Antelope County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Dec 29, 2006Winter Storm, Antelope$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Freezing rain accumulated at least 1/2 inch and over 1 inch in some locations on trees, power lines, vehicles and other untreated objects. The weight of the ice, and a mix of light sleet and snow that also fell, caused widespread tree damage and also felled numerous power lines and power poles throughout the county. At least 550 power poles were downed in Antelope county, mainly on east-west roads, with over 1,000 either needing repair or replacement. This caused widespread power outages that continued for at least several days after the event. Fallen trees also caused damage to cars and houses over the area. It was estimated that every tree in Neligh was damaged and 40 to 50…

2. Jun 13, 2010Flood$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall of at least 3 to 5 inches fell over much of the upper Elkhorn River basin in the week ending 7am 6/12. This caused record or near record flooding along the Elkhorn River from around Clearwater and Neligh downstream to the Elkhorn's confluence with the Platte River which was prolonged by additional rains the next few days. In Antelope county many gravel roads along the Elkhorn were flooded as was Highway 275 between Neligh and Clearwater. A county board member estimated that one 2 mile stretch of road sustained up to $4 million in damage. Extensive sandbagging around the town of Clearwater saved some homes and businesses from damage, but around 100 still suffered flood…

3. Jun 19, 1996Hail$150,000
4. Aug 27, 2015Flash Flood$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Local law enforcement, as well as local print media, indicated that flash flooding occurred from heavy repeated thunderstorms across parts of Antelope County. The worst of the flooding was near the areas of Oakdale and Elgin. The flooding led to water covering U.S. Highway 275 and State Highway 70 into the morning on the 29th.

5. Aug 16, 2009Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Another round of heavy rain producing thunderstorms caused additional flash flooding across a few county roads from near Clearwater to around Brunswick. Earlier in the evening over 3 inches of rain was reported around Clearwater and an additional inch or two of rain likely fell across the area either causing additional flooding or prolonging flooding that had already been occurring. The flooding caused some crop and culvert damage and also washed gravel off of sections of county roads.

6. Jun 19, 1996Hail$50,000
7. Aug 28, 2015Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Local media indicated that areal flooding continued into the morning on the 28th of August. This included water across U.S. Highway 275 and State Highway 70. In addition numerous farm fields, ditches, and small streams flooded during this time as well. The flooding slowly receded through the morning as the rainfall had ended.

8. Aug 15, 2009Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain caused ditches and culverts to run full or flood across a few county roads from near Clearwater to around Brunswick. A trained weather spotter near Clearwater measured 3.25 inches of rain in a several hour period through 745 pm CDT and additional heavy rain fell after that time in the area. Besides some crop damage in low areas, gravel was washed off a few county roads and a couple of culverts sustained damage.

9. Jun 24, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An apparent thunderstorm microburst destroyed a large frame building and did some tree damage west of Elgin.

10. Aug 15, 2017Flash Flood$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Flooding along Nebraska Highway 14 was reported north of Neligh.

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 24, 1936

All-time low

−38°FJan 12, 1912

Warmest night

82°F2 times, most recently Aug 18, 1936

Coldest day

−17°FFeb 8, 1899

Wettest day

6.09 inAug 22, 1995

Snowiest day

17.0 inNov 20, 1948

Hottest year

1931mean 51.7°F

Coldest year

1917mean 44.1°F

Wettest year

200742.00 in

Driest year

193614.26 in

Snowiest season

80.3 in1983-84

Station Oakdale (USC00256135), 1,719 ft elevation, 7.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 20, 2026; 99.5% 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 USC00256135.
• 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.