Aitkin County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Apr 6, 2001Flood, Southern Aitkin$675,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lingering snowpack with a high water content, combined with three heavy rainfall events during the month of April, led to significant flooding along parts of the Mississippi River, Sandy River, and Big Sandy Lake. The water level came within four inches of rendering the Aitkin city sewage treatment plant inoperative. Despite sandbagging efforts, thousands of dollars in damage to homes, businesses, and roads occurred. Damage to public property was estimated at $675,000 county-wide. Damage to private property was not available.

2. Jun 12, 2024Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Another tornado developed on the northern portion of Hammal lake, where localized pockets of extensive tree damage were located, and one three-season cabin and boat house were completely destroyed and partially thrown into the water. The tornado continued east- southeast, uprooting and snapping several mature tree trunks as it crossed Highway 169 and Hanging Kettle Lake. The tornado then took a east-southeastward path through Ripple Lake, uprooting trees and knocking over an 85 foot tall antenna tower before the tornado ended over southeastern Ripple Lake. No fatalities or injuries were reported.

3. Jun 12, 2024Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado initially formed near Wolford in Crow Wing County and entered Aitkin County near the end of Cedar Lake Drive on Cedar Lake. The tornado path was to the southeast, crossing 456th Place, 320th Street, and, finally, 310th Street before lifting. This last section of the tornado path after Cedar Lake shows damage to numerous trees via satellite imagery before the visible damage path ends just to the southwest of the intersection of 310th Street and Pioneer Avenue. The tornado was rates as an EF-0 in Aitkin County, but produced EF-2 damage in Crow Wing County just before crossing into Aitkin County. No fatalities or injuries were reported.

4. Jun 23, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large oak tree was down on a house with other trees also down on powerlines.

5. Jul 6, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Photos were received of extremely localized wind damage consisting of numerous medium to large trees snapped near the base along with upstairs windows blown in. There was no damage to nearly neighbors. A weakening storm moved overhead and likely produced a microburst over the property.

6. Aug 8, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large tree down estimated to be 12 inches in diameter was down onto a barn roof causing damage.

7. Aug 8, 2025Lightning$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large white pine was hit by lightning and exploded causing damage to headstones and grave markers at the Thorp Cemetery.

8. Jul 6, 2017Hail$8,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A car was so damaged by the hail that it was declared totaled.

9. Jul 5, 2014Hail$1,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms over northeast Minnesota on July 5th dropped damaging hail on some areas. There was also flash flooding over a stretch of Highway 61 between Lutsen and Tofte due to heavy rain in the area.

10. May 22, 2010Strong Wind, Southern Aitkin$1,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Power lines and trees were blown down in Hill City.

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

104°FJul 28, 1917

All-time low

−53°FJan 12, 1912

Warmest night

79°F2 times, most recently Aug 18, 1916

Coldest day

−24°F2 times, most recently Jan 24, 1904

Wettest day

7.10 inJun 3, 1898

Snowiest day

17.0 inJan 11, 1975

Hottest year

2025mean 46.8°F

Coldest year

1925mean 36.0°F

Wettest year

190245.86 in

Driest year

192913.85 in

Snowiest season

93.0 in1970-71

Station Pine Rvr Dam (USC00216547), 1,250 ft elevation, 28.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1897 to October 26, 2026; 96.4% 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 USC00216547.
• 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.