New Ulm

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.

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 Brown County, the county that contains New Ulm.

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 Brown County, the county that contains New Ulm.

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 Brown County, the county that contains New Ulm.

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.

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the city centre.
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Mapped landslides

Landslides mapped in Brown County.

Mapped by USGS MN (721).

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. Mar 29, 1998Tornado$45.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado began 7 miles east of Avoca in Murray county, continued through Cottonwood, Brown, extreme Northwest Watonwan, Northwest Blue Earth, and finally lifted off 4 miles east of Courtland in Nicollet county. Total storm track was 67 miles. The tornado ripped through the village of Comfrey destroying a grain elevator and damaging 75% of the town. Much of downtown Comfrey destroyed including the town hall. School heavily damaged. 100 people made homeless. 50 homes destroyed. 130 farmsteads damaged or destroyed in Brown county. 500 dairy cows killed. One man critically injured in collapse of farmstead northwest of the town of Hanska. He died the next day. 35 buildings destroyed or…

2. Jul 20, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   4,000 trees blown down. 10 businesses lost portions of their roof. Mobile home destroyed. Maintenance hangar at airport destroyed, damaging several airplanes. 400 ft TV tower blown down. Poultry bldg levelled at fairgrounds. Reception hall lost its roof. Large trees blown down at local cemeteries. The statue of Hermann the German damaged. Estimated 5% of crops or about 50,000 acres in county destroyed. Damage estimate for entire county.

3. May 23, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A 75 mph wind gust was measured at the New Ulm airport. In addition, several buildings east and northeast of the airport were damaged, with damage to parts of the New Ulm Airport terminal building roof. The buildings that were damaged outside of the airport grounds were a car dealership where 50-60 cars were damaged or destroyed, an international trucking company, a cabinet machine shop and a local department store. Each of these companies had mainly roof damage.

4. Jun 18, 2014Flood$850,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Highway 13 that crosses the Minnesota River near New Ulm was closed due to flood waters.

5. May 17, 2000Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   More than 100 vehicles at a dealership sustained damage.

6. Jul 3, 2018Flood$385,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The excessive rainfall across Redwood County continued to flow into Brown County, especially along the Cottonwood River. There were numerous county roads along this river that were impassable during the height of the flooding. Residents of an apartment complex in Springfield, Minnesota were evacuated because of flooding along the Cottonwood River. The same scenario occur in New Ulm, Minnesota where another apartment complex was evacuated.

7. Jun 11, 2008Tornado$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Photographed by storm chaser. The tornado destroyed two barns, a farm shop, five pickup trucks, a semi-tractor, and a farm tractor.

8. Jun 25, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A barn, and two sheds west of New Ulm, Minnesota, were destroyed due to severe straight-line winds.

9. Aug 24, 2006Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado tore across corn and bean fields, and crossed both Highways 15 and 68. It blew two semis off Highway 15, injuring two individuals. A machine shed was destroyed, and minor damage was incurred by some barns and outbuildings.

10. Mar 17, 2010Flood$160,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous county roads around New Ulm were closed due to flooding. Monetary costs were based on FEMA, State, and Local assistance which includes the following categories; emergency protective measures and road systems and bridges.

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

105°FJul 31, 1988

All-time low

−34°F3 times, most recently Feb 3, 1996

Warmest night

79°FJun 22, 2025

Coldest day

−20°FDec 18, 1983

Wettest day

5.29 inAug 14, 1981

Snowiest day

16.9 inDec 28, 1982

Hottest year

1987mean 50.7°F

Coldest year

1996mean 41.6°F

Wettest year

196541.41 in

Driest year

195816.24 in

Snowiest season

88.0 in1961-62

Station Gaylord (USC00213076), 1,020 ft elevation, 20.9 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1956 to September 30, 2026; 94.1% 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 Brown 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 USC00213076.
• 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.