Gosper County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 11, 2005Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Though well predicted, the severe weather and flooding on the night of May 11 was even worse than imagined. Thunderstorms ravaged a large part of south central Nebraska with hail, high winds, a tornado and catastrophic flooding.During evening and early morning hours, 4 to 12 inches of fell from Dawson County east to York County. At Kenesaw and Wood River, over 11 inches of rain was measured. The city of Grand Island set a rainfall record for a single event with 7.21 inches of rain. Statically, this event was a 100 year rain and flood event for the area. In Wood River, 12 people were evacuated due to rising water. It was estimated every structure in Wood River sustained some sort…

2. Dec 29, 2006Ice Storm, Gosper$1.0 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. Dec 25, 2016High Wind, Gosper$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Based on observations from neighboring counties such as Furnas and Dawson, a significant high wind event impacted Gosper County for roughly two hours, likely featuring peak gusts of generally 60-70 MPH and sustained speeds 40-50 MPH.

4. Aug 17, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Half dollar size hail fell along with the 70 mph winds.

5. Jun 13, 1998Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A warm front lifting north and a strong jet stream played a key role in the eruption of severe thunderstorms in the late afternoon in south-central Nebraska. Large hail, damaging thunderstorm winds and two tornadic thunderstorms caused millions of dollars in damage.The first tornadic thunderstorm occurred in northern Gosper county just outside of the town of Elwood. The tornado sat down to the southwest of Elwood then travelled east. After a mile, the tornado turned and travelled due north. It hit one farmstead, heavily damaging the home and totally destroying several outbuildings. The path of the tornado when right down the middle of US highway 283. A truck driver and a family of…

6. Jun 21, 1996Lightning$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck the St. Johns Catholic Church and started it on fire. The resulting fire completely destroyed the building.

7. Dec 19, 2006Ice Storm, Gosper$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major winter storm spun its way onto the plains. With mild temperatures in place at the start of the storm, precipitation began as rain, and pretty much stayed as rain. In fact, freezing rain blanketed the majority of south central Nebraska on the night of the 19th and during the day on the 20th. By the end of the 20th, a fresh coat of ice resulted in broken tree limbs, power lines and power poles, especially along and west of U.S. Highway 281 across south central Nebraska. Some of the worst damage was west of Kearney into Dawson County where some towns didn���t have power for several days. Ironically, roads and sidewalks across the area were not terribly slick as air…

8. May 7, 2014Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ping pong to tennis ball size hail was reported at the northwest corner of Johnson Lake.

9. Jul 29, 2018Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts were estimated to be between 60 and 65 MPH, downing tree limbs at least 2 inches in diameter.

10. Nov 27, 2005Blizzard, Gosper$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A strong upper level low pressure system intensified over the Central Plains during the day Sunday, November 27. After raining much of the day, cold air and strong winds quickly changed the rain to snow in the early evening. The winds increased rapidly, and by late evening, were gusting over 50 mph. The fierce winds continued all night and throughout the day Monday, November 28th. Winds gusted to 70 mph at times and caused "white out" conditions in snow and wind. Hundreds of holiday travelers were stranded in shelters set up at schools, churches, homes and motels in south central Nebraska. A 220 mile stretch of interstate 80 was closed for almost two days due to the zero…

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

107°F3 times, most recently Jun 14, 2022

All-time low

−27°FDec 22, 1983

Warmest night

77°F2 times, most recently Jun 21, 2025

Coldest day

−8°F2 times, most recently Dec 24, 1983

Wettest day

5.07 inJun 25, 1989

Snowiest day

12.0 inFeb 19, 1984

Hottest year

2021mean 54.3°F

Coldest year

1993mean 47.1°F

Wettest year

196534.26 in

Driest year

202010.65 in

Snowiest season

38.0 in1968-69

Station Canaday Steam Plt (USC00251450), 2,362 ft elevation, 9.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1961 to October 27, 2026; 94.9% 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 USC00251450.
• 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.