Brown County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NE Univ of NE Lincoln (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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 1, 2012Drought, Brown$30.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe drought conditions (D2), which began the month of June, intensified to extreme drought conditions (D3) by the end of the month. Pastures that make up close to 78 percent of the land use in Brown County (2007 Census USDA) was rated 69% poor or very poor. The lack of rain limited grazing capacity and created increased sales of livestock as the departure from normal precipitation reached one to two inches. Crop producers began silage of dryland corn. On July 23rd all counties in Nebraska were approved for CRP Emergency Haying and Grazing. Lightning started a large range fire in the northwest portions of the county on July 20 which continued through July 30. An estimated total…

2. Jun 30, 1997Hail$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Scattered supercells with winds in excess of 60 mph moved southeast across North Central Nebraska . The severe thunderstorms produced large hail which severely damaged crops and property.

3. Jul 19, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorms producing several wet microbursts, led to violent winds in Ainsworth. Wind gusts, estimated at around 100 MPH, uprooted several mature trees in and around Ainsworth. Other mature trees were snapped above ground level. Numerous reports of power lines down, one of which, led to fire at a residence on the north side of Ainsworth. One house sustained significant damage as a mature tree impacted the roof of this residence.

4. Aug 30, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A storm hit Ainsworth with damage significant that included the destruction of two buildings and many trees. Power lines were also downed by the winds and resulted in a power outage that lasted about two hours. The damage was most severe in a relatively concentrated zone, on the north side of the town, which is consistent with a microburst damage path. It was in that area where one of the buildings was destroyed. Debris from the steel building was scattered to the north up to 200 yards, and steel was twisted violently around trees north of the building site.

5. Jun 30, 1997Hail$600,000
6. Jul 8, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong wind gusts estimated to 80 MPH destroyed a machine shed, cattle feeding shed, and hog shed 3 miles west of Ainsworth. A dry fertilizer plant also sustained heavy damage 2 miles west of Ainsworth. Three miles southwest of Ainsworth, a barn sustained heavy damage.

7. Jun 30, 1997Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding washed out a bridge near Long Pine. People were evacuated along Long Pine Creek.

8. Jul 8, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Law Enforcement reports numerous trees and power lines down as a result of thunderstorm winds in and around Ainsworth.

9. Jun 22, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A thunderstorm system produced strong wind with speed estimated in excess of 90 mph. The wind storm actually began in eastern Cherry County near Wood Lake and travelled across most of northern Brown County doing major damage to grain bins 10 miles west of Ainsworth. In the city of Ainsworth, numerous trees were broken and roofs were damaged by the wind. A tree fell on a 1998 Ford Pickup smashing the cab. The Pickup was a total loss.

10. Apr 21, 2025Wildfire, Brown$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Fire initiated during the early afternoon hours of April 21st. Aided by gusty southerly winds, the fire tracked north consuming approximately 24000 acres of grass and timberland. The fire tracked through several canyons, making control of the fire difficult. By the time the fire was contained, around 50 agencies assisted with the fire, including numerous local fire departments, US Forest Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, NEMA, State Fire Marshal, Nebraska National Guard, Nebraska State Patrol, Nebraska Game and Parks and Nebraska Forest Service responded to the fire. One cabin was consumed in the fire along with 8 utility poles and around 60 head of cattle lost and 20 cattle…

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

113°F2 times, most recently Jul 20, 1934

All-time low

−33°FFeb 2, 1917

Warmest night

83°F3 times, most recently Jul 5, 1933

Coldest day

−15°FJan 13, 2024

Wettest day

4.95 inJul 1, 1962

Snowiest day

25.0 inNov 2, 1972

Hottest year

2012mean 54.0°F

Coldest year

1924mean 43.4°F

Wettest year

191545.48 in

Driest year

19899.50 in

Snowiest season

83.0 in1983-84

Station Ainsworth (USC00250050), 2,518 ft elevation, 0.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1905 to October 27, 2026; 98.7% 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 USC00250050.
• 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.