Deuel County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 17, 2018Tornado$125,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down and damaged two farmsteads along its path. The first farmstead had a livestock shed which lost its roof. Wooden beams were tossed 30 yards, piercing the side of a garage. Shingles were ripped off of nearby outbuildings. The tornado then passed onto another farmstead where two full irrigation pivots were flipped, the first by the tornado, and a second by straight line winds. Large branches were also broken off of trees at this location.

2. May 7, 2000Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive damage done to houses and vehicles in Chappell.

3. Jun 10, 2004Tornado$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Shortly after the tornado touched down 10 miles ESE of Chappell, it hit a farmstead near the intersection of Highway 27 and Interstate 80. Three old, unanchored trailer homes were picked up and moved with two of them completely destroyed. A metal shed was tossed 40 yards and numerous trees were broken or uprooted. As the tornado crossed Interstate 80, it overturned a vehicle pulling a U-Haul trailer. Two children in the automobile were taken to an area hospital, treated for minor injuries and released. The tornado width increased to 1/8 of a mile as it moved northeast of the interstate. Approximately 8 miles WNW of Big Springs, a center pivot irrigation system was overturned,…

4. May 13, 1999Hail$50,000
5. Jul 7, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The thunderstorm outflow winds snapped off or uprooted numerous large trees. One tree fell on a vehicle parked across the street from the fire hall. 15 to 20 homes received roof damage due to trees that fell on the roofs. A porch roof was also ripped off and thrown into a nearby football field. Numerous power poles were also snapped off.

6. Jun 10, 1998Hail$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail stripped bark from trees and paint from houses. Hail piled in drifts with some street flooding.

7. Jul 1, 2012Drought, Deuel$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe drought conditions (D2), which began the month of June, intensified to extreme drought conditions (D3) by the end of the month. Pastures that make up close to 16 percent of the land use in Deuel County (2007 Census USDA) was rated 69% poor or very poor. The lack of rain limited grazing capacity and created increased sales of livestock as the departure from normal precipitation reached one to two inches. Crop producers began silage of dryland corn where in Deuel County cropland includes 83% of land use. On July 23rd all counties in Nebraska were approved for CRP Emergency Haying and Grazing. The drought continued into August.

8. Apr 13, 2018Blizzard, Deuel$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A Cooperative observer in near Big Springs reported blizzard conditions and 10 inches of total snowfall. Moderate to heavy snow developed Friday morning as northwest winds increased late Friday morning to 30 to 40 mph with gusts from 50 to 60 mph, resulting in blizzard conditions. These strong winds and blizzard conditions continued Friday afternoon and Friday night, then diminished Saturday morning. All highways including Interstate 80 became closed. A semi truck driver died on the scene when he collided with another semi truck previously stranded by the blizzard on interstate 80. Multiple vehicles were stranded along portions of Interstate 80. Snow drifts of 3 to 6 feet were…

9. May 27, 2019Hail$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous vehicle windows were reported broken out by golf ball sized hail from the junction of I76/I80 to south of Big Springs. Heavy damage to semi tractor windows reported at a truck stop at exit 107 on Interstate 80.

10. Jun 10, 1998Hail$50,000

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

110°F2 times, most recently Jun 27, 2012

All-time low

−30°FDec 22, 1989

Warmest night

79°FJul 30, 1999

Coldest day

−10°F2 times, most recently Dec 21, 1990

Wettest day

5.00 inMay 5, 1969

Snowiest day

18.0 in2 times, most recently Jan 19, 1988

Hottest year

1999mean 53.0°F

Coldest year

2008mean 46.1°F

Wettest year

200928.14 in

Driest year

20129.53 in

Snowiest season

95.5 in1983-84

Station Sedgwick 5 S (USC00057515), 3,996 ft elevation, 18.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1952 to October 26, 2026; 98.5% 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 USC00057515.
• 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.