Prior Lake

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 Scott County, the county that contains Prior Lake.

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 Scott County, the county that contains Prior Lake.

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 Scott County, the county that contains Prior Lake.

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 Scott County.

Mapped by USGS MN (406), NASA (2).

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. May 15, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$170 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail propelled by strong winds resulted in widespread roof and house damage. Windows at public works blown out. Roof damage to library and schools. Damage estimate for entire county.

2. May 30, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$17.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   2500 trees lost. 100 boats, lifts and docks damaged. 28 homes sustained major damage. Damage estimate for entire county.

3. Aug 24, 2006Hail$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Vehicles, homes and businesses damaged. Damage total includes all storm reports from August 24 in Scott County.

4. Jun 18, 2014Flood$9.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several sources in Scott County compiled a summary of flood related damages and locations for the flood of June 2014. There were multiple reports of road closures due to high water and debris. Sporadic power outages reported throughout the county due to the water and electrical equipment being underwater. Mudslides and flood waters cut off all access to the town of Blakeley. This included train tracks that impacted Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific rail operations. Highways 6, 41 and 101 were all closed from flood waters of the Minnesota River. The town of Louisville, north of Jordan and west of Prior Lake, had two homes surrounded by flood waters during the height of the flood.…

5. Mar 19, 2007Flood$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High water from an ice jam along the Minnesota River undermined a railroad bridge over a slough near Gifford Lake, northeast of Jordan. Five boxcars fell when the bridge collapsed.

6. Sep 4, 2005Lightning$604,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three homes were struck by lightning and were damaged by the resulting fire. The first home on Highview Court suffered damage when lightning struck the outside gas meter. An outer wall caught fire and damage was estimated at $4,000. The second house on Prairie Hills Lane was engulfed in flames and has extensive roof and garage damage totaling $500,000. The third home on Century Lane suffered $100,000 in fire damage to interior walls after two bolts struck the building.

7. Jul 13, 2013Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several local officials, trained spotters and the general public observed flash flooding across northern and eastern Scott County due to 3, to locally 8.3 inches of rain that fell between 4 AM CST to 9 AM CST. During the height of the storm, several low lying areas in Prior Lake, Savage, Shakopee, and Elko New Market became inundated with flood waters.||Specific flooded or impassable roads from local law enforcement officials during the height of the storm include; ||South Brunswick Avenue in Savage.|Vierling Drive East & Heather Street in Shakopee.|Flooded home on Harvest Lane in Shakopee.|Several feet of water over Valley View Road in Shakopee.|Twelve inches of flowing water on…

8. Jun 11, 2001Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind driven hail damaged houses and vehicles.

9. Mar 20, 2010Flood$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Highway 101 bridge from Shakopee to Chanhassen was closed due to flood waters along the Minnesota River. Monetary costs were based on FEMA, State, and Local assistance which includes the following categories; emergency protective measures, road systems and bridges, utilities, and parks.

10. Jun 10, 2012Tornado$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An EF-0 tornado continued from Le Sueur County, into Scott County and moved northeast for approximately 1.7 miles before dissipating 4.5 miles south-southeast of Belle Plaine. The tornado had a maximum width of 50 yards. A farm near Henderson sustained heavy damage, with a 60,000 bushel grain bin destroyed and at least one other damaged, plus a workshop roof was blown off, with rafters and support beams cracked in a storage shed.

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°FJan 19, 1970

Warmest night

82°FJun 22, 2025

Coldest day

−17°F2 times, most recently Feb 2, 1996

Wettest day

9.15 inJul 23, 1987

Snowiest day

18.5 inNov 1, 1991

Hottest year

2024mean 50.9°F

Coldest year

1972mean 41.3°F

Wettest year

201943.17 in

Driest year

195816.20 in

Snowiest season

98.6 in1983-84

Station Minneapolis-st Paul International Airport (USW00014922), 835 ft elevation, 15.1 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1938 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 Scott 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 USW00014922.
• 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.