Cass County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Cass County: 13.
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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by ND GS (860), USGS MN (168).

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. Apr 16, 1997Flood, Cass$150 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The cresting Red River caused numerous problems to the Hickson and Fargo areas. Numerous homes along the river were flooded, as the river rose to a new record for the century on the 18th, at 39.55 feet. Overland flooding caused problems along the south and southwest sides of Fargo, as water from the Wild Rice River broke out of its banks and headed overland toward Fargo. The water flowed over Interstate 29 near the Horace exit. A clay dike was built along the south side of the city to prevent this water from flooding thousands of homes. A section was also cut out of US Highway 81 to relieve the water level along the south side of Fargo.

2. Jun 19, 2000Flash Flood$100 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A series of training thunderstorms brought heavy rain to the Fargo area. A total of 6.82 inches was reported at the ASOS site at the Fargo airport. 7.31 inches was reported by the official observer in north Moorhead. This is believed to be a new 24 hour rainfall record for the Fargo-Moorhead area. The heavy rain halted traffic, inundated storm sewers, and knocked out electricity and phones. 20,000 customers lost power when a power station was submerged. This knocked out power to those customers with sump pumps. A state of emergency was declared in the city at 3 am. At one point, 50 percent of the city streets were flooded. The major traffic arteries, Interstates 29 and 94, were…

3. Apr 8, 1997Flood, Cass$100 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Record levels on the Sheyenne River forced the closing of Interstate 29 near Harwood. New records were set on the Sheyenne at Kindred on the 8th, West Fargo on the 9th, and Harwood on the 10th. The 600 people of Harwood, inside a newly constructed ring dike, could only leave by boat.

4. Jul 4, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$80.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms producing strong winds hit the Fargo area, causing widespread damage. On the north side of town, Hector Airport had winds in excess of 50 knots for 39 minutes, with a peak speed of 79 knots at 0642 CST. A dozen airplanes at Hector Airport were damaged, some landing upside down. Several hangers were also damaged. The NDSU station just west of campus reported a maximum wind speed of 51 knots. Power was knocked out to the ASOS unit at the airport for 2 days. 35,000 people in Fargo were without power for various times. Apartment buildings were hit particularly hard, with roof damage quite common. This was especially true in the West Acres area on the west side of Fargo.…

5. Sep 21, 2007Hail$30.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Baseball sized hail fell at the intersection of 19th Street and 33rd Avenue South. The large hail damaged many vehicles and homes.

6. Apr 2, 1997Flood, Cass$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Overland flooding due to melting snow forced the towns of Casselton, Amenia, and Mapleton to dike and sandbag. Water filled entire fields along Interstate 94 between Casselton and West Fargo, even flowing over Interstate 94 in several spots. The Maple River set a new record in Mapleton on April 4th.

7. Apr 4, 1997Ice Storm, Cass$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense low pressure system, with center pressures around 28.8 inches, tracked from Fergus Falls to International Falls, Minnesota. The initial rain was accompanied by lightning and thunder in southern Grand Forks county, and then changed to freezing rain as the temperature dropped. One-half to 2 inches of ice built up on exposed surfaces. Hundreds of power poles and lines snapped due to the weight of the ice, cutting power to many homes and businesses, many of which were beginning to fight the spring flood. The wind reporting systems on the AWOS and ASOS sites across eastern North Dakota froze in place, remaining out for 7 days. The three inches of liquid equivalent from the…

8. Apr 5, 1997Blizzard, Cass$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   With falling temperatures on the back side of the low, the freezing rain turned to ice pellets and then to snow. A strong pressure gradient created winds up to 65 mph, dropping visibilities down to zero. The strong wind, on top of heavy ice accumulations, caused thousands of power poles to snap. This cut power to over 100,000 people in eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota and resulted in $30 million in damages just to the power infrastructure. A 2,060 foot television tower collapsed near Galesburg on April 5th. With power cut, many people had to seek shelters with generator power in order to keep warm. Some smaller communities were without power for more than a week. Most…

9. Jun 19, 2000Flash Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   After 5 to 7 inches of rain fell across the West Fargo area, flash flooding occurred in low lying neighborhoods. The Meadow Ridge area suffered quite a bit of damage, with numerous basements flooded. Many streets and cars were also flooded.

10. Jul 4, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$5.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Strong winds hit the West Fargo area, knocking down trees, power lines, and signs. A motel on Main Avenue was damaged as well as numerous roofs. A block of storage sheds were blown apart, with debris damaging vehicles and apartments in the area. 4300 people were without power. At the West Fargo airport, a hanger was demolished, wrecking the Cessna 182 parked inside. A skydiver group who owned the hanger lost most of their equipment inside, some blowing over a half mile away. Some contents of the hanger were found inside a home to the east of the airport. This home had its roof torn off and windows blown in. This allowed some of the debris from the airport hanger to get inside 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

106°F2 times, most recently Jul 5, 1988

All-time low

−39°FFeb 1, 1996

Warmest night

80°FAug 19, 1976

Coldest day

−28°FFeb 1, 1996

Wettest day

4.72 inAug 8, 1943

Snowiest day

16.3 inJan 22, 1982

Hottest year

2024mean 47.6°F

Coldest year

1950mean 36.8°F

Wettest year

200034.76 in

Driest year

19768.84 in

Snowiest season

117.0 in1996-97

Station Fargo Hector International Airport (USW00014914), 895 ft elevation, 5.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1891 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00014914.
• 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.