Redwood County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by USGS MN (34).

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 1, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A long-lived and complex storm moved into western Redwood County around 322 PM CST, and moved northeast across mainly the northern 1/3 of the county before moving into portions of far southeast Yellow Medicine County and western Renville County. ||Several hundred trees were either snapped or uprooted along with damage to several outbuildings and large grain storage bins. There were also reported areas of crops destroyed but either the wind or hail. Based on the damage reports and radar imagery, wind speeds were likely sustained above 70 to 90 mph, (isolated 100 mph wind gusts) for 10 to 15 minutes in any given location as the storm traversed the county.

2. Apr 11, 2023Flood$1.3 million
   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. Redwood County Emergency Management reported $1.3 Million in damages to roads and bridges.

3. Jul 18, 2011Excessive Heat, Redwood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several sources from surface observations, to local officials, media and health organizations indicated that the combination of heat and humidity, from a large dome of high pressure, allowed for excessive heat to cause significant problems for several days. Local observations around the county indicated heat index values rose above 105 degrees Monday, July 18th, and continued through Wednesday July 20th. Overnight heat index values averaged around 80 degrees with the highest heat index of 119 degrees Monday afternoon, July 18th. In addition, the heat affected turkeys in southwest Minnesota, where 50,000 turkeys died due to heat related causes in Redwood Falls alone.

4. Jul 1, 2011Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-1 tornado touched down in Redwood County, approximately 6 miles west of Vesta, and moved into the far southeast corner of Yellow Medicine County, near 100th Avenue and 600th Street. Numerous trees were uprooted along with a few homes damaged along the path across northwestern Redwood County.

5. Jul 3, 2018Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous reports of flash flooding occurred across Redwood County from Belview in the far north, to Walnut Grove and Lamberton in the far south. The town of Wabasso had so much water that baseball fields were covered in a few inches of water. Over 50 township and county roads were impassable during the height of the flood waters. Once the flash flooding part of the storm abated, river flooding took over with river cresting to near or record levels.

6. Aug 17, 2017Flash Flood$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Very heavy rainfall, and associated flooding led to numerous reports of basement flooding in Redwood Falls, and surrounding communities. Flood waters caused damage to roads and drainage systems.

7. Mar 19, 2010Flood$255,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous counties roads were flooded from snow melt and associated runoff along several tributaries of the Minnesota River, and the Redwood River in Redwood County. Monetary costs were based on FEMA, State, and Local assistance which includes the following categories; emergency protective measures, and road systems and bridges.

8. Jul 1, 2011Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-1 tornado touched down just east of the Lyon, Redwood County border, and moved northeast to approximately 8 miles north of Milroy. Path length was approximately 2.6 miles, with a maximum width of 300 yards. Numerous trees were uprooted with a grain bin heavily damaged.

9. Apr 21, 2012Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several witnesses and storm spotters observed a tornado touchdown south of Lucan, Minnesota. The tornado tracked to the southeast and damaged a farmhouse, which included several outbuildings, a greenhouse, pole barn, and shed. Based on damage the tornado was rated an EF0 with top winds of 80 mph. The tornado lifted one quarter of a mile southeast of the farmhouse where debris was thrown one half mile.

10. Jul 1, 2011Tornado$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An EF-1 tornado continued along a path across northwest Redwood County, northeast to the Minnesota River, or approximately 3.5 miles north of Delhi where it crossed the Minnesota River into Renville County. The most concentrated area of tornadic damage with hundreds of trees uprooted or blown down was in the town of Belview. In addition, a few homes were damaged along the tornado path.

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 Jul 14, 1936

All-time low

−36°FJan 12, 1912

Warmest night

82°F5 times, most recently Aug 24, 1948

Coldest day

−21°FFeb 2, 1917

Wettest day

7.84 inAug 16, 2017

Snowiest day

22.0 inJan 21, 1917

Hottest year

1931mean 52.2°F

Coldest year

1951mean 40.1°F

Wettest year

197937.56 in

Driest year

189413.32 in

Snowiest season

82.1 in1916-17

Station Redwood Falls Municipal Airport (USW00014992), 1,026 ft elevation, 9.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1906 to October 26, 2026; 99.7% 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 USW00014992.
• 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.