Douglas County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 7, 2001Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The same intense low pressure system that brought high wind to southern Minnesota also dumped a large area of 3 to 4 inches rain across west central and central Minnesota, on top of melting snow and saturated ground. Drainage ditches, still clogged with snow, were unable to accept most of this rain water. About 3000 homes in Stearns County and 500 homes in Benton County sustained water damage to basements. Several homes were flooded along Hawk Creek near Clara City (Chippewa County), as were about 50 homes in Chokio and Morris (Stevens County). Dozens of people were evacuated, though no injuries were reported. Hundreds of roads were submerged and some bridges flooded.

2. Jul 10, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were blown down across the southern part of Douglas County from Kensington to Garfield, and Holmes City. In addition, straight line winds damaging two roofs of two commercial buildings in the southern part of the county.

3. Aug 1, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were blown down across a large part of southwest and south central Douglas County.

4. Jul 15, 2011Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two waves of very heavy rainfall occurred between 6 and 8 am, and started causing significant flooding around the communities of Carlos, Alexandria, and Osakis, Minnesota. Nearly 7 inches of rain fell in a short period of time near Osakis, where local officials reported several inches of water over the roadways. A few areas received basement flooding and a local high school reported flooding in classrooms.

5. Apr 21, 2012Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Local law enforcement officials confirmed that a tornado briefly touched down northeast of Farwell, Minnesota. Based on damage of a 30-40 foot pole barn, and minor damage to a second barn, the tornado was rated an EF0 with top winds of 75 mph.

6. Jul 10, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous large trees and power lines were blown down from near Holmes City, to Forada, Minnesota.

7. Jul 22, 2010Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A barn, three sheds, two grain bins, and a rabbit hutch were destroyed.

8. Jul 10, 2002Flash Flood$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall totaled 3.5 to 7 inches across southeastern Douglas County, producing water over numerous roads from Alexandria to Osakis. County Road 31 between Osakis and Nelson was closed, but no roads were washed out. Numerous basements were flooded.

9. Jun 20, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tree fell on a camper, and unfortunately one of the two individuals inside the camper was killed. The other individual was injured and hospitalized.

10. Aug 7, 2010Tornado$25,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A National Weather Service Storm Damage Survey from the Grand Forks, North Dakota Office determined that an EF-1 tornado touched down about one mile north of Wendell in Grant County, and had an intermittent track east-southeast through Grant County. It then moved east across northwestern Douglas County to the south side of Evansville, before lifting. Total path length from Grant County into Douglas County was about 21 miles. Damage was confined to large trees, but several power poles were blown down in Evansville, causing a city wide power outage.

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°FAug 7, 1983

All-time low

−38°F2 times, most recently Jan 16, 1977

Warmest night

80°FJul 30, 2006

Coldest day

−24°F2 times, most recently Jan 18, 1994

Wettest day

5.69 inJul 19, 1945

Snowiest day

12.2 inJan 10, 1975

Hottest year

1987mean 46.9°F

Coldest year

1950mean 37.2°F

Wettest year

198640.03 in

Driest year

197611.39 in

Station Alexandria Chandler Field (USW00014910), 1,420 ft elevation, 2.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1940 to October 26, 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 USW00014910.
• 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.