Kidder County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

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 (35).

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 25, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damage to 200 farm buildings. fifty one metal power line towers collapsed. twenty two irrigation system destroyed.

2. Jan 9, 1997Blizzard, Kidder$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…

3. Apr 4, 1997Blizzard, Kidder$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A dramatic rescue took place to save the life of a farmer that had a heart attack. With all major roads drifted shut to the farmhouse, neighbors and county crews pitched in to save the man's life. County plows were able to get within 5 miles of the farmhouse, but couldn't go any farther, Neighbors with 4x4 tractors then pulled the ambulance and road plows through the snwo to get to the farmyard. It took 10 hours to reach the man, and luckily he is still alive today.

4. Apr 1, 2009Flood$1.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy overland flooding from snowmelt damaged two homes and numerous state, county, and local roads.

5. Jul 17, 2001Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado reported to be 1/2 mile wide at times. The tornado remained in open country before entering into Stutsman county. Damage was contained to metal and double poled high power line towers. A farmstead in the path of the tornado sustained $200,000 in damage. (see Stutsman county report on same tornado.)

6. Jan 15, 1997Blizzard, Kidder$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The 3rd blizzard to hit North Dakota in less than 3 weeks affected mainly the east-central and eastern part of the state. Again, like the previous blizzard, the winds was the major weather factor. Wind gusts at times were over 50 mph. This created widespread blowing and drifting snow. All major roads in the area were closed again for the 3rd time this year. In Logan Co. the machine shed that is used by the Logan Co. Historical Society to store antiques was damaged by the roof falling in. With the severity of the blowing and drifting snow, roads that were just opened from the last storm were once again blown shut. This lead to the death of a 71 yr. old Fredonia(Logan Co.) man. He…

7. Jan 21, 1997Blizzard, Kidder$790,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The last in a string of 4 blizzards to hit North Dakota struck in the morning of the 22nd. Snow amounts with this storm ranged from 2-4 inches, but northwest winds gusted to near 45 mph. Again, east-central and eastern North Dakota were hardest hit. I-29 in North Dakota and I-94 from Bismarck to Fargo were closed again. Injuries and damage amounts estimated.

8. Jun 20, 2025Tornado$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is the first event entry for one tornado that passed through two counties, Kidder and Stutsman. This Quasi-Linear Convective System (QLCS) tornado started northwest of Crystal Springs in Kidder County and moved to the east-southeast. The tornado then shifted towards the east-northeast near the Stutsman County line, and continued into Stutsman County before it lifted to the north-northwest of Medina. Near the point of touchdown, a machine shed was completely destroyed, with the roof laying in a pasture about 350 feet away. Approximately five miles to the south-southeast, two additional farmsteads in close proximity were struck. The first one had an older barn along with a pole…

9. Aug 28, 2024Tornado$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado touched down in an oats field to the east-southeast of Steele, with the plants twisted and downed in multiple directions. Approximately one mile east of |Steele the tornado crossed the path of a stopped train and about 40 empty railroad cars were knocked off the tracks. The tracks ran from west to east, with some cars falling north, and some falling south. In addition, near the derailed cars, a grove of hardwood trees suffered damage, with a few trees uprooted. The tornado then lifted one mile northeast of Steele. Based on the damage done this tornado was rated high-end EF-1, and from that wind speeds were estimated to be around 110 mph.

10. Jun 25, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$400,000

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

118°FJul 6, 1936

All-time low

−48°FDec 20, 1916

Warmest night

81°FJul 10, 1936

Coldest day

−31°FJan 11, 1912

Wettest day

5.32 inAug 17, 2014

Snowiest day

16.0 inApr 4, 2026

Hottest year

1934mean 45.9°F

Coldest year

1907mean 36.6°F

Wettest year

197729.41 in

Driest year

19369.07 in

Snowiest season

112.3 in2022-23

Station Napoleon (USC00326255), 1,980 ft elevation, 27.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 24, 2026; 92.6% 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 USC00326255.
• 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.