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.

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 9, 1997Flood, Grant$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous county roads and bridges were closed due to overland flooding and the rising Mustinka River. The towns of Herman and Norcross experienced some flooding in residential areas.

2. May 30, 2022Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado was wrapped in damaging downburst winds and rain as it rapidly tracked northeast for roughly 6 miles to around 3 SE of Elbow Lake by 419 pm CDT. Numerous wooden single and double X-Braced power poles were snapped, including a nearly 2-mile stretch of double pole structures along 240th street, as a broader downburst wind pattern developed. Numerous trees of all kinds were snapped or uprooted. Several farm buildings and grain bins were destroyed. Max winds to 120 mph, Max width to 350 yards.

3. May 30, 2022Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado was wrapped in damaging downburst winds and rain as it rapidly tracked to the northeast for about 11 miles, ending around 4.3 miles NNE of Elbow Lake by 424 pm CDT. Numerous ash, spruce, cottonwood, and willow trees were snapped or uprooted. Numerous wooden power poles were snapped Numerous farm outbuilding and steel grain bins were destroyed, with roofing and wall panels carried downwind for a mile or more. Max winds were 115 mph, with a max width to 400 yards.

4. May 30, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous large ash and spruce trees snapped or uprooted around town. One of 4 large 100k bushel steel grain bins was blown down at the Elbow Lake cooperative grain elevator. Wind gusts likely ranged from 70 to 90 mph for several seconds. Time estimated based on radar. The Elbow Lake wind sensor went offline due to widespread power outages.

5. May 30, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous large ash and spruce trees snapped or uprooted at the Tipsinah Mounds Campground. Damaging downburst winds impacted much of Erdahl Township with wind gusts from 70 to 90 mph. Two storage building were blown down near the Tipsinah Mounds Golf Course. Report augmented by NWS damage survey. Time estimated based on radar.

6. Apr 5, 2001Flood, Grant$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Overland flooding from the spring snowmelt closed numerous roads in Grant county. Several homes in Herman and Barrett reported basement flooding.

7. Jun 13, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several semi-trucks were blown off Interstate 94 near Ashby.

8. Jul 29, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Roofs were lifted and torn off, which resulted in walls collapsing on two large hog finishing barns in southeast Land Township. The 800 hogs were not injured.

9. May 30, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$120,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A semi tractor-trailer combination traveling on westbound I-94 was blown over onto an SUV that had parked on the shoulder of the highway due to an approaching storm. Reports indicate that three individuals were transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Time estimated based on radar.

10. Jul 8, 2020Tornado$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    This tornado began in Grant County, but after about two miles, it crossed into Otter Tail County, where it ended about 5 miles east of Dalton. The total track through both counties was about 9 miles. Peak winds were estimated at 170 mph, based on available damage indicators. At least 10 farmsteads were impacted, with three homes, one pole shed, and one machine shed destroyed.

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, 26.4 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.