Towner County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 5, 1997Blizzard, Towner$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, Towner$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. May 11, 2004Ice Storm, Towner$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A surface low tracked across northern South Dakota, southeast North Dakota, and into northern Minnesota. A strong thermal gradient set up across eastern ND and the northwest quarter of MN. Temperatures rose into the lower 80s across southeast ND and west central MN (with low 60 dew points) by the afternoon of the 11th. Afternoon highs on the 11th along the Canadian border only peaked out in the upper 30s and lower 40s. Strong south-southeast winds surged plenty of moisture into the system. Severe weather broke out by early evening (11th) over southeast ND and it progressed north and east. The largest hail and scattered tornadoes formed in the four county corners of Clay, western…

4. Jun 28, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damaging straight line winds. Damage suggests several gustnadoes may have formed along the leading edge of the downburst. Several farms and large trees were damaged.

5. Apr 1, 2006Flood$294,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Due to the quick snowmelt, water quickly drained into low areas, damaging around 40 roads and 40 bridges around the county. State Highway 66 had water over the road east of Egeland. Towner County received a Presidential Disaster Declaration for damages caused by spring flooding.

6. Jul 7, 2008Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado produced an intermittent damage path of nearly 11 total miles, and ended about one mile north-northeast of Munich in Cavalier County by 428 pm CDT. The tornado only traveled about 5 miles due east in Towner County and mainly damaged crops and power lines. The tornado crossed into Cavalier County around 418 pm CDT at a point about 4 miles north and 6 miles east of Egeland. Peak wind speeds were estimated at 100 mph.

7. Mar 30, 2017Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Over the winter of 2016-2017, the most snow fell across the Devils Lake basin up into northeast North Dakota. By late March 2017, snow water equivalents in this area ranged from 3 to 4 inches, with isolated pockets of 5 inches. There was even more snow in southern Manitoba, and some of this water would come down the Pembina River in northeast North Dakota. A push of warm weather which began on March 28th, started the melt in earnest. Even the low temperatures at night stayed around or just above freezing. As the snow melted, the water ponded in low spots and moved through the area drainage systems. This resulted in rural road closures from the overland flooding.

8. Jun 23, 2008Hail$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail fell for nearly five minutes near the Cavalier County line along with strong winds. Several sections of crop land recieved damage in Dash and Lansing Townships.

9. Apr 1, 2017Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Over the winter of 2016-2017, the most snow fell across the Devils Lake basin up into northeast North Dakota. By late March 2017, snow water equivalents in this area ranged from 3 to 4 inches, with isolated pockets of 5 inches. There was even more snow in southern Manitoba, and some of this water would come down the Pembina River in northeast North Dakota. A push of warm weather which began on March 28th and continued into early April, started the melt in earnest. Even the low temperatures at night stayed around or just above freezing. As the snow melted, the water ponded in low spots and moved through the area drainage systems. This resulted in rural road closures from the…

10. Jul 28, 2008Hail$15,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Hard rain with hail and strong winds lasted for about ten minutes.

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

107°FJul 27, 1988

All-time low

−47°FFeb 1, 1996

Warmest night

78°FJul 24, 1963

Coldest day

−30°FFeb 1, 1996

Wettest day

3.89 inJul 5, 1935

Snowiest day

15.0 inNov 7, 1986

Hottest year

2021mean 45.8°F

Coldest year

1950mean 35.5°F

Wettest year

199426.39 in

Driest year

19367.55 in

Snowiest season

70.5 in1949-50

Station Rugby (USC00327704), 1,550 ft elevation, 38.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1904 to August 31, 2026; 92.6% 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 USC00327704.
• 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.