very low risk, placing it in the 14 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Howard County, Missouri severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Holt County 250
- Howell County 957
- Hickory County 372
- Iron County 222
- Henry County 371
- Jackson County 1,605
Cite this page
“Howard County, Missouri.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/missouri/howard-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.