Dundy County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Mar 28, 2007Tornado$460,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado moved into county from northern Cheyenne county, Kansas 3 miles SE of Benkelman, and dissipated 8 miles NNE of Benkelman. Total path length of the tornado was 15 miles, with 12 of those miles being in Dundy county. Three homes were affected by the tornado east of Benkelman, with one home north of Hwy 34 losing its roof and suffering significant property damage, including loss of a barn and other outbuildings. Other homes south of Hwy 34, just north of the golf course experienced damage, including loss of a garage and carport at one location, and garage and grain bins destroyed at another. The golf course experienced significant tree damage as well.

2. Apr 8, 2013Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Report was first relayed to NWS from local newspaper, and later followed up with a storm survey. Extensive damage to one farm and feed yard. Several large outbuildings were destroyed, utility poles/fences were broken, a trailer was overturned and rolled. Farm implements were moved. At least two cows were put down due to injuries from the storm.

3. Apr 14, 2011Blizzard, Dundy$160,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Four to seven inches of snow was reported across the county by cooperative and CoCoRaHS observers. Strong winds resulted in blizzard conditions with road closures and power outages common. Thirty-five utility poles were damaged or broken during the event.

4. Jul 23, 2020Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple roads across the flooded part of the county were washed out. Notable road closures include Highway 34 closed from Benkelman to Highway 385 at Wray, River Road closed from Parks to Doane, and Avenue 328 closed due to four feet of water over the road. The flood waters also washed out part of the railroad between Parks and Haigler, stranding the train in Haigler. The Republican River at Benkelman reached a peak height of almost nine and a half feet. The record stage height is just over 13 feet.||Total damage for this event (both flash flood and flood) totaled between $100,000 and $108,000.

5. Jul 23, 2020Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple roads across the flooded part of the county were washed out. Notable road closures include Highway 34 closed from Benkelman to Highway 385 at Wray, River Road closed from Parks to Doane, and Avenue 328 closed due to four feet of water over the road. The flood waters also washed out part of the railroad between Parks and Haigler, stranding the train in Haigler. The Republican River at Benkelman reached a peak height of almost nine and a half feet. The record stage height is just over 13 feet. ||Total damage for this event (both flash flood and flood) totaled between $100,000 and $108,000.

6. Apr 24, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$76,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several irrigation systems were toppled, tree branches were snapped and shingles removed from homes across northern Dundy county.

7. Jun 7, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds estimated to 80 mph rolled a steel roof from building, downed branches 6-10 inches in diameter, destroyed a porch deck, broke windows at an auto dealership, and downed a 2 foot diameter tree.

8. May 22, 1998Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Around 5 inches of rain fell between 1800 and 2000 MST. Many homes had basements flooded with water and mud. Several cars were stalled. Roads were damaged. Waters started receding around 2100 MST,

9. Jun 19, 2011Tornado$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Storm chaser reported the tornado remained mostly over open fields in rural Dundy county. Newspaper accounts stated that one center pivot system was overturned, and a barn roof was damaged.

10. Jul 20, 2020Flash Flood$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A small bridge in the Rock Creek channel near Rock Creek Lake, and part of a road, were washed away due to the prolonged rainfall.

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°F2 times, most recently Aug 2, 2008

All-time low

−27°FFeb 15, 2021

Warmest night

75°F2 times, most recently Jun 19, 2022

Coldest day

−5°F2 times, most recently Dec 22, 2022

Wettest day

5.06 inApr 19, 1971

Snowiest day

9.5 inJan 14, 1960

Hottest year

2012mean 54.2°F

Coldest year

1960mean 48.4°F

Wettest year

196527.37 in

Driest year

20028.77 in

Snowiest season

56.1 in1959-60

Station Imperial Municipal Airport (USW00024091), 3,269 ft elevation, 29.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1951 to October 25, 2026; 87.6% 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 USW00024091.
• 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.