Grand Rapids

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond this area.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Flood insurance figures are for Itasca County, the county that contains Grand Rapids.

Claims by ZIP code

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges in Itasca County, the county that contains Grand Rapids.

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

The drought index is for Itasca County, the county that contains Grand Rapids.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 2, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Many streets and roads were impassable and closed due to downed large trees and power lines. Extensive street flooding also took place.

2. Jul 27, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple trees were uprooted and snapped at the location with at least one on a home and another on a vehicle per photos.

3. Aug 16, 2022Flash Flood$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A video was received showing cars driving through 6 to 12 inches of water covering portions of Highways 169 and 2 through Grand Rapids. Several cars were stalled out in the roadway.

4. Jul 26, 2021Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Photos and video were received of damage along the shore of Jessie Lake. A dock was overturned along with a boat lift. A pontoon boat that was on the boat lift was also overturned.

5. Jun 17, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$6,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds were estimated at 60 mph, which blew down trees. The hail and winds occurred at the Lake Winnibigoshish Resort and Campground.

6. Jul 19, 2023Hail$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The large hail broke windows and dented a car.

7. Jun 17, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$1,500
   National Weather Service narrative

   Some small trees were blown down across a road near the east end of Lake Winnibigoshish.

8. Jun 17, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$1,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large branches 8 to 10 inches in diameter, along with a few trees, were blown down.

9. May 22, 2010Strong Wind, Southern Itasca$1,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Many 4-inch diameter branches were blown down, with some trees and power lines blown down in Cohasset.

10. Jul 17, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$500
    National Weather Service narrative

    Two large wooden outhouses were blown over by the winds at the North Star Rodeo grounds north of Effie. One of the outhouses was completely destroyed while the other remained intact.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

104°F3 times, most recently Jul 13, 1936

All-time low

−51°FJan 26, 1927

Warmest night

81°FJun 30, 1927

Coldest day

−20°F2 times, most recently Feb 3, 1996

Wettest day

4.78 inJun 19, 2012

Snowiest day

17.0 inNov 18, 2016

Hottest year

2024mean 44.9°F

Coldest year

1917mean 35.1°F

Wettest year

197738.00 in

Driest year

192914.62 in

Snowiest season

99.1 in1970-71

Station Grand Rapids Forestry Lab (USC00213303), 1,310 ft elevation, 1.7 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1915 to September 30, 2026; 98.6% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

Declarations for Itasca County.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USC00213303.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.