Moorhead

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 Clay County, the county that contains Moorhead.

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 Clay County, the county that contains Moorhead.

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 Clay County, the county that contains Moorhead.

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.

Mapped landslides

Landslides mapped in Clay County.

Mapped by USGS MN (274), ND GS (23).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 16, 1997Flood, Clay$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Red River crested at a new high for the century in Fargo on April 18th. 150 homes in the Oakport Township north of Moorhead were flooded. The river came up through the storm sewers in Moorhead and blew off several manhole covers. Iron sheets were placed over the manhole covers with garbage trucks on top of them, to stop the backup.

2. Sep 21, 2007Hail$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The large hail left small 3 inch craters on lawns. Many vehicles and homes were damaged.

3. Jun 19, 2000Flash Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Training thunderstorms dumped waves of rainfall across the Moorhead area. The official Moorhead NWS observer reported 7.31 inches of rain. This is believed to be a new 24 hour rainfall record for the Fargo-Moorhead area. The heavy rain halted traffic, inundated storm sewers, and knocked out electricity and phone service. One electrical substation in Moorhead failed when the water rose high enough to cause it to short out.

4. Apr 5, 1997Blizzard, Clay$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   With falling temperatures on the back side of the low, the freezing rain changed to snow. A strong pressure gradient created winds up to 65 mph, dropping visibilities down to near zero. The strong wind, on top of heavy ice accumulations, caused thousands of power poles to snap. This cut power to over 100,000 people in eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota and caused $30 million in damages to the power infrastructure. With no heat, many people had to seek shelters with generator power. Some smaller communities were without power for more than a week. Snowfall totals on the 6th ranged around 7 inches. Three men from China slid off a road 3 miles south of Borup into a…

5. Apr 6, 2001Flood, Clay$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The winter brought 52.5 inches of snow to the Fargo-Moorhead area, which was above the average of 40 inches. The snow water content over Clay county ranged from 2.5 to 3.5 inches. A heavy rain event on April 7th brought a widespread swath of 1 to 2 inches of rain to the Red River basin. This rain event, along with the snowmelt runoff, contributed to the crest of 36.69 feet in Fargo on the 14th of April. This was the 4th highest crest ever at Fargo. Another rain event on the 11th and 12th, and a winter storm that brought 7.9 inches of snow on the 22nd and 23rd, helped keep the Buffalo and Red Rivers high for nearly the whole month. Problems developed around Oakport Township in…

6. Apr 4, 1997Ice Storm, Clay$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense low pressure system, with center pressures around 28.8 inches, tracked from Fergus Falls to International Falls. The initial rain was accompanied by thunder and lightning in Polk county, and then changed to freezing rain as the temperature fell. One-half to one inch of ice built up on exposed surfaces. Hundreds of power poles and lines snapped due to the weight of the ice, cutting power to many homes and businesses, many of which were beginning to fight the spring flood. The wind equipment froze up on ASOS and AWOS units across northwest Minnesota, and remained frozen for 7 days. The 3 inches of liquid equivalent from the storm fell on top of a record snowpack.

7. Nov 27, 2005Winter Storm, Clay$1.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   [see the event description under the West Polk through South Beltrami Winter Storm event above]

8. Apr 1, 2006Flood$996,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Red River at Fargo/Moorhead rose above flood stage around 1 AM CST on March 30th and remained above flood stage until around 7 PM CST on April 19th. The river peaked at roughly 37.18 feet around 2 AM CST on April 5th. Unofficially, 37.18 feet would be the fifth highest modern-day river stage recorded. Overland flooding also occurred in addition to the river flooding, with many roads around the county closed due to flooding. Problems were noted in the Sabin area, where farmhouses were surrounded by floodwater from the South Branch of the Buffalo River. The Buffalo River rose north of U.S. Highway 10 near Glyndon, and also surrounded several homes. In Moorhead, the 12th Avenue…

9. Jun 19, 2000Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   After 6 to 8 inches of rain fell across the Dilworth area, many basements filled with water.

10. Jun 5, 1996Tornado$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Extensive damage to farm.

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

106°F2 times, most recently Jul 5, 1988

All-time low

−39°FFeb 1, 1996

Warmest night

80°FAug 19, 1976

Coldest day

−28°FFeb 1, 1996

Wettest day

4.72 inAug 8, 1943

Snowiest day

16.3 inJan 22, 1982

Hottest year

2024mean 47.6°F

Coldest year

1950mean 36.8°F

Wettest year

200034.76 in

Driest year

19768.84 in

Snowiest season

117.0 in1996-97

Station Fargo Hector International Airport (USW00014914), 895 ft elevation, 5.2 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1891 to October 27, 2026; 100.0% 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 Clay 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 USW00014914.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.