Clay County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

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. May 24, 2007Flash Flood$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   East of Industry near the Clay/Dickinson county line...flood water 6 inches deep washing out Indian HIll road in Clay County. Several locations where up to 6 inches of water flowing over roads near the Dickinson County line.

2. May 6, 2007Flash Flood$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water reported over 9th road and Kiowa south of Clay Center. Road is closed.

3. May 24, 2007Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   One foot of water flowing over Crawford street in town.

4. May 24, 2007Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Approximately 6 inches of water flowing over highway 396. Water also flowing over County rd. 837. Both roads are closed. Clay county received a county disaster declaration.

5. Apr 6, 2006Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado formed from a supercell thunderstorm 2 miles west of Clay Center at 3:40pm cst and travelled 9 miles before lifting 2 miles south-southwest of Garfield Center at 3:52pm cst. The tornado was up to 1/2 mile wide at times and damaged numerous outbuildings, trees, roofs, and irrigation pivots along its path. It was rated as a strong F1 tornado.

6. May 24, 1997Flood, Clay$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The pressure of high water in the Chapman Creek, which resulted from 2 to 4 inches of rain which fell the previous night, caused a levee to break near the town of Industry. The water flooded the basements of several houses.

7. Apr 2, 2025Flash Flood$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple county roads damaged due to washouts from flash flooding overnight. Delayed report. Time estimated from radar.

8. Apr 6, 2006Tornado$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado formed 5 miles northeast of Longford at 3:14pm cst and travelled 4 miles before lifting 9 miles northeast of Longford at 3:19pm cst. It was an F0 tornado with a path width of 100 yards that caused damage to 3 outbuildings and downed a large tree. It formed from a supercell thunderstorm. The tornado was reported as being on the ground briefly at the same time as the tornado 4 miles east-northeast of Longford by a storm chaser.

9. Jul 31, 2007Flash Flood$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water six inches deep reported to have been flowing across Hwy 9.

10. Mar 23, 2009High Wind, Clay$15,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Several large trees were blown down. The roof was blown off of a building. Hog sheds south of Clay Center and metal utility sheds were blown into power lines. Sporadic power outages were reported by the local Electric Cooperative.

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

117°FAug 13, 1936

All-time low

−35°F2 times, most recently Feb 14, 1905

Warmest night

86°F2 times, most recently Jul 16, 1939

Coldest day

−8°F3 times, most recently Dec 22, 1989

Wettest day

6.60 inJun 2, 2011

Snowiest day

18.0 inFeb 18, 1926

Hottest year

1934mean 60.2°F

Coldest year

2013mean 51.6°F

Wettest year

195153.86 in

Driest year

196613.88 in

Snowiest season

65.0 in1959-60

Station Clay Center (USC00141559), 1,201 ft elevation, 1.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1902 to October 27, 2026; 95.2% 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 USC00141559.
• 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.