Shelby County

Every recorded tornado

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

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

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.

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Oct 25, 1997Heavy Snow, Shelby$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major early season snowstorm struck portions of southwestern Iowa, blanketing the area with 6 to 9 inches of heavy wet snow. The snow fell on trees, many of which were still fully or partially leafed, and caused extensive damage and/or total destruction. Thousands of residents were without power just after the storm and many of the outages lasted for several days. Emergency shelters were opened in the affected areas for use by those who suffered a hardship from the storm.

2. Nov 11, 2015Tornado$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado entered Shelby County from Pottawattamie County from the southwest. The tornado impacted a total of 6 farmsteads in the county as it tracked to the north northeast. Damage at these farmsteads was confined to mainly outbuilding being damaged or destroyed, trees uprooted, and electrical power poles downed. The tornado tracked across the western side of the Harlan Airport without doing damage to the airport, but a wind gust associated with the rear-flank downdraft of the storm was measured at 76 mph at the automatic observing equipment on the east side of the airport. The tornado finally ended just to the southeast of the city of Harlan.

3. Jun 9, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds blew the roofs off of 5 downtown buildings and felled several large trees. Power lines were also downed and substantial damage to the town's grain elevator was sustained.

4. May 15, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$120,000
5. May 15, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
6. May 15, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Cement shed, barn, and machine shed destroyed. Another machine shed was also damaged.

7. May 15, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
8. May 15, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$70,000
9. May 15, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
10. Jun 30, 2014Flash Flood$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Local law enforcement reported that many county roads had water flowing across them in low spots. There was also street flooding reported in the city of Harlan.

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

113°FJul 25, 1936

All-time low

−35°FFeb 2, 1905

Warmest night

81°FAug 28, 1984

Coldest day

−15°FJan 12, 1912

Wettest day

12.53 inJul 2, 1958

Snowiest day

16.0 inDec 9, 2009

Hottest year

1931mean 53.6°F

Coldest year

1951mean 43.7°F

Wettest year

201552.68 in

Driest year

193018.69 in

Snowiest season

69.7 in1961-62

Station Audubon (USC00130385), 1,280 ft elevation, 20.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 97.1% 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 USC00130385.
• 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.