Cavalier County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by ND GS (636).

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 4, 1997Ice Storm, Cavalier$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…

2. Apr 5, 1997Blizzard, Cavalier$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…

3. Jun 19, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Many 100 foot tall evergreen trees were uprooted. A pole barn was blown down and the roof was blown off a mobile home. Many other trees were snapped, with their trunks laying toward the northeast. The grain elevator sustained some minor damage.

4. Jun 9, 2017Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado was partially engulfed in downburst winds and hail along its nearly 20 mile path. Large wooden power poles were snapped, roofing was stripped off of homes, steel pole sheds were totally dismantled, numerous steel grain bins were crushed, and large metal segments were carried for a mile or more downwind. Bean and grain fields were completely stripped. Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph.

5. Apr 1, 2006Flood$632,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Due to the quick snowmelt, water quickly drained into low areas, damaging many roads and bridges around the county. Cavalier County received a Presidential Disaster Declaration for damages caused by spring flooding.

6. Jun 9, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large portions of Alma and East Alma townships were stripped of small grain and bean crops by extreme downburst winds and wind driven hail.

7. May 11, 2004Ice Storm, Cavalier$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A surface low tracked across northern South Dakota, southeast North Dakota, and into northern Minnesota. A strong thermal gradient set up across eastern ND and the northwest quarter of MN. Temperatures rose into the lower 80s across southeast ND and west central MN (with low 60 dew points) by the afternoon of the 11th. Afternoon highs on the 11th along the Canadian border only peaked out in the upper 30s and lower 40s. Strong south-southeast winds surged plenty of moisture into the system. Severe weather broke out by early evening (11th) over southeast ND and it progressed north and east. The largest hail and scattered tornadoes formed in the four county corners of Clay, western…

8. Mar 27, 2004Flood, Cavalier$340,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   [See antecedent conditions written in brackets under Ramsey county]. For Cavalier county, basement flooding was reported in the city of Langdon. Low-lying areas around the city were also flooded. The Langdon water supply was also threatened, so a boil order was put in place. Basement flooding and ponding of water was also reported in the Osnabrock area.

9. May 20, 2013Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several farm fields and farm access roads were flooded in south Olga Township.

10. Jun 28, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Several buildings blown down. Trees uprooted.

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.

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.
• 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.