Holt County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Dec 10, 2007Ice Storm, Holt$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ice accumulated around an inch across the county. Numerous tree branches and power lines down. Many people had to spend several nights in shelters.

2. Jul 27, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Mound City Police reported 2 semi-tractor trailers blown off the road just off an Interstate 29 exit. The were also several reports of large trees and power lines blown over and the roof torn off a shed in Mound City. Mound City police estimated the damage path to be a mile wide through town.

3. Jul 23, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorm winds gusted to 80 MPH in Maitland. Many trees and powerlines were downed. Three outbuildings were destroyed and two grain silos were toppled. A large portion of Maitland lost power as a result of the storm.

4. Jun 5, 2008Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed in Richardson County, Nebraska, and tracked northeast crossing the Missouri River into Holt County in Missouri(see Storm Data for Nebraska, East, for more information on the beginning portion of this tornado in Nebraska)at 1849CST, 3.45 miles southwest of Corning. In Missouri, the most significant damage, rated EF1, was to several barns and out buildings, one residence, and two destroyed trailers. The tornado crossed into Atchison County at 1859CST, around 3.6 miles east of Corning.

5. Apr 10, 1997Heavy Snow, Holt$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy wet snow fell across the Northern third of Missouri throughout the day on the 10th followed by a second band of snow during the early morning hours of the 11th. Since temperatures were near or slightly over freezing during the snowfall, some of the snow melted quickly but 6 to 12 inches of snow accumulated with well over a foot in many locations. The heaviest snow fell along and to the north of Highway 136 from Albany in Gentry County to Prineton in Mercer County to Lancaster in Schuyler County. The greatest totals were recorded in Schuyler and Mercer Counties where 20-24 inches of snow was reported. Schuyler County Emergency Management reported 24 inches of snow at…

6. Mar 20, 2019Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A levee near Craig, MO was compromised and water rushed into the town of Craig. The town was inundated under several inches of water for several days. This incident was part of the larger massive and widespread flooding along the Missouri River due to snow melt and heavy rain in the Northern Plains. Note: The dollar value assigned to this incident is likely inaccurate due to the full extent of the impacts not being known.

7. Mar 9, 2019Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Once the Missouri River started flooding on March 9, it remained in flood through the remainder of the month. The gauge in Rulo, Nebraska - along the west bank of the Missouri River - reached 28.14 feet on March 20 (preliminarily a new record). The flooding was caused by several rounds of heavy snow across the Northern Plains through the winter months, followed by a rapid warm-up and several days of heavy rain. The Missouri River Basin across the Northern Plains flooded with catastrophic consequences as numerous dams and levees failed. As the water flowed into the Missouri River upstream of Holt County, the river swelled and ultimately overwhelmed the levees along the river. Most…

8. Jun 13, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two trailers were destroyed, and a tree fell on top of a vacation cabin near Big Lake State Park.

9. Jun 7, 2009Hail$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A significant episode of severe weather, featuring extremely large and destructive hail and a few brief tornadoes, impacted portions of northwest and north central Missouri during the late afternoon and evening hours on June 7th. The setup for the event featured a slow moving warm front that was draped from far northwest Missouri southeastward into central Missouri. This front had been reinforced by a complex of thunderstorms that had impacted northern Missouri during the overnight and early morning hours prior, allowing abundant low level moisture to become pooled along the front. Strong daytime heating along and south of the front sent temperatures into the middle and upper 80s.…

10. Apr 8, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Severe weather broke out in northwest and west-central Missouri around midday on April 8. Storms tracked rapidly northeastward and moved into central and north-central Missouri by early evening. The outbreak included at least five tornadoes, one of which moved along a 54-mile path across three counties. Reports of thunderstorm wind damage were also widespread throughout the 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

114°F4 times, most recently Aug 13, 1936

All-time low

−30°FJan 13, 1916

Warmest night

87°F2 times, most recently Jun 19, 1921

Coldest day

−10°F3 times, most recently Dec 22, 1989

Wettest day

7.05 inJul 13, 1992

Snowiest day

12.0 inFeb 13, 1978

Hottest year

1921mean 57.8°F

Coldest year

1993mean 49.5°F

Wettest year

197357.33 in

Driest year

198815.78 in

Snowiest season

58.0 in1959-60

Station Falls City Brenner Field (USW00094957), 980 ft elevation, 21.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1912 to October 26, 2026; 99.6% 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 USW00094957.
• 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.