Minnesota

Storms in Minnesota in 1981

174 events in 40 episodes

Every storm the National Weather Service filed in Minnesota in 1981, with each episode’s narrative and every event in it. Before 1996 the record holds tornadoes, hail and thunderstorm wind only, without narratives; floods, heat, winter storms and the other kinds begin in 1996.

Minnesota in 1981 on the map

Every episode with a place to put it, colored by kind of event.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over Minnesota

The year

Events
174
Deaths
1
Injuries
94
Damage
$63 million
Episodes
40

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

By kind of event

Kind of eventEventsDeathsInjuriesDamage
Hail6900
Thunderstorm Wind5900
Tornado46194$63 million

Every episode, month by month

March 1981

April 1981

May 1981

June 1981

July 1981

August 1981

September 1981

More

Every year in MinnesotaEvery state in 1981Tornadoes in Minnesota in 198119801982

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24.