Lac qui Parle County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Oct 8, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hog barn collapse resulted in one injury. Damage estimate for entire county.

2. Mar 17, 2010Flood$515,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several county roads became inundated due to flood waters along the Minnesota River.||Monetary costs were based on FEMA, State, and Local assistance which includes the following categories; debris removal, emergency protective measures, road systems and bridges, water control facilities, and utilities.

3. Mar 14, 2007Flood$425,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Spring snow melt with rapid warming brought ice jams and flooding to portions of West Central Minnesota. On the 14th, Lac Qui Parle county officials reported flooded township roads west of the intersection of roads 212 and 75 (along the West Fork of the Lac Qui Parle River). The ice jam responsible for the flooding was west of the city of Dawson. The Dawson Sentinel reported plenty of damage to the Helgeson Bridge southeast of Dawson. Three quarters of the bridge was toppled.

4. Jul 1, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Barn blown down, killing one horse. Tree and shed damage. Approximately 8 miles of wind damage. Estimated windspeed.

5. Mar 17, 2019Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Snow melt and a slow thaw led to numerous county and township roads to close; in total, roughly 71 sections of roadway had been closed, accumulating an estimated 81 miles. Many of these sections were washed out and damaged and required repairs. The City of Dawson experienced flooding of their football and baseball fields, as well as a portion of city park and Ash Street.||A driver drove around the barricade blocking County Road 55 about a half-mile north of Hwy. 212 in Garfield Township on Thursday, March 28th. Deputies from the Lac qui Parle County Sheriff's Office retrieved a female driver and her male passenger after their vehicle was swept off a country road and pushed into a…

6. Apr 11, 2023Flood$260,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A combination of record setting seasonal snowfall, high snow water equivalent values, and rapid snow melt led to low lying areas, ditches, and ravines across the county to flood for a prolonged period of time. Road infrastructure such as bridges, gravel roads, and culverts experience varied degrees of damage caused by rapid runoff. Lac qui Parle County Emergency Management reported $260,000 in damages to roads and bridges.

7. Mar 23, 2009Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three township roads were closed due to flooding. In addition to the flooding, several roads and bridges needed repairs with county official estimating $250,000 in damages. This estimate was reported on March 29th.

8. May 30, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe winds destroyed a machine shop north of Dawson.

9. Jun 20, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous power poles and lines were destroyed by the strong winds. Most of the county was without power anywhere from 3 to 24 hours. Numerous trees were toppled, including some falling on homes, sheds, and vehicles. A few agricultural buildings were also damaged. Losses were reported by the emergency manager.

10. Aug 12, 2010Tornado$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Local law enforcement officials, spotters and chasers observed a brief tornado touchdown on the southern edge of Louisburg. It picked up a grain bin at the Louisburg elevator and threw it 100 yards. Some trees were also uprooted near the same area.

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

110°F2 times, most recently Aug 1, 1988

All-time low

−36°FFeb 9, 1994

Warmest night

84°FAug 16, 1988

Coldest day

−17°FJan 30, 2004

Wettest day

4.63 inAug 11, 2016

Snowiest day

19.2 inFeb 21, 2011

Hottest year

1964mean 49.4°F

Coldest year

2019mean 41.2°F

Wettest year

197741.23 in

Driest year

19769.34 in

Snowiest season

85.9 in2010-11

Station Madison Wwtp (USC00214994), 1,075 ft elevation, 2.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1940 to October 25, 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 USC00214994.
• 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.