Sheridan County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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 (87).

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. Jan 9, 1997Blizzard, Sheridan$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…

2. Apr 4, 1997Blizzard, Sheridan$1.0 million
   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…

3. Apr 2, 2010Winter Storm, Sheridan$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Up to five inches of heavy wet snow and sleet fell across Sheridan County. Southern portions of the county received the most accumulations. The combination of strong winds and the wet snow resulted in damages to electrical utilities, causing power outages across the county. In some areas it took several days to restore power. Preliminary damage assessments estimated there was around 700,000 dollars in damage from this storm for Sheridan County.

4. Sep 14, 2025Tornado$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado touched down south of Denhoff about three miles north of the Burleigh County line and moved in a northerly direction to the west of Highway 14. When the tornado reached about 6 miles south of Denhoff, it destroyed a 30 by 60 foot pole barn. A nearby barn had two skylights torn off the roof. Another nearby building had some minor damage. At this same property, a double wide mobile home propped up on a basement had the roof completely torn off and blown to the west side of the home. The southeast corner of this mobile home was also missing a wall. A car parked on the property was picked up and set down near the mobile home. Debris was scattered throughout the property…

5. Jul 13, 2003Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado crossed the McLean/Sheridan county line and moved east southeast impacting the town of Pickardville. Numerous buildings and grain elevators were damaged in the small community. One young boy was injured after being thrown to the ground and hit by flying debris.

6. Jan 4, 1997Blizzard, Sheridan$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The first blizzard of 1997 hit east-central North Dakota on the morning of the 4th. The blizzard was preceeded by freezing rain that lasted most of the day before switching over to snow. The snow became so heavy that the highway department pulled the plows off of the roads the evening of the 4th and all day on the 5th. It was during the evening of the 4th that the northwest winds began to blow. Winds of 25 to 35 mph were common. Some of the higher snow amounts include 14 inches of snow at Ellendale (Dickey Co) and Linton(Emmons Co), 11 inches at Hague(Emmons Co) and 18 inches of snow at Oakes(Dickey Co). The roof collapsed at the Lull plant in Oakes from the weight of the snow.…

7. Jan 15, 2023Dense Fog, Sheridan$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Over 60 locations lost power as a result of frost accumulating on power lines due to the multi-day dense fog event. Multiple lines were downed as conductors broke, or snapped. Four poles were broken due to the additional weight of the frost on power lines.

8. Sep 20, 2019Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flood waters a few feet deep washed over rural roads in southern Sheridan County damaging many of them. Just over six inches of rain was reported. Crops were damaged with significant soil erosion occurring.

9. Jun 13, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple trees were uprooted or severely damage throughout the community of Martin, and over surrounding areas. One tree fell onto a structure, breaking through the roof and eaves.

10. Aug 25, 2019Hail$175,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Buildings were damaged by the large hail.

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

115°FJul 6, 1936

All-time low

−53°FFeb 15, 1936

Warmest night

78°FAug 22, 1947

Coldest day

−26°FFeb 14, 1936

Wettest day

4.24 inJun 30, 1975

Snowiest day

16.0 inNov 10, 2022

Hottest year

1983mean 47.2°F

Coldest year

1950mean 35.7°F

Wettest year

201931.45 in

Driest year

19368.78 in

Snowiest season

80.7 in1996-97

Station Mcclusky (USC00325710), 1,927 ft elevation, 8.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1922 to October 6, 2026; 95.4% 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 USC00325710.
• 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.