Burt County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (12).

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. Mar 22, 2011Tornado$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A NWS storm survey team assessed that a tornado touched down around 5 miles south-southwest of Craig and lifted about 4 miles south-southwest of town causing damage up to weak EF1 intensity. An outbuilding and large storage bins were damaged, blown over or completely destroyed. A storage shed garage door was also blown out. Damage to the bins alone was estimated at close to $1 million. Telephone poles were bent, two center pivots were flipped and a tree was topped along the path which was estimated at close to 2.5 miles long and around 75 yards wide.

2. Aug 7, 1999Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall of 3 to 6 inches fell over much of Burt county from 8/6/99 into early 8/7/99. This caused extensive street flooding in Tekamah and Oakland and also flooded Bell and Logan Creeks. Damage was done primarily to basements, but 50 thousand dollars damage was done to roads in the Summit Township alone.

3. Jun 1, 2011Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding along the Missouri River gradually worsened over the area during June as record releases from Gavins Point Dam brought widespread flooding along the river. In Burt county the flooding generally began during the first week of the month as the gauge at Decatur didn't surpass flood stage until around June 6th. However, by the middle of the month the gauge had climbed above 38 feet and reached around 40 feet by the end of the month. Flood stage at Decatur is 35 feet. Flooding in Burt county especially affected agricultural lowlands, recreation areas and roads near the river but also forced evacuation of 150 to 200 homes. Late in the month the Highway 175 bridge over the…

4. Jun 20, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees downed, two of which fell on houses causing damage. Power lines downed. A minimart convenience store had its roof blown off. Roofs blown off houses.

5. Jul 1, 2011Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding along the Missouri River gradually worsened over the area during June and continued into July as record releases from Gavins Point Dam brought widespread flooding along the River. In Burt county the flooding generally began during the first week of June as the gauge at Decatur didn't surpass flood stage until around June 6th. The level climbed to around 40 feet by the end of June and remained around that level through July. Flood stage at Decatur is 35 feet. Flooding in Burt county especially affected agricultural lowlands, recreation areas and roads near the river but also forced evacuation of 150 to 200 homes. Late in June the Highway 175 bridge over the Missouri…

6. Jun 20, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees downed. Roofs blown off houses.

7. Jun 12, 2010Flood$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall of 1 to 2 inches fell across much of the county through 7am on 6/12 bringing 72 hour totals into the 3 to 4 inch range. This caused flooding along Tekamah Creek and Bell Creek and their tributaries. County roads from Craig to Tekamah and southward were flooded, including Highway 32 a few miles west of Tekamah for a while. Besides county roads, farmlands along creeks were also flooded and some crops were deemed a total loss. At least one bridge sustained damage.

8. Jul 6, 2000Lightning$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A lightning strike caused a considerable amount of damage to a house in Oakland.

9. Jul 6, 2000Lightning$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A lightning strike started a fire in the basement of a house causing considerable damage to the basement and main floor. Smoke damage was observed over the rest of the house.

10. Jun 29, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$12,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorms winds blew down a tree into a grain bin. Also two fields of corn were partially flattened.

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

108°FMay 14, 2013

All-time low

−26°FFeb 16, 2021

Warmest night

81°F2 times, most recently Jun 21, 2025

Coldest day

−7°FJan 14, 2024

Wettest day

5.06 inMay 21, 2024

Hottest year

2012mean 54.2°F

Coldest year

2008mean 47.1°F

Wettest year

201536.95 in

Driest year

202216.56 in

Station Tekamah Municipal Airport (USW00094978), 1,024 ft elevation, 10.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1996 to October 26, 2026; 99.0% 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 USW00094978.
• 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.