Colfax County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Colfax 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 (8).

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 20, 2008Hail$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to golfball-size fell in the Schuyler area for around 20 minutes. The hail caused considerable damage to houses, vehicles and trees in town. The ground was almost completely covered white with hail and hail fragments. An insurance agent stated the damage was in the millions of dollars.

2. Jun 11, 2010Flood$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain from roughly June 7th into the 14th produced prolonged flooding along Shell Creek and its tributaries from near Lindsay in Platte county downstream to around Schuyler in Colfax county. The high water flooded many county roads and forced the closure of Highway 15 north of Schuyler for a while. Shell Creek or one of its tributaries also flooded sections of northeast Schuyler prompting homes and businesses to sandbag to try to limit the damage. Nonetheless, some damage to about 200 homes and businesses occurred anyway, mostly to basements. Damage was also noted to county roads and crops because of the prolonged period of high water. Emergency management reported that at…

3. May 30, 2008Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain which fell on May 29th eventually worked its way down Shell Creek to just northeast of Schuyler overflowing into a tributary which flooded the northeast section of town late on May 30th. The flooding continued into Saturday, May 31st and forced the evacuation of some people in town. The water mostly flooded basements and garages, but it also affected the main floors of a few homes and several businesses. In all 250 homes and buildings were damaged and 8 families were permanently displaced. The water reached 4 to 5 feet deep on a few streets. Just north of town the flood waters crossed Highway 15 for a while. The dollar damage due to flooding in town and the surrounding…

4. Apr 8, 1999Tornado$540,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damage to 10 farmsteads and a 100 year old historic church.

5. Aug 4, 1996Flood, Colfax$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains fell in Colfax County, filling streets and resulting in damage to crops and roads. Nearly 8 inches of rain was reported at Schuyler. Thunderstorms redeveloping over the same area and abundant tropical moisture produced the heavy rains.

6. Mar 13, 2019Flash Flood$170,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A levee on Shell Creek was topped by waters from heavy rain and fast snow melt. This caused the town of Rogers to be flooded. The town was evacuated in anticipation that water would enter the town.

7. May 22, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds damaged the roof of the Co-op in Richland, a camper, outbuildings, and several businesses in Schuyler. Several signs and windows were broken.

8. Aug 16, 2017Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Highway 15 was closed near the Platte River Bridge along with several county roads.

9. Aug 16, 2017Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding occurred along Highway 30 near Richland and along Highway 15 near Schuyler.

10. Apr 5, 2009Winter Storm, Colfax$23,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Rain changed to a brief period of freezing rain then to a heavy wet snow around midnight CDT on April 5th and continued into the mid morning hours of that day. The precipitation was accompanied by north winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts to 50 mph. Although snowfall ended during the late morning of the 5th, the strong winds caused continued drifting snow in open areas into the afternoon hours. The accumulated ice and heavy wet snow caused scattered power outages across the county and caused localized damage. In Schuyler a grandstand roof was damaged and a section of a fence was blown down resulting in over $20,000 in damage. Snow amounts were between 4 and 8 inches across the county…

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, 13.5 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.