Kittson County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (218), ND GS (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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 5, 1997Blizzard, Kittson$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   With falling temperatures on the back side of the low, the freezing rain changed to snow. A strong pressure gradient created winds up to 65 mph, dropping visibilities down to near zero. The strong wind, on top of heavy ice accumulations, caused thousands of power poles to snap. This cut power to over 100,000 people in eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota and caused $30 million in damages to the power infrastructure. With no heat, many people had to seek shelters with generator power. Some smaller communities were without power for more than a week. Snowfall totals on the 6th ranged around 7 inches. Three men from China slid off a road 3 miles south of Borup into a…

2. Apr 21, 1997Flood, Kittson$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Diking helped prevent the town of St. Vincent from being flooded, but could not save the small town of Robbin. The river was estimated to be 20 miles wide north of Drayton, ND, and 25 miles wide near St. Vincent. New records were set on the Red River at Drayton on the 25th and in Pembina on the 26th. The Two Rivers River at Hallock also set a new record on the 21st.

3. Apr 4, 1997Ice Storm, Kittson$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense low pressure system, with center pressures around 28.8 inches, tracked from Fergus Falls to International Falls. The initial rain was accompanied by thunder and lightning in Polk county, and then changed to freezing rain as the temperature fell. One-half to one inch of ice built up on exposed surfaces. Hundreds of power poles and lines snapped due to the weight of the ice, cutting power to many homes and businesses, many of which were beginning to fight the spring flood. The wind equipment froze up on ASOS and AWOS units across northwest Minnesota, and remained frozen for 7 days. The 3 inches of liquid equivalent from the storm fell on top of a record snowpack.

4. Apr 1, 2006Flood$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Red River at Drayton (ND) rose above flood stage around 6 PM CST on April third and remained above flood stage until around 1 PM CST on May 2nd. The river peaked at roughly 42.90 feet around 11 PM CST on April 10th. Unofficially, 42.90 feet would be the third highest modern-day river stage recorded. The Red River at Pembina (ND) rose above flood stage around 5 AM CST on April 5th and remained above flood stage until around 2 AM CST on May 3rd. The river peaked at roughly 51.45 feet around 8 PM CST on April 14th, unofficially the 3rd highest modern-day river stage recorded. The Red River spread well out of it banks (8 miles wide in spots) from around Oslo (MN) northward,…

5. Sep 19, 2014Tornado$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado snapped or uprooted numerous trees along its path. Several farm outbuildings, steel grain bins, and a steel pole shed were completely destroyed. One farmstead sized wooden grain elevator was completely dismantled and sections of it were thrown dozens of yards. Multiple power poles were snapped at different locations. Peak winds were estimated at 130 mph.

6. Jul 20, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The county highway department building was severely damaged. Equipment in the building was also damaged. Peak winds were estimated at 95 mph based on extreme structural damage and related tree damage. Trees and power lines were down all around Karlstad.

7. Apr 7, 2001Flood, Kittson$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A near normal winter left a snowpack with 1.5 to 2.5 inches of snow water equivalent to the Kittson county area. The snow melted first over the northern Red River basin. A heavy rain event dropped 1 to 2 inches of rain over the Red River Valley on the 7th. Another heavy rain event occurred over the southern Red River basin on the 11th and 12th, and a winter storm also dropped a foot of snow over that same area on the 22nd and 23rd. These events kept the Red River near its crest level for nearly a week. The Red River crested in Drayton at 41.38 feet on April 21st and crested at 49.43 feet in Pembina on April 26th. The crest at Drayton was the 8th highest ever, while the crest at…

8. Jul 2, 2005Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Railroad tracks were washed out near Orleans. One house had water one foot deep on the main floor. Widespread overland flooding occurred throughout the county.

9. Jul 2, 2005Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado tore the doors off a steel building, flipped a camper trailer, and uprooted around 50 trees. Around 30 power poles were damaged, causing $150,000 in damages to the local utility.

10. May 30, 2010Flash Flood$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Two to five inches of rain fell across portions of Kittson County, causing street flooding, basement flooding, and sewer backup in Lancaster and Hallock. Some water was reported in the Hallock courthouse. 3.48 inches of rain fell in Northcote and 3.08 inches in Hallock.

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

109°F3 times, most recently Jul 12, 1936

All-time low

−48°FJan 21, 1954

Warmest night

78°FJul 28, 1917

Coldest day

−30°F3 times, most recently Jan 10, 1909

Wettest day

6.83 inMay 30, 2010

Snowiest day

12.0 in4 times, most recently Mar 2, 2006

Hottest year

2024mean 42.3°F

Coldest year

1979mean 33.6°F

Wettest year

201032.11 in

Driest year

19527.76 in

Snowiest season

70.7 in2022-23

Station Pembina (USW00014924), 790 ft elevation, 27.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1898 to October 28, 2026; 96.5% 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 USW00014924.
• 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.