Walsh County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by ND GS (192), USGS MN (31).

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 19, 1997Flood, Eastern Walsh$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Floodwaters from the Red River closed Interstate 29 at the Oslo, Minnesota, exit. Most roads east of the interstate were closed due to high water. A ring dike around the city of Grafton kept it dry from the Park River. The Red River crested on the 23rd in Oslo.

2. Apr 4, 1997Ice Storm, Eastern Walsh$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. Apr 5, 1997Blizzard, Eastern Walsh$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. Mar 27, 2004Flood, Eastern Walsh$1.9 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   [See antecedent conditions written in brackets under Ramsey county]. For eastern Walsh county, river flood warnings were issued for the Park River at Grafton and the Forest River at Minto. Grafton crested right around its major (16 feet) flood stage on the 30th. Minto crested over its moderate (8 feet) flood stage on the 30th. For all of Walsh county, 100 miles of county/township roads were closed with nearly 400 road sites damaged. County-wide, damages were reported totalling $2.4 million. Most of this damage occurred in the eastern half of the county. US Highway 81 was closed from Manvel to Grafton. Grafton, the largest city with a population of around 5,000, had the worst…

5. Apr 3, 1997Flood, Eastern Walsh$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Melting snow caused record runoff across Walsh county. Fields were covered with water due to overland flooding. Two to three feet of water flowed through the town of Minto, due to the rising Forest River. US Highway 81 through Minto was closed.

6. Apr 16, 2023Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Minto gage, on the Forest River. Crested at 9.25 ft, on April 17th at 08:30.||NOTE: Damages dollar amount is for the entire county. Not separated by specific river basin or damage type.

7. Apr 18, 2023Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Oslo - Crest of 36.27 feet occurred on 4/24. Flooding extended into May.|NOTE: Damages dollar amount is for the entire county. Not separated by specific river basin or damage type.

8. Apr 1, 2006Flood$975,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Red River at Oslo (MN) rose above flood stage around 1 AM CST on April 1st and remained above flood stage until around 10 AM CST on April 26th. The river peaked at roughly 37.70 feet around 8 PM CST on April 6th. Unofficially, 37.70 feet would be the fourth highest modern-day river stage recorded. The Red River spread well out of it banks from around Oslo (MN) northward, essentially becoming a lake. Overland flooding also occurred in addition to the river flooding, with around 200 sites (34 miles of township and county roads) around the county closed due to flooding. Water covered a portion of Interstate 29 at the Oslo/Ardoch interchange and completely filled the ditches on…

9. Jul 2, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Four 75 foot tall 30,000 bushel grain bins were crushed by the strong wind. These bins were about half full at the time. A roof was also blown off a fertilizer plant and numerous trees were uprooted. Several trees fell on rooftops and power was out in town for several hours.

10. Mar 27, 2004Flood, Western Walsh$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    [See antecedent conditions written in brackets under Ramsey county]. In the western portion of Walsh county, flooding was also widespread. Homme Dam northwest of Park River was stressed by inflows. The total damage estimate for all of Walsh county was $2.4 million. Most of the damages occurred in the eastern half of the county. For the entire county, 100 miles of county/township roads were closed and around 400 different road sites were damaged.

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

104°F2 times, most recently Jul 5, 1988

All-time low

−43°FJan 30, 2004

Warmest night

77°F4 times, most recently Jun 20, 2023

Coldest day

−27°FFeb 1, 1996

Wettest day

4.44 inJul 16, 1995

Snowiest day

17.0 inMar 4, 1966

Hottest year

2024mean 45.2°F

Coldest year

1950mean 34.5°F

Wettest year

201928.11 in

Driest year

196310.65 in

Snowiest season

96.4 in1996-97

Station Grand Forks International Airport (USW00014916), 838 ft elevation, 35.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1941 to October 26, 2026; 99.1% 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 USW00014916.
• 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.