Steele County

Every recorded tornado

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

Mapped landslides

Mapped by ND GS (159).

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, 1997Blizzard, Steele$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…

2. Apr 4, 1997Ice Storm, Steele$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…

3. Jul 15, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fully grown trees were uprooted. Some trees fell on power poles and powerlines, causing power outages in Finley. Trees also fell on cars and damage was reported at the grain elevator. On one house porch, the windows were blown out and the screens were torn off. Extensive wind driven hail produced crop damage across portions of Finley Township.

4. Jul 15, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Five wooden double post high voltage power towers were snapped off by downburst winds. The utility company estimated winds around 100 mph. Large hail and damaging winds produced extensive crop damage across portions of Easton and Melrose Townships.

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

   Numerous trees were blown down and a field irrigation system was overturned. Extensive crop damage also occurred in Colgate and Broadlawn Townships.

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

   There was a report of quarter size hail, 1.50 inches of rain, and full grown pine trees broken in half. The baseball field scoreboard was blown down and the metal batting cage was blown across two baseball diamonds. Extensive crop damage occurred throughout Hugo Township.

7. Mar 27, 2004Flood, Steele$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   [See antecedent conditions written in brackets under Ramsey county]. In Steele county, many roads were closed. This prompted the Steele County Sheriff to advise no travel on secondary roads. Two county roads had culverts washed out. There were 2 separate close calls near Golden Lake, where drivers attempted to cross flooded roads. In each instance, the people were able to get out of their vehicles. However, one vehicle was swept into a flooded creek and was a total loss.

8. Jul 18, 2004Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado tore the roof off a barn and impaled a tree branch in the wooden door of a granary. Many trees were damaged and a high voltage power tower was knocked over. The tornado tracked mainly along the Goose River (about 4 miles west of Hatton) to about 4 miles south-southwest of Hatton.

9. Sep 20, 2019Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Streets, low spots, rivers, and basements were flooded by 4 to 9 inches of rain over a short duration of time. Cars that got stuck in the flood waters were abandoned where they stalled. Farm fields and access roads were also flooded.

10. Aug 9, 2021Tornado$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    This tornado tracked from far northeast Sharon Township across far northwest Westfield Township. A tornado Debris Signature was evident on KMVX radar. The tornado completely dismantled and destroyed a barn at one farmstead. It also snapped or uprooted numerous spruce, ash, cottonwood, and willow trees at various locations along its path.

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.

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.
• 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.