Bottineau County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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 9, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread damage occurred in the city of Lansford. A mobile home sustained substantial damage as the roof and part of the wall structure were removed. Permanent homes had roof damage and broken windows. The grain elevator sustained an estimated three to four million dollars in damages as the primary structure along with multiple grain bins, some containing grain, were damaged or destroyed. Tree damage was widespread and extensive, as many very large trees were uprooted or snapped. Winds throughout northwest into north central North Dakota were as high as 70 mph, with winds estimated as high as 100 mph around Lansford. The event at Lansford may have been a microburst, leading to…

2. Apr 23, 2022Blizzard, Bottineau$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds and heavy snow combined to produce a blizzard. In addition, periods of freezing rain occurred which accreted on power lines. This, combined with strong winds, led to extensive damage to power lines, cross arms, and poles, and thus widespread power outages.

3. Jan 9, 1997Blizzard, Bottineau$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The second blizzard in less than 1 week brought North Dakota to a virtual standstill. This blizzard didn't bring as much snow as the first storm, but the winds gusted from the northwest as high at 40 mph and they lasted for 3 days. Snowfall amounts from this storm varied from 1-2 inches in the southwest to 2-4 inches in the central. But the strong winds combined with this snow as well as the snow from the blizzard a few days earlier created widespread whiteout conditions that lasted for 3 days. There were numerous communities that halted mail delivery and cancelled school. In Emmons Co. every road was blocked by drifts, some as high as 18 feet. In McLean Co. there was a drift at…

4. Apr 4, 1997Blizzard, Bottineau$1.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Warm weather the first three days of April lead much of North Dakota to believe that spring had arrived with temperatures in the 60s and 70s. Mother Nature had other plans. A very strong area of low pressure moved out of the Colorado area into the northern plains. Warm moist air ahead of the low collided with cold air coming down from Canada. The result was the worst blizzard of the season for North Dakota, bringing much of the state to a complete halt. The precipitation began to fall during the afternoon of the 4th (Friday), as rain in the east and freezing rain or sleet in the west. By Friday evening the freezing rain and sleet had changed over to all snow in the west. By…

5. Jun 1, 2005Flash Flood$625,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The townships of Dahlen, Harman, Peabody, Scandia, Starbuck and Edisvold greatly impacted. Ten home basements full of water as it flowed across roads and fields into homes. Souris reported 6 inches of rain in a few hours. Several gravel county roads washed out. Water penetrated gasoline tank with 500 gallons lost. USDA determined rainfall totaled 7 inches and 150,000 acres of crops were impacted on 200 farms.

6. Jun 6, 2013Flood$525,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This flooding, along the Souris (Mouse) River, was in part due to earlier snow melt runoff and releases from upstream dams reaching this part of Bottineau County. Heavy rains in June added to the high water. Damage was reported to roads and bridges.

7. Jul 11, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A line of late night severe thunderstorms moved east out of Renville County through Bottineau causing widespread wind damage. Nearly 200 trees were blown over, three (3) barns were damaged, four (4) new 60,000 bushel grain storage buildings, valued at $300,000 totally destroyed in western Bottineau County. Twelve miles north northeast of Bottineau, on Lake Metigoshe, numerous boats, piers and trees were damaged. Several cabins had structural damage.

8. Jul 14, 2024Hail$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail damaged roofs, siding, and windows on houses along with car windshields in the community of Westhope.

9. Jul 10, 2025Hail$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive hail damage throughout the community of Newberg including damaged roofs and vehicles.

10. Jul 31, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$350,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Seven empty hopper style grain bins were blown over, and one empty standard style grain bin was also destroyed. Various trees were damaged, with some smaller trees broken off. The wind was also accompanied by up to one-inch diameter hail and caused extensive crop damage in 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

111°FJul 12, 1936

All-time low

−51°FFeb 13, 2021

Warmest night

85°FJul 11, 1936

Coldest day

−33°FFeb 1, 1893

Wettest day

5.03 inSep 2, 1973

Snowiest day

11.5 inOct 12, 2019

Hottest year

1987mean 42.9°F

Coldest year

1951mean 32.2°F

Wettest year

201030.32 in

Driest year

19348.45 in

Snowiest season

74.5 in1975-76

Station Bottineau (USC00320941), 1,619 ft elevation, 8.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 95.8% 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 USC00320941.
• 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.