Butler County

Every recorded tornado

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

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NE Univ of NE Lincoln (5).

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. Sep 24, 2007Hail$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to 2 inches in diameter damaged at least several hundred vehicles in town and also caused roof damage to a few hundred homes. The main damage path was from the southwest into the northeast part of town with the damage estimated at $4 million.

2. Oct 25, 1997Heavy Snow, Butler$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major early season snowstorm struck the area. A heavy wet snowfall of 6 to 14 inches fell on trees, many of which were still fully or partially leafed, and caused extensive damage and/or total destruction. At least 205,000 residents in the affected area were without power just after the storm, many of the outages lasted for several days. Omaha Public Power District estimated that it was the worst outage in 50 years. Nearly 85% of the trees in the Omaha area and 25% of the trees in the Lincoln area sustained damage or were totally destroyed. Many emergency shelters in and around the Omaha and Lincoln areas were opened for use by those who suffered a hardship from the storm.

3. Jun 20, 1996Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down and took the roof off the Abie Auditorium. At least 10 farm structures were damaged and 5 center pivot irrigation systems were damaged.

4. Jun 20, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   At David City, strong winds collapsed a large airport hanger and toppled at least five center pivots irrigation systems. Trees fell on two homes in the Surprise area causing damage. Severe tree damage occurred at Garrison and Rising City. Many power lines were downed.

5. Aug 16, 2017Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   At least 50 roads were closed across Butler County due to widespread flooding with amounts of 4 to 6 inches reported. David City reported 6.01 inches of rain.

6. Aug 16, 2017Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Highway 15 was closed due to flooding and debris in the road. In addition numerous county roads were closed across Butler County.

7. May 21, 2024Flash Flood$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Butler County Emergency Manager reported flooding in Bruno, and in rural areas just to the south and eat of the town. Many roads were under water, particularly in the Skull Creek area.

8. Oct 29, 2000Tornado$13,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down around 1 mile east of Rising City. Moving north, it damaged a corn crib and an old garage around 6 miles south of Bellwood and then overturned 2 center pivots and downed a few trees and power lines before lifting around 5 miles south of Bellwood.

9. Jun 20, 1996Tornado$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A brief tornado touchdown did some roof damage in rural Loma.

10. Jun 25, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorm winds estimated at over 70 mph did considerable tree damage in David City including downing several trees. Building material near the fairgrounds was also tossed around damaging several cars in the area.

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 25, 1936

All-time low

−29°F4 times, most recently Jan 13, 1912

Warmest night

81°F4 times, most recently Aug 2, 1964

Coldest day

−11°F2 times, most recently Dec 24, 1983

Wettest day

5.97 inAug 5, 1981

Snowiest day

15.0 inNov 27, 1983

Hottest year

1931mean 56.0°F

Coldest year

1996mean 47.4°F

Wettest year

199340.53 in

Driest year

193613.89 in

Snowiest season

71.6 in1914-15

Station Columbus 3 Ne (USC00251825), 1,450 ft elevation, 17.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 26, 2026; 99.6% 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 USC00251825.
• 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.