Fillmore County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by USGS MN (464), NASA (1).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Aug 18, 2007Flash Flood$38.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain that was centered north of the county caused Rush Creek to flash flood on historic levels. In addition to Rush Creek, every other creek that leads into Rushford had tremendous accumulation that led to flood waters raging into town. The water backed up against the levees normally used to keep flood waters out from the nearby Root River and ended up flooding most of the town, including the entire downtown area.||In Rushford specifically, two thirds of the town was under water at some point. About 300 people had to be rescued. 490 of the 766 homes were flooded or had damage (79 were declared structurally unsound). 58 of the 70 businesses in town were damaged impacting…

2. Aug 19, 2007Flood$11.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Law enforcement officials reported some roads washed out or still under water. The town of Rushford was inundated with flood waters from Rush Creek. In addition, the Root River at Rushford reached at an all-time record crest of 28.98 feet. As a result of flood waters, numerous homes, businesses and vehicles were damaged. In fact, two-thirds of the homes in Rushford were estimated to have been extensively damaged.

3. Jun 23, 2013Flash Flood$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain produced widespread flash flooding across the eastern half of Fillmore County. Mahoney Creek north of Lanesboro quickly came out of its banks sending water over State Highway 250. The South Branch of the Root River also rose rapidly causing a campground in Lanesboro to be evacuated and destroyed about a dozen RV's. Rescues were needed east of Whalan as numerous small creeks in the area flooded. Bridges were washed out on County Highway 23 and State Highway 43 near Choice, where a family was also stranded by flood water. The state fish hatchery near Lanesboro was inundated by flood waters which killed several fish and allowed the different species of trout to swim…

4. Jun 8, 2008Flood$2.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding was reported over the southern half of the county. Roads that were closed due to high water included Highway 63 in Spring Valley and County Highway 15. A rainfall total of 7.25 inches was recorded for the weekend of June 7-8 in Harmony where over 100 basements flooded. There were nearly 300 homes impacted in the county along with contaminated or collapsed wells. Other county roads closed due to high water included 17, 12, 30, and 8. In Preston, 12 business were affected and the city waste water treatment plant was flooded. Some evacuations were needed in Preston, along with Lanesboro.

5. Jun 1, 2000Flash Flood$1.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   3 to 6 inches of rain fell during the night of May 31 into the morning hours of June 1, causing widespread flash flooding. Hardest hit was Spring Valley (Fillmore County), where residents of 25 homes had to be evacuated and people in 3 homes were rescued by boat. The flood was the worst in Spring Valley since 1942. Near Eitzen (Houston County), flood waters washed out a 20 foot wide, 15 foot deep section of county highway 27. Between Dexter and Austin (Mower County), Interstate 90 had to be temporarily closed due to 2 to 3 feet of water across the road. Total property damage was estimated at 4.3 million dollars, with an additional estimate of 1.2 million dollars in damage to…

6. Sep 21, 2016Flash Flood$1.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain caused Sugar Creek to flood with water going over County Highway 8 west of Fountain. Flooding on Duschee Creek caused State Highway 16 to be closed southwest of Lanesboro. State Highway 16 was also closed west of Whalan due to a mudslide. Downed trees blocked U.S. Highway 52 south of Chatfield and State Highway 43 near Rushford. Ox Cart Road suffered severe damage from a mudslide. Flood waters completely covered Riverside Campground and 70 campers had to be evacuated from the Highway 250 Campground. Numerous township roads were also damaged by the flooding.

7. Jun 8, 2008Flood$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Root River went into flooding due to the heavy rains during the weekend of June 7-8. The South Branch of the Root River at Preston crested at 941.67 feet on June 9, which was the third highest crest on record. Flood stage is 937.0 feet. At Lanesboro, the South Branch of the Root River reached 14.17 feet with a flood stage there of 12 feet.

8. Jun 7, 2008Flash Flood$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding impacted a large part of the county, especially the southern half. High water was reported over Highways 30 and 44. Many area creeks rose very rapidly and caused infrastructure damage.

9. Apr 12, 2022Tornado$650,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF1 tornado formed southwest of Spring Valley and moved almost due north before dissipating west of Spring Valley. The tornado blew down a barn and damaged several other farm buildings along its path. Several new power poles along County Highway 1 were leaning after the storm.

10. Dec 15, 2021High Wind, Fillmore$570,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph were common across Fillmore County during the late evening of December 15th into the early morning of the 16th. The automated weather observing equipment at the Preston airport measured a wind gust of 60 mph. A county wide state of emergency was declared.

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

101°F5 times, most recently Aug 24, 2023

All-time low

−45°F2 times, most recently Feb 1, 2019

Warmest night

80°FAug 1, 2001

Coldest day

−18°FFeb 3, 1996

Wettest day

7.30 inJul 11, 1981

Snowiest day

14.3 inMar 18, 2005

Hottest year

2012mean 48.9°F

Coldest year

1996mean 41.3°F

Wettest year

198349.15 in

Driest year

195817.74 in

Snowiest season

75.5 in1961-62

Station Preston (USC00216654), 930 ft elevation, 1.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1952 to October 4, 2026; 94.6% 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 USC00216654.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.