Dawson County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Jul 27, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The National Weather Service in Glasgow conducted a damage survey in Glendive on July 28, 2015 following a significant severe thunderstorm that hit the evening before coming in from the southwest. NWS staff met with county and city officials before and after the survey to be briefed and brief them on what was discovered. The event was a macroburst (large scale straight line wind event) with some microburst components in between. | There were not enough time and resources to enter the various neighborhoods that were impacted, and due to the number of trees and power lines down, it was not safe to try and go around these areas where crews were working. In order to best evaluate the…

2. Jun 14, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A line of severe thunderstorms roared through the Glendive area and caused extensive damage. A National Weather Service storm survey was conducted, and it was determined that although there may have been funnel clouds in the area, all of the damage was caused by straight line winds of around 100 mph. The team first surveyed the damage just north of downtown, along the east bank of the Yellowstone River. Two trees, the largest of which was a 44 year old pine, were uprooted at a residence. Both trees were pushed leaning northeast onto and partially through the exterior wall and roof of the house. Throughout this area of the city, there were numerous other trees and branches taken…

3. Jul 2, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$380,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A semi truck over turned on I-94 approximately 10 miles southwest of Glendive. There was one injury reported with broken bones. Widespread wind and hail damage was reported in southern Dawson County. A tree fell through a house and caused approximately 100 thousand dollars of damage. Three grain bins were destroyed causing approximately 180 thousand dollars of damage. There was approximately 120 thousand dollars of damage to beet crops. Estimated total damage from the storm was 500 thousand dollars.

4. Aug 11, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm brought damaging winds and hail to central portions of Dawson County. The areas hardest hit extended from Lindsay to Bloomfield. In many areas crops were a total loss. Several barns were blown down damaging equipment and machinery.

5. Jul 7, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The area from about 10 miles southeast of Richey to 2 miles southeast of Bloomfield had approximately 12,000 acres of crop damage and high winds that caused some grain hoppers to be blown over. A grain hopper near county road 515 was completely toppled over and rolled about 150 to 200 yards downstream. Two miles southeast of Bloomfield, there were 5 grain hoppers that weigh 5,500 pound each, and two of the hoppers were toppled over. The crop damage was due to hail reported up to 1.5 inches in diameter with winds in the 40 to 60 mph range that lasted for 30 to 45 minutes.

6. Jun 28, 2005Flash Flood$112,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms which produced up to 4 inches of rainfall caused the water in the Glendive Creek approximately 6 miles east of Glendive to go from 6 inches deep and 6 feet wide to approximately 12 feet deep and nearly 100 feet wide. The water crossed old Highway 10. About 6 miles northeast of Glendive a bridge on Belle Prairie Road was washed out as well as a culvert on Road 311.

7. Jul 20, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The damaging downburst winds that occurred in McCone County continued into Dawson County. Several farms along Highway 200 had significant damage to outbuildings, and well as to equipment. Crops were 100 percent destroyed in a 1 to 5 mile wide swath from 12 miles northwest of Lindsay to the town of Lindsay. A home in Linsday also had the roof blown off.

8. May 20, 2007Hail$62,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail ranged from quarter size to two inches. Southwest side of home received window and vinyl siding damage. Double paned windows shattered on living room floor. Trees on property shredded from hail.

9. Mar 10, 2014Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ice moved into the Glendive area overnight on March 9-10. The ice jammed in Glendive causing the water to rise over 8 feet in less than 15 minutes. The jam caused water and ice to flow across the Marsh Road just southwest of town, and it also took out several power poles. The ice jam further impacted the town as water and ice filled into the Toepke Park baseball/softball complex. At least one 1,000 gallon propane tank was lifted from its base and floated down river. The USGS gauge in Glendive peaked at 57.29 feet, but the ice caused a large area of low-land flooding downstream of the gauge for the next 36 hours.

10. Oct 4, 2005Blizzard, Dawson$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An early season winter storm affected a portion of northeast Montana from late in the afternoon of October 4th through early afternoon on the 5th. An area of low pressure tracked from Colorado on the morning of the 4th to the eastern Dakotas by the morning of the 5th. The storm produced between 6 and 18 inches of heavy wet snow. The heavy snowfall covered an area from extreme eastern Sheridan County and eastern Roosevelt County through eastern McCone, southeast Garfield, and Southern Petroleum Counties and points east to the north Dakota Border. The heaviest snow fell in Wibaux and Dawson Counties where more than a foot of snow was observed. The snow occurred at a time when the…

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

117°FJul 20, 1893

All-time low

−50°FFeb 16, 1936

Warmest night

82°FJul 27, 1931

Coldest day

−30°FJan 11, 1912

Wettest day

5.70 inAug 5, 1916

Snowiest day

13.0 inMar 20, 1894

Hottest year

1981mean 50.4°F

Coldest year

1950mean 39.5°F

Wettest year

191626.02 in

Driest year

19344.83 in

Snowiest season

75.0 in1895-96

Station Glendive (USC00243581), 2,075 ft elevation, 2.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 92.3% 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 USC00243581.
• 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.