Adams County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Adams County: 2.
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.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 11, 2005Hail$40.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A super cell thunderstorm pummeled the Hastings area with baseball size hail, torrential rain and strong winds. The hail was as large as baseballs, and was reported anywhere from about 10 miles south of Hastings to 5 miles north of Hastings. Damage was widespread throughout the central part of the county.

2. May 23, 2019Lightning$19.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Investigators with the Nebraska State Fire Marshal���s Office determined that lightning was the cause of a very large fire that completely destroyed the Cooperative Producers Inc. Dry Fertilizer Facility. This facility opened in July 2018, and was located just east of the intersection of Highway 6 and Showboat Road. Hastings Rural Fire District, along with firefighters from 4 other fire districts, helped contain the fire. The fire was contained by 3 AM CDT, but firefighters were on scene to address hotspots well into Friday. Two injuries were reported as a result of the fire, both injured parties were treated and released at a local hospital within hours of the fire. The…

3. Oct 25, 1997Winter Storm, Adams$15.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An autumn snowstorm pummeled central and south central Nebraska with record early season snows. Wind driven snowfall amounts totaled as much as two feet by storms' end.The storms' origin began in the southwest United States with a strong upper level low pressure riding along the southern jet stream. As the storm pulled northeast toward Nebraska, colder air slowly filtered into central Nebraska beginning late Friday night. Snow fell north and west of an Aurora to Franklin line during the day Saturday, while rain continued further southeast. By evening, all of the area was receiving snow and increasing north winds as the low pressure intensified in northern Oklahoma. Several…

4. Jun 7, 2022Hail$12.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   There were several reports of hail ranging in size from golf balls to 2.5 inches in diameter all across the city of Hastings. This hail was accompanied by wind gusts exceeding 60 MPH, including a peak measured gust of 66 MPH at the Hastings Airport ASOS. Reports of damage across town included broken windows, siding damage, downed tree limbs, and power outages.

5. Jun 14, 2022Hail$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to 2.25 inches in diameter was measured at the NWS Hastings office (four miles north of downtown), causing thousands of dollars of damage to the vehicles of employees working this severe weather event. Large hail mainly ranging in size from quarters to ping pong balls was reported all across Hastings.

6. May 11, 2005Flash Flood$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Though well predicted, the severe weather and flooding on the night of May 11 was even worse than imagined. Thunderstorms ravaged a large part of south central Nebraska with hail, high winds, a tornado and catastrophic flooding.During evening and early morning hours, 4 to 12 inches of fell from Dawson County east to York County. At Kenesaw and Wood River, over 11 inches of rain was measured. The city of Grand Island set a rainfall record for a single event with 7.21 inches of rain. Statically, this event was a 100 year rain and flood event for the area. In Wood River, 12 people were evacuated due to rising water. It was estimated every structure in Wood River sustained some sort…

7. Dec 29, 2006Ice Storm, Adams$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wide variety of significant winter weather began impacting portions of south central Nebraska during the day on Friday (12/29) and continued through Saturday night (12/30), before exiting the area on Sunday (12/31). Freezing rain, sleet, and snow began Friday afternoon in portions of Dawson county, with snowfall amounts as high as 9 inches. By Friday night most of the precipitation had turned to sleet and freezing rain, pressing further east to around highway 281. This led to significant ice accumulations which continued through Saturday night. The areas just west of Grand Island and Hastings received significant ice accrual from the storm, with up to an inch of ice reported…

8. Jun 13, 2017Hail$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail ranged from quarter to tennis ball size.

9. May 1, 2018Hail$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Half dollar to golf ball size hail was reported.

10. Jun 13, 2017Hail$2.5 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Hail along and near this path ranged in size from quarters to baseballs. The entire city of Hastings experienced hail ranging in size from quarters to hen eggs, while the largest hail fell to the west-southwest of Hastings to a few miles south of Juniata. The NWS Hastings office located 4 miles north of downtown reported half dollar size 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

116°FJul 24, 1936

All-time low

−30°FJan 12, 1912

Warmest night

82°FJul 25, 1936

Coldest day

−9°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

6.09 inAug 31, 1969

Snowiest day

17.4 inMar 20, 2006

Hottest year

1934mean 56.5°F

Coldest year

1996mean 47.7°F

Wettest year

191540.60 in

Driest year

194313.89 in

Snowiest season

58.8 in1983-84

Station Hastings 4N (USC00253660), 1,938 ft elevation, 4.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1907 to October 26, 2026; 99.7% 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 USC00253660.
• 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.
• 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.