Richland County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Richland County: 2.
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.

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 (287), USGS MN (57).

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 5, 1997Flood, Richland$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The rising Red River filled parts of Wahpeton with water, which froze in place as the temperature dropped. Floodfighters had to sandbag during the blizzard to try to save parts of the city. Many Richland county roads washed out or were closed due to the high water. Record stages were set on the Red River in Wahpeton and on the Wild Rice River at Abercrombie on the 6th.

2. Apr 13, 1997Flood, Richland$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A second crest on the Red River at Wahpeton occurred on April 15th. Record releases from White Rock Dam, the source of the Bois de Sioux River, helped cause the second crest. The previous record release of 3770 cfs, set prior to 1997, was nearly doubled, to around 7000 cfs. Many homes and businesses on the south side of Wahpeton were flooded, including the Wahpeton airport.

3. Apr 5, 1997Blizzard, Richland$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…

4. Apr 6, 2001Flood, Richland$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The headwaters of the Red River received the most snow over the course of the winter. Snow water equivalents of 4 to 5 inches were measured from the snowpack over this area. As the snowmelt progressed through early April, several heavy rain events occurred. The first, on the 7th of April, brought widespread rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches to the southern Red River basin. This rain fell on top of the remaining snowpack, which resulted in faster rises on the Red and Wild Rice Rivers. Both the Bois de Sioux and Ottertail Rivers crested at the same time in Wahpeton, something that hadn't happened in recent memory. This brought the first crest on the Red River at Wahpeton, 16.96 feet…

5. Nov 27, 2005Winter Storm, Richland$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   [see the event description under the Grand Forks through Traill Winter Storm event above]

6. Apr 1, 2006Flood$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Red River at Wahpeton/Breckenridge rose above flood stage around 2 AM CST on March 30th and remained above flood stage until around 8 PM CST on April 9th. The river peaked at roughly 15.95 feet around 3 AM CST on April 1st. Unofficially, 15.95 feet would be the sixth highest modern-day river stage recorded. The fifth highest modern-day river stage of 25.10 feet (unofficial) was recorded on the Wild Rice River at Abercrombie on April 2nd. Overland flooding also occurred in addition to the river flooding. At one point, approximately 35 bridges along the Wild Rice River and around 30 roads were closed due to flooding. Near Lidgerwood, overland flooding from a slough threatened a…

7. Jul 10, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several grain bins were dented in and numerous large tree limbs were broken down at a farmstead. Numerous tree branches were broken down in shelterbelts throughout Devillo and Lemars townships. Some corn fields were flattened.

8. May 30, 2011Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado tracked north northeastward for roughly two miles before crossing into Cass County. The tornado was likely enshrouded in downburst winds and heavy rain. The tornado and accompanying winds knocked down numerous wooden power poles along its path and four steel t-bar high voltage towers. Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph.

9. Jul 8, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A squall with embedded microburst moved across the Fairmount area, snapping large branches and smaller trees at numerous rural properties and in the town itself. The overhead doors were blown in on a few garages and an industrial building. A fertilizer plant had a large north-facing overhead door blown in and a section of its northeast side wall blown out.

10. May 30, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    There were reports of damage to many cars and buildings in Walcott. The firehall and city administration building lost sections of roofing and falling tree limbs crushed vehicles and roofs of several homes.

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

114°FJul 6, 1936

All-time low

−41°F5 times, most recently Feb 2, 1996

Warmest night

84°FJun 18, 1933

Coldest day

−21°F2 times, most recently Jan 18, 1994

Wettest day

6.00 inJun 10, 1931

Snowiest day

14.2 inMar 25, 1936

Hottest year

1987mean 47.5°F

Coldest year

1950mean 37.6°F

Wettest year

200532.17 in

Driest year

19766.69 in

Snowiest season

72.7 in2022-23

Station Mcleod 3 E (USC00325754), 1,075 ft elevation, 24.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1912 to October 27, 2026; 94.0% 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 USC00325754.
• 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.