Scottsbluff

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 Scotts Bluff County, the county that contains Scottsbluff.

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 Scotts Bluff County, the county that contains Scottsbluff.

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 Scotts Bluff County, the county that contains Scottsbluff.

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 Scotts Bluff County.

Mapped by NE Univ of NE Lincoln (5), 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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 27, 1999Hail$55.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large severe thunderstorm with very large hail caused extensive damage to crops and property over much of Scotts Bluff county in western Nebraska. Hardest hit was the city of Scottsbluff, where the largest hail was reported. 25 injuries were reported, mainly due to shattered glass while insideautomobiles. The Scottsbluff zoo reported injuries to many animals, particularly birds.

2. Jul 4, 2001Hail$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail fell over parts of Scottsbluff, NE, damaging many cars and buildings as well as causing some minor injuries from broken glass.

3. Jun 23, 2023Hail$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind-driven baseball sized hail was reported in the city of Scottsbluff. Numerous reports of damaged vehicles.

4. Jun 20, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous reports of wind gusts between 90 and 100 MPH near the town of Mitchell causing significant damage with downed trees, powerlines, and overturned center pivots.

5. Apr 6, 2024Blizzard, Scotts Bluff$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Scotts Bluff Emergency Manager and KNEB station manager reported blizzard conditions in Scottsbluff for well over 3 hours. Snow ranged from 2 inches in Scottsbluff to 12 inches in the Wildcat Hills south of Scottsbluff. Wind gusts were in excess of 58 mph during this time as well. Widespread power outages were reported across Scotts Bluff County.

6. Jun 2, 1997Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flash flooding then flooding with crop, road and bridge damage. All county roads were closed from 1900 MST 6/2/97 until 0500 MST 6/3/97. Minor to heavy silt damage was recorded on 40% of county roads.

7. Jun 23, 2023Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Baseball sized hail was reported in the city Scottsbluff. Solar panel array just north of the city was destroyed.

8. Apr 22, 2022High Wind, Scotts Bluff$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   RAWS mesonet station Scotts Bluff (SBFN1) measured maximum wind gust 2 mile west of Gering at 7:52 PM MDT on the 22nd. Scottsbluff Airport ASOS station (KBFF) also reported high winds with gusts to 70 mph. Multiple reports of damage in Scottsbluff including the roof being blown off the Scottsbluff Airport, structural damage to multiple schools in the county, and large trees completely blown over. Numerous power lines were blown down resulting in multiple fire starts. Approximately 3,350 people were left without power.

9. Jul 30, 2022Wildfire, Scotts Bluff$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Carter Canyon Fire (initially named Cedar Canyon Fire) ignited on July 30th potentially from multiple lightning strikes in the area near the Wildcat Hills south of Scottsbluff. The fire quickly grew to nearly 16,000 acres destroying multiple structures before becoming contained in early August. Destroyed structures include 3 homes (primary residences) while 7 others were damaged. The wildfire continued beyond July 31st with details in a separate StormData entry for August.

10. Aug 1, 2022Wildfire, Scotts Bluff$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The Carter Canyon Fire (initially named Cedar Canyon Fire) ignited on July 30th potentially from multiple lightning strikes in the area near the Wildcat Hills south of Scottsbluff. The fire quickly grew to nearly 16,000 acres destroying multiple structures before becoming contained in early August. Destroyed structures include 3 homes (primary residences) while 7 others were damaged. The wildfire began before August 1st with details in a separate StormData entry for July.

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 11, 1939

All-time low

−46°FFeb 6, 1899

Warmest night

78°FJun 16, 1898

Coldest day

−13°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

3.18 inJun 7, 1953

Snowiest day

17.6 inApr 25, 1935

Hottest year

2012mean 53.0°F

Coldest year

1993mean 45.6°F

Wettest year

191527.48 in

Driest year

20126.99 in

Snowiest season

81.9 in2009-10

Station Scottsbluff W B Heilig Field Airport (USW00024028), 3,957 ft elevation, 3.2 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 26, 2026; 99.9% 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 Scotts Bluff 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 USW00024028.
• 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.