Pope County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Pope 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. Aug 1, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were blown down along a sixteen mile long path of damage with a swath about six to eight miles wide that occurred from Farwell and northern Starbuck, to the southern side of Lake Minnewaska and the southeast side of Glenwood. An electric transmission company had three metal truss towers collapse about 2.5 miles east of Lowry. The towers were 187 feet tall, with 1700 feet of spacing between each tower. Using the enhanced Fujita scale, damage indicator 24 (ETL) applies very well; its lower bound for a degree of damage 6 is 116 mph (101 knots). The towers were rated for 120 mph. Eight miles to the southeast of the towers, on the southern fringe of the…

2. Jun 21, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   One barn collapsed, many pole sheds, garages, out buildings, and silos were heavily damaged. Damage extended across most of far southern Pope County.

3. Sep 19, 2017Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down near Camp Lake in Swift County and then moved into Pope County, where it destroyed two machine sheds and several other outbuildings. The tornado tore through many fields, damaging or destroying much corn. It finally dissipated just after crossing State Highway 104, just before reaching Johanna Lake.

4. Jul 14, 2009Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service storm survey and visual reports confirmed that a tornado moved through portions of Swift and Pope Counties in west central Minnesota where two turkey barns and several outbuildings were destroyed, with extensive tree damage throughout the entire path. Maximum damage was EF-2 with estimated winds of 111-119 mph. In the town of Swift Falls, two residences were damaged along with two garages that were destroyed. The tornado was produced minor crop damage northeast of Swift Falls.

5. May 12, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A silo and barn were destroyed west-northwest of Swift Falls.

6. Jul 10, 2010Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dozens of trees were broken, uprooted or toppled. Many trees fell on lake homes on the north side of Scandinavia Lake. A few sheds were destroyed, the roof of one house was partially removed, two campers were destroyed, and a pontoon was flipped. After the tornado moved away from the lake, a storm chaser filmed it during its rope stage moving across open fields. The chaser commented that the tornado was rain-wrapped, which was consistent with public reports.

7. Apr 7, 2001Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The same intense low pressure system that brought high wind to southern Minnesota also dumped a large area of 3 to 4 inches rain across west central and central Minnesota, on top of melting snow and saturated ground. Drainage ditches, still clogged with snow, were unable to accept most of this rain water. About 3000 homes in Stearns County and 500 homes in Benton County sustained water damage to basements. Several homes were flooded along Hawk Creek near Clara City (Chippewa County), as were about 50 homes in Chokio and Morris (Stevens County). Dozens of people were evacuated, though no injuries were reported. Hundreds of roads were submerged and some bridges flooded.

8. Jul 1, 1997Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   3 inches of rain in 45 minutes resulted in basement flooding. Damage estimate for entire county.

9. Jun 17, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe straight-line winds caused a widespread area of damage from north of Terrace, east-northeast through the Sedan area towards Grove Lake. Damages consisted of uprooted trees, structural damage, and damage to grain bins.

10. Jul 23, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Hundreds of trees down, some on houses, businesses and vehicles. Numerous docks and boats flipped along Lake Minnewaska in Starbuck.

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, 16.6 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.