Ottawa County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Ottawa County: 2.
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.

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.

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. Sep 8, 2025Flood$3.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding in Tescott. Water up to porch level on several houses. One to two feet of water in many locations. 3.5 million dollars in damage in the town, plus 90000 dollars in damage to the local school.

2. Sep 8, 2025Flood$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding in town of Culver. 1.2 million dollars in damage, including the rest of Ottawa County outside of Tescott.

3. Jul 19, 2010Excessive Heat, Ottawa$240,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several hundred head of cattle perished at a feedlot in Bennington, Kansas due to the heat. The cattle refuse to eat and starved to death due to the heat. Excessive heat warning criteria were not exceeded in this area however the prolonged nature of the heat and the conditions of the feedlot contributed to the losses. The estimates of dollars losses are rough estimates based on the number of cattle lost and the estimated price per head of cattle.

4. Jun 3, 2005Flood, Ottawa$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding with 2 to 7 inches of rain. Some roads were under at least 3 feet of water. The Herington reservoir reached an all time high level according to local authorities. The reservoir began impounding water in 1982.

5. May 7, 2007Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Moderate or greater flooding along the Solomon River. Widespread flooding of roads vicinity of the river near Niles.

6. May 7, 1997Tornado$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down briefly at several locations along a five mile path. It produced most of its damage 5 to 6 miles southeast of Bennington where it tore off shingles and blew out windows on one house and damaged two barns, including some of the farm machinery inside. The tornado also knocked over several trees.

7. May 24, 2007Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Moderate or greater flooding immediate reach of the gage vicinity of Niles with flooding of lowland areas and some county roads.

8. May 6, 2007Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several Reports of flash flooding. 6 to 8 inches of water was flowing over Granite Road between 170th and 180th Roads. 4 inches of water flowing over 160th Road near K-106 Highway. One house was flooded.

9. May 24, 2007Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Six to eight inches of water flowing over 170th road near Bennington.

10. Mar 23, 1996High Wind, Ottawa$40,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    High winds ahead of a developing low pressure system and cold front gusted to around 50 mph damaging the roof of the State Bank of Delphos. There was no damage to the interior of the bank.

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

119°F2 times, most recently Aug 13, 1936

All-time low

−29°FFeb 12, 1899

Warmest night

85°FAug 14, 1936

Coldest day

−5°FFeb 2, 1905

Wettest day

6.34 inSep 3, 1942

Snowiest day

14.0 inFeb 8, 1980

Hottest year

1939mean 59.5°F

Coldest year

1912mean 52.5°F

Wettest year

195155.46 in

Driest year

191715.09 in

Snowiest season

51.5 in1959-60

Station Minneapolis (USC00145363), 1,306 ft elevation, 2.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1892 to October 27, 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.

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 USC00145363.
• 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.