Sac County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Sac County: 0.
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.

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.

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 county boundary (or inside the county).
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. Aug 1, 2003Drought, Sac$12.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dry weather settled in over Iowa during the month. The last widespread rain occurred on 09 July. With the increasingly dry conditions became a primary concern as the month progressed. An extended period of heat and humidity from the 15th to 25th saw highs into the 90s to over 100 degrees F. in some locations. By month's end drought indices had worsened to severe to extreme drought across south central Iowa and at least moderate drought over the remainder of the HSA. Waterloo had its driest August on record, Des Moines its 3rd driest and Ottumwa its 8th driest. A cold front brought only a brief respite from the intense heat, as temperatures rebounded into the 90s to near 100…

2. Jan 20, 2010Ice Storm, Sac$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong push of warm air aloft took place over the central U.S. with 850 mb temperatures warming well above zero C over much of the state. During the day on the 19th a relatively strong high moved southeast to the east of Iowa. The easterly flow of cool air in the low levels established a strong inversion over the state. Surface temperatures fell into the teens and 20s in the cool easterly flow. A strong weather system from the southwest U.S. moved east across the southern half of the country during the night of the 19th into the daytime hours of the 20th. The low passed south of Iowa, however a strong push of warm and moist air moved into Iowa during the early morning of the…

3. Apr 9, 2011Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado moved northeast for nearly 4 miles before abruptly turning north northwest for the remainder of the path. Lots of debris and power outages. Numerous homes damaged or destroyed.

4. Apr 9, 2011Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This long track tornado touched down in Sac County and crossed the border into Buena Vista County. This large tornado occurred in conjunction with many satellite tornadoes producing a large and varying debris field.

5. Apr 9, 2011Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple homes damaged along the track of the storm. Storm passed through the town of Early before quickly dissipating.

6. Dec 23, 2009Ice Storm, Sac$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Part 1 of 2: A major winter storm system affected the central U.S. during Christmas week. There were two upper level systems involved with this storm. The southern stream low dove into the southern U.S. and then turned northeast. The turn was sharper than is typical as the northern stream upper low pushed southeast. The southern stream and polar low interacted with each other, resulting in a Fuji Wara effect. The southern low turned north, then eventually northwest and moved from northern Louisiana into Iowa. This resulted in a considerable amount of warm air being drawn north over Iowa. Cold air remained in place at the surface due to an existing deep snow cover over most of the…

7. Apr 9, 2011Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This was the first satellite tornado that developed in far northern Sac County producing a narrow but strong swath of damage as it crossed into Buena Vista County.

8. Aug 8, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees down and uprooted. Power lines down with some trees snapped.

9. Nov 10, 1998High Wind, Sac$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Iowa experienced the worst November storm system since the great storm of 9 and 10 November 1975. During the 9th, low pressure developed over southeast Colorado. The low moved across Kansas during the afternoon and evening of the 9th and deepened to about 990 mb. Warm and moist air was drawn north ahead of the low resulting in widespread across the state. Thunderstorms erupted during the late evening of the 9th, though no severe weather occurred. During the predawn hours of the 10th, a jet streak rotated around the base of the upper level low pressure area. The jet stream, combined with a tropospheric fold, resulted in explosive deepening of the low. As the low moved through…

10. Apr 25, 2007Flood$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A strong low pressure developed over eastern Colorado and moved southeast into northern Oklahoma by the 24th. Deep moisture was pulled north ahead of the low with surface dew points in the low 70s reaching northern Oklahoma. Strong isentropic lift took place over the Des Moines CWA and resulted in a large and sustained area of rain and embedded thunderstorms. Rainfall of two to over five inches of rainfall occurred over a large part of the CWA, with isolated amounts in the six to seven inch range over a 2 day period. This event brought about the flash flooding event of the evening of the 24th. The situation transitioned into a general areal flood event on the 25th, with several…

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

114°FAug 18, 1936

All-time low

−35°FJan 12, 1912

Warmest night

83°FJul 6, 1925

Coldest day

−15°FFeb 11, 1899

Wettest day

7.74 inJun 26, 1899

Snowiest day

14.0 inFeb 28, 1893

Hottest year

1931mean 52.7°F

Coldest year

2008mean 44.0°F

Wettest year

201545.54 in

Driest year

191014.69 in

Snowiest season

64.5 in1961-62

Station Sac City (USC00137312), 1,210 ft elevation, 6.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 98.5% 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.

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.

Neighbouring counties

• 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 USC00137312.
• 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.