Omaha

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 Douglas County, the county that contains Omaha.

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 Douglas County, the county that contains Omaha.

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 Douglas County, the county that contains Omaha.

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 Douglas County.

Mapped by NE Univ of NE Lincoln (7).

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 10, 2001Hail$300 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A 5 to 15 minute hail storm hit the Omaha, Council Bluffs and Bellevue area causing extensive auto and roof damage. The hail covered the ground to several inches in some locations with most stones in the 1/2 to 1 1/2 inch range, although some were larger. From central into downtown Omaha, as the hail fell the visibility was lowered to near zero and the hail drifted like snow and shovels were used to clear some sidewalks. An elderly Omaha woman was injured with some cuts and bruises from the hail when she was caught outside. According to State Farm Insurance agents, the storm was the costliest hailstorm in the Omaha area at least since the late 1980's and possibly ever. State Farm…

2. Apr 30, 2001Hail$200 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two large hail producing thunderstorm cells tracked across the greater Omaha area this day, one across Douglas county and the other across Sarpy county. The storm that moved across Douglas county began producing large hail around Yutan, in Saunders county just to the west of the Douglas county line. The cell tracked across Elkhorn and then hit the western portions of Omaha with hail up to golfball size. The hail decreased in size to around 3/4 inch by the time the storm reached the eastern parts of the city. The majority of hail damage from the storm was in a 2 or 3 mile wide west to east strip centered on Blondo Street beginning west of 156th Street in far western Omaha and…

3. Jun 27, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$53.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is a continuation of the damage path from the bow echo that started in Dodge and Saunders county to the west. The damage path in Douglas county was about 5 to 7 miles wide and a NWS storm survey estimated winds of at least 70 mph and in some cases up to 100 to 115 mph. Wind equipment at the NWS office just outside of Valley measured 77 mph winds at 434 pm CDT just before the equipment failed. Meteorologists there estimated winds exceeded 80 mph at the office. The Awos at the Millard airport, just south of the severe damage swath, measured a wind gust of 59 mph at 450 pm. ||The damage path crossed into the county from the Woodcliff area south of Fremont and spread toward and…

4. Jul 31, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$35.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A line of intense thunderstorms swept across the entirety of Douglas County, impacting the largest metropolitan area in the Omaha NWS County Warning Area. As these storms entered the western part of the county, 80 miles per hour wind gusts were likely being produced, with a 76 miles per hour wind gust measured at the Omaha National Weather Service, and a 75 miles per hour wind gust measured by a mesonet station in west Millard. As the storms moved east across the county, the winds continued to intensify with widespread significant damage to trees, powerlines, and structures. In Waterloo, a roof was blown off of a commercial building, and in Midtown, a storefront awning and front…

5. Oct 25, 1997Heavy Snow, Douglas$14.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major early season snowstorm struck the area. A heavy wet snowfall of 6 to 14 inches fell on trees, many of which were still fully or partially leafed, and caused extensive damage and/or total destruction. At least 205,000 residents in the affected area were without power just after the storm, many of the outages lasted for several days. Omaha Public Power District estimated that it was the worst outage in 50 years. Nearly 85% of the trees in the Omaha area and 25% of the trees in the Lincoln area sustained damage or were totally destroyed. Many emergency shelters in and around the Omaha and Lincoln areas were opened for use by those who suffered a hardship from the storm.

6. Aug 7, 1999Flash Flood$11.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Record setting rainfall caused extensive flooding over the Omaha Nebraska and Council Bluffs Iowa metro area and surrounding counties. Rainfall at Eppley Airfield in Omaha totaled 10.46 inches for the 24 hour period ending at 3 am cst 8/7/99, this was the most rainfall recorded in a 24 hour period in Omaha since 1900. The rain fell roughly in two periods, the first lasting from noon through 5 pm cst Friday 8/6/99 and the second beginning Friday evening around 7 pm cst continuing through 3 am Saturday morning. The heaviest rain was mainly confined to the eastern part of Omaha and into Pottawattamie county Iowa with amounts in the 8 to over 10 inch range. Rainfall tapered down in…

7. Aug 1, 2011Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding along the Missouri River in Douglas county gradually worsened during June and moderate flooding persisted into August as record releases from Gavins Point Dam brought widespread flooding along the River. Initially the high releases were due to heavy rain and snow melt, but as the summer wore on persistent heavy rain events above Sioux City and some lingering snow melt in the higher elevations of the rockies kept the reservoir system full and with high releases. At Omaha the river climbed to around its 29 foot flood stage late in May and rose steadily through June reaching around 35 feet late in the month, briefly crossed 36 feet in early July before settling back to…

8. Aug 9, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$3.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A highly damaging swath of severe thunderstorm winds moved across Douglas County, Nebraska, predominantly impacting the western and northern parts of the county, including the Omaha metropolitan area on the morning on August 9th, 2025. ||The storm produced damaging wind gusts, with the highest being an estimated 100 mph reported by broadcast media southwest of Washington at 04:52 CST. Multiple locations experienced estimated and measured gusts of 90 mph or higher. An estimated 95 mph gust was reported in Bennington, also responsible for destroying a shed. An estimated 95 mph gust and snapped power poles south of Valley. An estimated 95 mph gust and snapped trees with large…

9. Jul 22, 2005Heat, Douglas$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   High temperatures in the upper 90s to around 105 and lows of 75 to 80 prevailed over much of eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa from Friday July 22nd through Sunday the 24th. Afternoon heat index values reached 105 to 115 degrees across much of the area, with the highest values observed Friday. Temperatures in excess of 100 degrees continued on Monday over southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa, but cooler 80s were observed over northeast Nebraska, and many lows over the entire region were slightly cooler Monday morning. Although many locations saw their highest heat index values on Friday due to higher dewpoints, the hottest day was Saturday when both Lincoln and Omaha hit 105…

10. Jun 1, 2011Flood$3.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Flooding along the Missouri River gradually worsened during June as record releases from Gavins Point Dam brought widespread flooding along the river. At Omaha the river climbed to around its 29 foot flood stage late in May and rose steadily through June reaching around 35 feet late in the month. The flooding in Douglas county along the Missouri River closed several parks, boating accesses, and recreational areas. Low areas around downtown on the river side of the Levee began flooding when a flood wall was installed. The south Omaha waste water treatment plant was forced to send 6 million gallons of waste water daily into the river early in June due to flood waters affecting the…

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

110°FJul 21, 1974

All-time low

−23°F3 times, most recently Feb 16, 2021

Warmest night

84°FJul 24, 2012

Coldest day

−12°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

6.46 inAug 7, 1999

Snowiest day

18.3 inFeb 11, 1965

Hottest year

2012mean 55.8°F

Coldest year

1951mean 48.0°F

Wettest year

196544.85 in

Driest year

202017.65 in

Snowiest season

57.8 in1974-75

Station Omaha Eppley Airfield (USW00014942), 980 ft elevation, 8.6 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1948 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 Douglas 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 USW00014942.
• 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.