Wibaux County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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 ND GS (1).

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. Jun 8, 2002Hail$100,000
2. Jul 11, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A complete barn roof was blown off and a large evergreen tree was uprooted. There was crop and property damage between Red Top East Road and Edge Hill East Road.

3. May 4, 2010High Wind, Wibaux$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trained spotter 7 miles southeast of Wibaux estimated a wind gust of 60 mph. Also storm damage occurred where a couple of grain bins were blown over and destroyed.

4. Jun 8, 2002Flash Flood$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall associated with a severe thunderstorms dropped 2 to 3 inches of rainfall over the area. The bridge over Little Beaver Creek just northeast of Wibaux was damaged as rain washed away gravel near the bridge and left a gaping hole. Several area roads had water that ran across them, with one area over 100 feet wide and 8 to 12 inches deep.

5. Nov 9, 2012Winter Storm, Wibaux$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Cooperative observer in Wibaux reported 7 inches of snowfall. Other reports across the county included freezing drizzle, snow, and melting snow which caused very slick road conditions, resulting in an automobile accident on Interstate 94 with multiple fatalities. Two pregnant women, not wearing seatbelts, were killed when the vehicle rolled over off the interstate. Neither fetus survived. The driver was wearing a seatbelt and had some non-life threatening injuries.

6. Jun 13, 2011Lightning$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Twenty one heifers were killed when lightning struck south-southwest of Wibaux. The heifers were generally lined up along a fence line, but there were six of them that were scattered up to 75 yards away. Some of the fencing was also knocked down. There were a total of 51 heifers in the pasture.

7. Nov 1, 2000Winter Storm, Wibaux$9,700
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major winter storm hit eastern Montana leaving over 1500 residents without power as nearly 2000 power poles snapped in half. The storm started as rain and produced several hours of sleet before changing to snow. After the ice turned to all snow, strong winds from 30 to 45 mph with gusts to 60 mph developed creating blizzard conditions with 6 to 12 inches of snow. Drifts up to 5 and 6 feet were reported in Sheridan County.

8. Jan 19, 2010Freezing Fog, Wibaux$8,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dense freezing fog impacted the area with electrical pole damage across the area due to rime ice accumulation. Dollar amounts were from Golden West Electric and State DES.

9. Aug 9, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$1,000
10. Aug 3, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$500
    National Weather Service narrative

    The wind snapped tree branches and blew steel lawn furniture across the yard. One inch of rain was also estimated.

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

107°F2 times, most recently Jul 26, 2024

All-time low

−39°FDec 21, 1989

Warmest night

76°F2 times, most recently Sep 5, 2001

Coldest day

−24°FJan 14, 2024

Wettest day

3.12 inAug 29, 1964

Snowiest day

18.0 inApr 24, 2022

Hottest year

1987mean 47.2°F

Coldest year

1972mean 39.4°F

Wettest year

201326.42 in

Driest year

19887.32 in

Snowiest season

93.0 in1978-79

Station Carlyle 13 Nw (USC00241518), 3,145 ft elevation, 16.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1962 to August 31, 2026; 94.0% 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 USC00241518.
• 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.