Franklin County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (2).

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. May 5, 2023Hail$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to the size of tennis balls was reported across Franklin. There were numerous reports of shredded trees, broken siding and windows and damage to vehicles.

2. Dec 29, 2006Ice Storm, Franklin$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wide variety of significant winter weather began impacting portions of south central Nebraska during the day on Friday (12/29) and continued through Saturday night (12/30), before exiting the area on Sunday (12/31). Freezing rain, sleet, and snow began Friday afternoon in portions of Dawson county, with snowfall amounts as high as 9 inches. By Friday night most of the precipitation had turned to sleet and freezing rain, pressing further east to around highway 281. This led to significant ice accumulations which continued through Saturday night. The areas just west of Grand Island and Hastings received significant ice accrual from the storm, with up to an inch of ice reported…

3. Jun 14, 2014Thunderstorm Wind$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A line of thunderstorms with damaging wind gusts up to 80 MPH resulted in very large tree branches being downed in Upland, causing power outages.

4. Dec 25, 2016High Wind, Franklin$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The highest wind gust of 73 mph was measured at 5:48 p.m. by a mesonet site 2 miles north of Franklin. Other wind gusts included 66 mph at Hildreth, 65 mph seven miles south-southeast of Wilcox and 64 mph three miles south-southwest of Naponee. A 30 to 35 foot tower on top of the four-story court house in Franklin was blown down sometime around 6 p.m. Strong sustained winds around 40 MPH or higher continued for a few hours across the area.

5. May 26, 2002Hail$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Scattered thunderstorms erupted across south-central Nebraska. The thunderstorms started out north of Grand Island and spread south to the Nebraska/Kansas border. Brief tornados occurred west of Saint Paul, east of Naponee and west of Wilsonville. These were very short lived and caused no damage. The tornado near Wilsonville was reported by a university chase team. Very strong winds developed northwest of Grand Island and roared at nearly 80 mph through the village of Cairo. Windows were blown out of several cars and roofs were blown off a couple of businesses. Hail up to 4 inches in diameter smashed through Franklin and caused extensive roof and siding damage.

6. Jun 29, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A weakening cluster of thunderstorms sliding east just north of the Nebraska-Kansas state line produced severe weather across southwestern portions of Franklin County. The NWS Cooperative Observer in Naponee reported hail around golf ball size and wind gusts exceeding 60 MPH.

7. Jun 29, 2023Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A weakening cluster of thunderstorms sliding east just north of the Nebraska-Kansas state line produced severe weather across southwestern portions of Franklin County. The NWS Cooperative Observer in Naponee reported hail around golf ball size and wind gusts exceeding 60 MPH.

8. Jul 4, 2000Flood, Franklin$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains of 3 to 5 inches caused flash flooding to occur in the McCool Junction and Waco areas of York county. Other thunderstorms that trained across the upper reaches of the Little Blue River caused flash flooding in Phelps and Franklin counties during the late evening hours of the 3rd. The resulting runoff caused flooding to occur along the Little Blue River. Numerous roadways were flooded. Damage was done to several road bridges and a couple of railway bridges.

9. Jun 18, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts were estimated at 65 MPH. Roof damage was reported in Hildreth, and a large tree was uprooted in the Campbell park and fell on a gazebo roof, with many other tree limbs up to 3 to 4 inches in diameter blown down around town. Small hail also accompanied these winds, and together resulted in a swath of crop damage approximately 3 to 4 miles wide, with the path running along and near Highway 4.

10. Jun 7, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$350,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A social media report noted a flipped irrigation pivot four miles southwest of Hildreth. A wind gust of 59 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located five miles south-southwest of Hildreth.

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°FJul 14, 1954

All-time low

−35°F2 times, most recently Dec 23, 1989

Warmest night

80°F3 times, most recently Jun 21, 2025

Coldest day

−14°FDec 23, 1990

Wettest day

7.15 inJul 14, 1973

Snowiest day

12.0 inFeb 3, 1903

Hottest year

2024mean 54.6°F

Coldest year

1993mean 48.2°F

Wettest year

199338.36 in

Driest year

195612.63 in

Snowiest season

48.0 in1959-60

Station Harlan County Lake (USC00253595), 2,010 ft elevation, 15.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1894 to October 26, 2026; 89.7% 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 USC00253595.
• 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.