Grant County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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. Jun 21, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   ROOF BLOWN OFF BOWLING ALLEY...NUMEROUS TREES DOWN...ROOFS DAMAGED...AROUND 100 POWER POLES BLOWN DOWN IN THE VICINITY.

2. May 11, 2005Tornado$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado traveled into Kearny county before roping out. At 2ne of Ulysses part of a barn roof was blown off and a large tree was uprooted. Several horses were slightly injured. Then at 5ne of Ulysses an abandoned mobile home was destroyed. At six miles northeast of Ulysses, two pivot sprinklers were mangled, large trees were snapped at the base and several power poles were destroyed. Several grain bins (full of wheat) were completely swept away and the grain was scattered for some distance. Remnants of the grain bins were not found in the local vicinity. Farther northeast along the track several more pivot sprinklers were destroyed. It is estimated that if this tornado had…

3. Apr 6, 2001Tornado$235,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado crossed into Grant county from Stevens county at 1647. Three pivot sprinklers were destroyed, 2 grain bins, a silo, machine shed and horse trailer were also damaged or destroyed. A roof was taken off a building and an empty rail car was overturned.

4. Sep 18, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   large sprinklers blown down and 10 power poles blown down.

5. Feb 24, 2007High Wind, Grant$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A roof was blown off a n old school house 4 miles east of Ulysses. Power poles were also blown down 5 miles south of Ulysses. Grain storage bins were destroyed about 6 miles north of Ulysses.

6. Jun 3, 2005Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado kicked up a lot of dirt and debris (tumble weeds). One pivot sprinkler was damaged. This tornado moved into Kearny county.

7. Oct 26, 2006Tornado$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado moved west towards and into the city of Ulysses damaging the roof of the hospital and causing some tree damage.

8. Jun 21, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   MOBILE HOME DESTROYED

9. May 27, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Roof blown off a house and a semi truck was blown over. No injuries.

10. Jun 24, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$15,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Dry microburst produced high wind that took the roof off of one house and damaged numerous trees and power lines. Wind was probably over 100 knots.

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

116°FJul 28, 1894

All-time low

−27°FJan 19, 1984

Warmest night

85°FJun 20, 1936

Coldest day

−5°FFeb 12, 1899

Wettest day

4.75 inAug 2, 1976

Snowiest day

25.0 inFeb 26, 1903

Hottest year

1934mean 59.1°F

Coldest year

1993mean 52.4°F

Wettest year

194631.38 in

Driest year

19565.76 in

Snowiest season

57.5 in1947-48

Station Ulysses 3NE (USC00148287), 3,094 ft elevation, 3.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 99.2% 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 USC00148287.
• 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.