Rolette County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (14).

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 23, 2022Blizzard, Rolette$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds and heavy snow combined to produce a blizzard. In addition, periods of freezing rain occurred which accreted on power lines. This, combined with strong winds, led to extensive damage to power lines, cross arms, and poles, and thus widespread power outages.

2. Jan 9, 1997Blizzard, Rolette$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. Jul 7, 2008Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   By North Dakota standards this was a long lived tornado that covered many miles.||A National Weather Service storm damage survey was completed in Rolette County on July 8, the day following the event. The storm survey concluded that the total path length was 17.6 miles, with a maximum width of 250 yards. The worst damage corresponded to low end EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with maximum estimated winds of 140 mph. ||Multiple tornado sightings were reported by local officials and residents along Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Highway number eight between 2:50 PM CDT and 3:10 PM CDT. The storm survey concluded that tree and structural damage along this corridor west and…

4. Aug 3, 2016Tornado$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A long tracked tornado developed about six miles south of Mylo, Rolette County, North Dakota, and traveled northeast before crossing into Towner County just northeast of Agate, along highway 66. The tornado did significant damage to two farmsteads in Rolette County, destroying pole barns and grain bins and damaging equipment. Crops were flattened along the tornado path. The tornado was highly publicized as national media showed a live feed from a storm chaser. This was a long tracked tornado of around 20 miles, about eight miles in Rolette County and 12 in Towner County. There were no injuries and no deaths with the tornado in either county. Based on the damage done its maximum…

5. Jun 20, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Many large tree branches were down, with several trees uprooted. There was some damage to roofs, and power poles and lines were down. In one case, a tree fell onto a power line then onto a house, causing the house to start on fire. In another case a teenager, whose age is unknown, was injured (indirect) as he was burned while cleaning up tree damage and unknowingly came in contact with a live downed electrical wire. The teen was hospitalized.

6. Apr 4, 1997Blizzard, Rolette$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Warm weather the first three days of April lead much of North Dakota to believe that spring had arrived with temperatures in the 60s and 70s. Mother Nature had other plans. A very strong area of low pressure moved out of the Colorado area into the northern plains. Warm moist air ahead of the low collided with cold air coming down from Canada. The result was the worst blizzard of the season for North Dakota, bringing much of the state to a complete halt. The precipitation began to fall during the afternoon of the 4th (Friday), as rain in the east and freezing rain or sleet in the west. By Friday evening the freezing rain and sleet had changed over to all snow in the west. By…

7. Feb 15, 2011Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding was the result of a minor early melt dislodging a stop log on a dam upstream of Belcourt along Ox Creek. Contributing to this flooding through Belcourt was the inappropriate disposal of heavy snow from the season into the creek bed. Flooded was a number of homes and the dialysis center at the local hospital. There were 26 Project Worksheets (PW). Estimated damages were $200,000.

8. Jun 24, 2007Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant damage at the International Peace Gardens. Extensive damage to flowers. Water was nearly a foot deep in the gift shop, the interpretive center, and the administration building. One side of a basement wall on one building collapsed. Water on the grounds and over roads was up to 3 feet deep. Total rain was 4.1 inches, of which 3.1 inches occurred in less than a one hour period.

9. Jul 4, 2016Hail$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail combined with strong winds to cause extensive damage to a house, vehicle, and outbuildings. Wind speeds were estimated at 55 mph.

10. Apr 1, 2009Flood$145,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy rainfall and rapid snowmelt caused overland flooding and flooding of the upper Willow Creek area.

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

110°FJul 11, 1936

All-time low

−54°F2 times, most recently Jan 13, 1916

Warmest night

78°FJul 12, 1936

Coldest day

−31°FJan 31, 1899

Wettest day

6.90 inMay 9, 1982

Snowiest day

12.0 in3 times, most recently Oct 12, 2019

Hottest year

1931mean 42.3°F

Coldest year

1916mean 32.8°F

Wettest year

198229.31 in

Driest year

19347.59 in

Snowiest season

72.3 in1996-97

Station Willow City (USC00329445), 1,473 ft elevation, 26.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to May 12, 2026; 93.8% 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 USC00329445.
• 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.