McLeod County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Jun 25, 2002Flash Flood$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Four to six inches rain flooded much of northern and eastern McLeod County, mainly along and northeast of a line from Hutchinson to 4 S Glencoe. Ten roads were covered with water. Ditches and creeks overflowed near Winsted and Lester Prairie. One home in Lester Prairie was flooded. A few homes required sandbagging, and nearly 300 houses had their basements flooded. Thousands of acres of farmland were flooded. Water damaged much of the school in Silver Lake.

2. May 15, 1998Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Brief tornado touchdown destroying 6 farm buildings and damaged homestead. Debris hurled over nearby Butternut Lake. Posts driven 2 feet into the ground.

3. Aug 14, 2020Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An NWS survey found damage consistent with an EF-1 tornado in Mcleod County between Biscay and Glencoe. Maximum wind speeds of 95 MPH snapped and uprooted several trees and damaged outbuildings. There were numerous photos and videos of this tornado shared on social media.

4. Mar 15, 2010Flood$190,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An ice jam along the Buffalo Creek in Mcleod County caused flooding on Division Street in Brownton. In addition, county officials reported 16 partially blocked county roads throughout Mcleod County due to flooding along Buffalo Creek. At least one home had basement flooding due to flood waters. By the 18th of March, the flood waters from the Buffalo Creek reached Glencoe which flooded 100th Street.

5. Aug 14, 2020Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An NWS survey found damage consistent with an EF-0 tornado in McLeod County north of Brownton. Several trees were snapped, a trailer was overturned, and a metal grain silo wall was damaged and collapsed. There were numerous photos and videos of this tornado taken by storm chasers and shared on social media.

6. Jun 11, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind driven hail caused damage to houses and vehicles.

7. Jun 23, 2013Flash Flood$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Overnight rainfall, with high rainfall rates, caused significant street flooding in Glencoe, with flood waters encroaching on homes and businesses during the early morning hours. During the height of the storm, 12 inches of flowing water was reported on area streets in Glencoe.

8. May 8, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The roof of a pole barn (228'x70') was blown off and tossed southeast of the structure.

9. Apr 18, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Storage barn knocked off foundation. Shingles and portion of tin roof partially blown off. High school football bleachers blown over. Several trees down, including one on car.

10. May 29, 2018Thunderstorm Wind$54,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The local emergency manager conducted a survey of the damage that occurred in Hutchinson, and areas to the south of town. There was a semi that was blown over on Hwy 15 about 2 miles south of Hutchinson. There were also about 5 power poles damaged in this area as well. There was minor damage to a shed at the McLeod County Fairgrounds, on the south side of Hutchinson. Several trees were snapped, or uprooted. The main concentrated area of damage was in the south central part of Hutchinson. There were about 5-6 houses in Hutchinson that received structural damage from trees.||McLeod County declared a state of emergency on May 30, 2018 as a result of these high winds. An initial…

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

105°FJul 31, 1988

All-time low

−34°F3 times, most recently Feb 3, 1996

Warmest night

79°FJun 22, 2025

Coldest day

−20°FDec 18, 1983

Wettest day

5.29 inAug 14, 1981

Snowiest day

16.9 inDec 28, 1982

Hottest year

1987mean 50.7°F

Coldest year

1996mean 41.6°F

Wettest year

196541.41 in

Driest year

195816.24 in

Snowiest season

88.0 in1961-62

Station Gaylord (USC00213076), 1,020 ft elevation, 21.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1956 to September 30, 2026; 94.1% 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 USC00213076.
• 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.