Ransom County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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 (157).

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, Ransom$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, Ransom$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. Jul 14, 2010Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado was embedded in a squall line which also produced large hail and a wide swath of damaging downburst winds. The most extreme tornado damage was observed at two farmsteads, one about four miles west of Lisbon where a barn was ripped off its foundation and destroyed, and another about 4 miles ESE of Lisbon where a well constructed steel shop was completely blown apart. At least three wooden power poles were snapped at two different locations east of Lisbon. Numerous lareg trees were blown down or uprooted in Lisbon, and many homes and business had extensive roofing damage. peak winds estimated to 120 mph.

4. Aug 15, 1999Tornado$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Most of the damage from the tornado occurred roughly 3 miles northeast of Fort Ransom, just across the Sheyenne River. One farm had a wood barn and 2 large pole barns completely destroyed. At another nearby farm, another wood barn and a pole barn were destroyed, some debris deposited several hundred feet away. Numerous large trees were broken and a feeding car was thrown a half a mile away. Thousands of large trees surrounding the path of the tornado were snapped in two, many of these along the Sheyenne River Valley.

5. Jul 15, 2007Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado cut a large gap in mature hardwood trees near the Sheyenne River and snapped several wooden power poles. Several sections of a large irrigation system were also tipped over. Peak winds were estimated at 115 mph. Some crops were damaged in Owego Township.

6. Jul 14, 2010Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado was embedded in a squall line which also produced large hail and a wide swath of damaging downburst winds. the most extreme tornado damage was observed at two farmsteads northwest of elliot and in the town of elliot where wooden quonset structures and large steel grain bins were violently crumpled and tossed in various directions. Peak winds estimated to 105 mph.

7. Apr 3, 1997Flood, Ransom$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Snowmelt across Ransom county resulted in rapid rises on the Sheyenne River in the Lisbon area, where a new record river level was set on the 5th.

8. Jul 15, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The wind gust was reported by a storm chaser with portable wind equipment. Large trees fell on homes and grain bin parts were scattered in town.

9. Jul 18, 1998Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down on a farmstead, destroying numerous buildings. One barn was destroyed and 60 hogs inside were killed. Power was knocked out. The tornado crossed highway 27 and dissipated.

10. Jul 15, 2007Tornado$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    This tornado began in Cass County at 625 pm CST. The tornado yanked one aluminum high voltage power tower out of its steel footings and toppled several others. It also snapped several wooden power poles at multiple road crossings across its path. Peak winds were estimated at 105 mph.

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

108°FAug 14, 1965

All-time low

−37°FFeb 9, 1994

Warmest night

81°FJun 11, 2007

Coldest day

−20°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

7.18 inJun 29, 1975

Snowiest day

11.2 inApr 4, 2026

Hottest year

2016mean 48.7°F

Coldest year

1978mean 37.1°F

Wettest year

196235.29 in

Driest year

19769.44 in

Snowiest season

85.7 in1993-94

Station Enderlin 2W (USC00322695), 1,164 ft elevation, 10.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1952 to August 31, 2026; 92.3% 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 USC00322695.
• 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.