Cedar County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (7).

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. Jun 23, 2003Tornado$3.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An eventual f4 tornado began its destructive path around 6 miles southwest of Coleridge. The tornado moved northeast and crossed the northern sections of the city uprooting trees, downing power lines and destroying a couple of grain bins. A construction business in a garage was also destroyed. The tornado then continued northeast of town hitting a large hog farm. At this farm a 70-year-old man was killed while in a storage shed when a tractor that was flipped by the winds crushed him. Many livestock were also killed by debris or flung through the air by the deadly winds. In one case cattle were carried over a mile then left dead in a pile. The tornado then widened to around 3/4 of…

2. Jun 17, 2014Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This was the strongest of the tornadoes that the Cedar County supercell produced. This tornado developed to the northwest of Coleridge and moved slowly east southeast just to the north of the city of Coleridge. As the tornado neared 567th Ave the tornado turned to the south along the eastern edge of the city producing some significant structural damage along the eastern side of Coleridge. The tornado continued south until nearing 875th Road where the foward speed further slowed, and the tornado changed to an eastern movement while becoming rain-wrapped. The eastern direction occurred for a half mile before the tornado moved almost due north along 568th Ave while significantly…

3. Jul 16, 1996Flood, Cedar$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains from 6 to 10 inches fell over northern Cedar County. The flooding lead to three dozen bridges being washed away, and two to three dozen roads being closed.

4. Jun 17, 2014Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This was the final tornado in the Cedar County event. This tornado initially moved southwest while increasing in intensity and width. The tornado produced the most significant damage as it turned south along 573rd Ave where the tornado impacted a farm where outbuildings were completely destroyed. The tornado continued south crossing United States Highway 20. The tornado started to turn southeast about 1.5 miles northeast of Laurel. The tornado continued southeast producing mainly tree and power line damage before crossing into Dixon County near 869th Road. The complete track of the tornado was 8.04 miles.

5. Jun 17, 2014Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The nearly stationary supercell over Cedar County produced very heavy rain and flash flooding. Flooding was reported over State Highway 57 south of Hartington. In addition to this flooding, numerous secondary gravel roads were flooded and impassable during the late evening on June 17th from torrential rains.

6. Jul 21, 1999Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall of 9.5 to 10.5 inches fell on the Hartington area in two days, 7/19 and 7/20/99 with lesser amounts across the rest of Cedar county. The 2nd day of rain caused the most damage due to flash flooding with 2 county bridges destroyed and highways 12 and 81 northwest of Hartington flooded. Damage was sustained along the Norwegian Bow Creek and the West Bow Creek. Besides bridge and road damage, several homes were flooded. Later in the afternoon on the 21st, high water along the West Bow Creek approached Bow Valley and Wynot flowing over some gravel roads and forcing sandbagging of several homes.

7. Sep 18, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$110,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds destroyed a center pivot and a tree fell and destroyed a shed 3 miles northeast of Coleridge. The strong winds also damaged portion of a hog building 5 miles northeast of Coleridge.

8. Sep 18, 1997Lightning$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck power lines outside a telephone company facility. The resulting power surge did significant damage to telphone equipment at the facility.

9. Jul 6, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   50 X 80 foot honey storage barn on the west side of Randolph was destroyed. Roof on the Randolph High School was damaged.

10. May 3, 1999Tornado$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Farm buildings were heavily damaged as well as a garage, part of a roof of a house and part of a center irrigation pivot.

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

114°FJul 17, 1936

All-time low

−38°FJan 12, 1912

Warmest night

86°FJul 31, 1955

Coldest day

−15°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

6.38 inAug 18, 1937

Snowiest day

15.0 inNov 28, 1983

Hottest year

1931mean 54.4°F

Coldest year

1917mean 45.8°F

Wettest year

201840.56 in

Driest year

192510.87 in

Snowiest season

69.8 in2000-01

Station Vermillion 2 Se (USC00398622), 1,137 ft elevation, 21.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 22, 2026; 98.1% 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 USC00398622.
• 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.