Brookings

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 Brookings County, the county that contains Brookings.

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 Brookings County, the county that contains Brookings.

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 Brookings County, the county that contains Brookings.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 28, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds caused widespread structural, tree, and power line damage in and near Sinai. The roof was ripped off a mobile home, a well drilling business was destroyed, the siding from another business was ripped off, part of a grain elevator was smashed, several garages were destroyed or heavily damaged, several trees were blown down and widespread tree debris littered the area, and power lines and poles were blown down. Power outages lasted until the next day. At a farm just east of Sinai, five grain bins, a machine shed, and several small shacks were destroyed, and the farmhouse was damaged, with about 300 thousand dollars in damage estimated at this farm alone. Other…

2. Jun 18, 2001Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail falling over an area 20 miles long and almost 5 miles wide caused property and crop damage. The hail damaged siding and windows of homes as well as vehicles. An estimated 60,000 acres of crops were destroyed or damaged. Hail was discovered piled up 6 inches deep in some fields 6 hours after the storm. The affected area included the city of Brookings, where some of the largest hail was reported.

3. Nov 28, 2005Ice Storm, Brookings$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy freezing rain coated roads, trees, power lines, and most other objects with ice up to 3 inches thick. Travel quickly became difficult to impossible. Many roads including Interstate Highways 90 and 29 were closed for extended periods of time. Most schools and businesses were forced to close. Electric power was lost over widespread areas when many miles of power lines and thousands of poles were knocked down, with more damaged. Strong winds which accompanied the ice storm and the immediately following blizzard combined with the weight of the ice to bring down many of the power lines and poles. Tens of thousands of households and businesses lost power, with the time power was…

4. May 15, 1998High Wind, Brookings$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds destroyed a building under construction.

5. Sep 22, 2010Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall of several inches caused flash flooding of numerous streets, basements, fields, and other low areas in and near Brookings. Widespread flash flooding from the overflow of Six Mile Creek was noted in the western and northwestern parts of the city. People in at least 50 houses, mobile homes, and apartments were forced to evacuate, and there was widespread water damage to structures, contents, and vehicles in this area. The widespread flooding from the creek came close to but did not reach the downtown area, although street flooding there was noted.

6. Apr 18, 2004Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail, accompanied by winds gusting to 50 mph, dented vehicles, cracked and broke windshields and windows, dented siding, and damaged roofs.

7. Apr 1, 2011Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Major flooding of the Big Sioux River, as well as flooding of lakes and lowlands in the county, continued through April, though small stream flooding abated. Much farmland remained flooded, both near to and away from the Big Sioux River. Flooding around the south end of Lake Pointsett in the northwest part of the county continued in particular to be damaging. The Big Sioux River crested at 3 feet above flood stage near Brookings on April 6th. Some roads remained closed by the flooding for part of the month. Water was running over other roads, from flooded lowlands, lakes, and the Big Sioux River. Some roads were heavily damaged. Some homes and businesses were still flooded. High…

8. Sep 12, 2019Flood$244,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding resulted in damage to public infrastructure including county and township roads and culverts. Flooding also resulted in crop losses across the area. Crop loss estimates provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.

9. Aug 6, 1996Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado heavily damaged a farm. The house and adjacent garage and some contents were damaged, a hay barn and dog kennel were destroyed, and damage occurred to other farm buildings and to trees.

10. Jul 11, 2000Hail$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Large hail broke windows and otherwise damaged houses and vehicles. The hail also caused significant crop damage.

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

109°FJul 24, 1940

All-time low

−41°F2 times, most recently Jan 12, 1912

Warmest night

85°FSep 14, 1939

Coldest day

−24°FFeb 8, 1899

Wettest day

6.83 inJul 19, 2018

Snowiest day

15.0 inFeb 19, 1991

Hottest year

1931mean 50.1°F

Coldest year

1996mean 39.5°F

Wettest year

201039.80 in

Driest year

193310.00 in

Snowiest season

68.0 in1993-94

Station Brookings 2 Ne (USC00391076), 1,639 ft elevation, 1.8 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 28, 2026; 99.7% 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 Brookings 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 USC00391076.
• 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.