Cheyenne County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 26, 1999Hail$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms with large hail and winds exceeding 80 mph caused extensive damage to crops and property over a large part of western Cheyenne county in Nebraska, with many crops completely destroyed. This was the most damaging hailstorm ever recorded in Cheyenne county. Power was knocked out in Sidney with some streets flooded in the city. Meteorological observation equipment at the Sidney airport was severely damaged.

2. May 25, 1997Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding occurred along Lodgepole Creek and Sand Draw from heavy rains upstream in Kimball County. A 7 foot wall of water washed out a 30 foot section of a bridge on U.S. Highway 30 at Potter at 430 am MST.

3. Apr 6, 2024Blizzard, Cheyenne$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   KNEB Station manager relayed report of 11 inches of snow in Potter along with widespread power outages across Cheyenne County. Snow ranged from 5 inches up to 11 inches. Before the Sidney ASOS lost power at the Sidney Airport, wind gusts were in excess of 65 mph with sustained winds in the mid to upper 40 mph range for over 4 hours.

4. Jun 26, 1999Hail$250,000
5. Apr 11, 2001Winter Storm, Cheyenne$200,000
6. May 21, 1999Hail$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   1.75 inch hail fell 10 miles northwest of Sidney, NE

7. Jul 6, 2010Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lodgepole Creek overflowed its banks roughly 3.3 miles west of town and flowed east between U.S. Highway 385 and the railroad tracks. The railroad and highway narrowed near the COOP in Lodgepole causing waters to build up pressure and then reode the railroad bed causing flooding in the south part of town by 11 pm. During the worst of the flooding water was five feet deep in places. Other areas in town saw two to three feet of water cover an area three blocks wide and five blocks long.

8. Apr 3, 1999Ice Storm, Cheyenne$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Icy roads resulted in numerous accidents on highways in the western Nebraska Panhandle.

9. Jan 3, 2000Winter Storm, Cheyenne$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Icy roads resulted in about a half dozen accidents on Interstate 80 west of Sidney, NE.

10. Jun 20, 1997Hail$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Several windshields broken and vehicles dented.

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

111°FJun 26, 2012

All-time low

−31°FFeb 14, 2021

Warmest night

76°FJul 26, 2026

Coldest day

−9°FJan 11, 1963

Wettest day

4.54 inJun 11, 1970

Snowiest day

19.8 inNov 27, 1983

Hottest year

2012mean 52.5°F

Coldest year

1978mean 44.9°F

Wettest year

196527.53 in

Driest year

20205.83 in

Snowiest season

87.4 in1983-84

Station Sidney Municipal Airport (USW00024030), 4,288 ft elevation, 4.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 20, 2026; 96.7% 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 USW00024030.
• 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.