Box Butte County

Every recorded tornado

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

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

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.

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.

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. Jun 12, 2017Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A discontinuous tornado path continued northeast into Box Butte County from Morrill County. Additional roof damage was surveyed to a large building near the Alliance Airport (DI 1, DOD 3). This was the end of the discontinuous tornado path in Morrill and Box Butte Counties. Sixty-five train cars were blown over south of Alliance.

2. May 28, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Estimated wind gusts of 60 mph and some nickel size hail reported from Hemingford, Nebraska, withan unofficial wind gust of 96 mph at a highway observation platform 5 miles east of Hemingford. Center pivots flipped and about 45 power poles damaged.

3. Jun 5, 1996Hail$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail and frequent lightning occurred from four miles westof Alliance to Alliance. In that area, many cars were damaged. House windows were broken and some roofs were damaged as well. Lightning caused power to be out for an hour in about one third of Alliance. Lightning also struck a few trees, causing some damage.

4. May 24, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Farm received strong to severe winds for an hour causing structural damage.

5. Nov 30, 2000High Wind, Box Butte$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds blew across much of the Nebraska Panhandle, causing some minordamage. Wind gusts to 62 mph were reported at Alliance, NE, with gusts to 60mph at Sidney and 55 mph in Scottsbluff, NE.

6. Jul 12, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Roofs torn off 1 mobile home and 1 apartment complex; at least 2 cars damaged by fallen limbs; power lines downed; 1 camper flipped; trees uprooted; 3' diameter maple tree thrown onto roof of house; 6' wooden fence downed.

7. Feb 25, 2000Winter Storm, Box Butte$45,000
8. Aug 15, 2004Hail$40,000
9. May 24, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Power poles down in western part of town. General Manager of PREMA said the storm took out roughly 40 electrical poles around the area. The downed poles caused roughly 1,000 PREMA electrical services to be stopped across the county.

10. Jul 10, 2000Hail$30,000

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

109°FJul 16, 2006

All-time low

−36°FFeb 18, 2006

Warmest night

72°FJul 26, 2026

Coldest day

−11°FJan 13, 2024

Wettest day

3.04 inAug 15, 2026

Hottest year

2012mean 49.9°F

Coldest year

2019mean 44.7°F

Wettest year

201522.32 in

Driest year

20125.84 in

Station Alliance Municipal Airport Asos (USW00024044), 3,925 ft elevation, 7.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1996 to October 25, 2026; 97.4% 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 USW00024044.
• 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.