Columbus

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 Platte County, the county that contains Columbus.

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 Platte County, the county that contains Columbus.

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 Platte County, the county that contains Columbus.

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.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 15, 1999Hail$7.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous hailstones 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches with some as large as 2 3/4 inches did damage to over 1500 cars as well as to many roofs and gutters.

2. Jun 23, 1998Tornado$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two farm houses destroyed. Six farm houses severely damaged. One house blown off foundation. Bar destroyed. Center pivots overturned. Severe crop damage.

3. Dec 30, 2006Winter Storm, Platte$3.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Freezing rain accumulated between 1/4 inch and 1 inch in some locations on trees, power lines, vehicles and other untreated objects. The areas most hard hit in Platte county were to the west through north of Columbus. The weight of the ice, and a mix of light sleet that fell for a while Sunday, caused tree damage and also felled numerous power lines and power poles throughout the western and northern sections of the county. Around 500 power poles were snapped from near Monroe north toward Lindsay causing power outages in the region. Fallen trees also caused damage to cars and houses over the area most hard hit. The storm caused around 3.2 million dollars worth of damage to utility…

4. Mar 13, 2019Flood$440,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is for flooding along the Loup River. The river gage at Columbus, operated by the Nebraska DNR, peaked at 19.39 feet at 5 am on March 15th. Major flood stage is 20 feet. Preliminary this peak is the 2nd highest on record. This flooding caused substantial damage to the area, specifically on the river side of the levee around Columbus. This damage was the result of both ice jam and open water flooding. Several businesses and homes were destroyed and many people needed to be rescued. The water got within 1 to 2 feet of the top of the levee and never got into Columbus. One woman was killed by flood waters in her home. Rescuers could not get to her home due to extreme weather…

5. Aug 18, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A possible thunderstorm microburst hit around a 1 mile area northwest of Columbus. The winds, estimated at over 70 mph, took a tin roof off of local power company cement block building. Four garage doors on that building were also destroyed or heavily damaged. Another nearby business sustained serious damage and a farmstead, also close by, had several large trees toppled by the winds one of which damaged a grain bin.

6. May 29, 2008Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall of 2 to 4 inches, with some unofficial reports of 8 inches, caused flash flooding from around Lindsay through the Platte Center area along Shell and Elm Creeks. The flooding was most pronounced along Elm Creek in Platte Center where 50 to 70 homes and 10 businesses sustained flood damage. The flood waters also caused propane tanks to float down streets in town and forced most people to evacuate. Two city parks were also flooded Portions of the town remained flooded well through the 30th.

7. Jun 10, 2010Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain from roughly June 7th into the 14th produced prolonged flooding along Shell Creek and its tributaries from near Lindsay in Platte county downstream to near Platte Center then to around Schuyler in Colfax county. The high water flooded many county roads and forced the closure of Highway 81 northwest of Columbus and also Highway 91 between Humphrey and Lindsay. A motorist had to be rescued by area residents late on the 10th when his vehicle became flooded while attempting to drive through flood waters west of Platte Center, the motorist was uninjured. Cropland was also damaged because of the high water. Shell Creek near Columbus crested around 21.6 feet for a prolonged…

8. May 29, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense bow echo line of thunderstorms caused a swath of damage 3 miles wide and 10 miles long centered near and just north of Lindsay. Wind gusts were measured at 109 mph by a wind recording instrument at the Lindsay Manufactoring Co., causing around 40 thousand dollars worth of damage at the plant itself. The winds overturned at least 10 center pivot irrigation units in this area, toppled a metal silo 1.5 miles northeast of Lindsay and destroyed the top of a cement silo 1 mile west of Lindsay.

9. May 24, 2012Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A brief tornado from a low-topped mini-supercell destroyed a farm house a few miles west northwest of Cornlea. The house had it's roof lifted off which caused several walls to collapse. The family in the house had seen the tornado approach and had taken cover in the basement and were uninjured.

10. Nov 2, 1997High Wind, Platte$70,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    High winds persisted across the area for several hours causing minor structural and tree damage. A few power outages also resulted.

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

115°FJul 25, 1936

All-time low

−29°F4 times, most recently Jan 13, 1912

Warmest night

81°F4 times, most recently Aug 2, 1964

Coldest day

−11°F2 times, most recently Dec 24, 1983

Wettest day

5.97 inAug 5, 1981

Snowiest day

15.0 inNov 27, 1983

Hottest year

1931mean 56.0°F

Coldest year

1996mean 47.4°F

Wettest year

199340.53 in

Driest year

193613.89 in

Snowiest season

71.6 in1914-15

Station Columbus 3 Ne (USC00251825), 1,450 ft elevation, 2.4 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 99.6% 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 Platte 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 USC00251825.
• 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.