Jefferson County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (7).

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 7, 2015Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extremely heavy rainfall of 6 to 10 inches fell across the northern basin of the Little Blue River. This cause the river to swell to record levels around the Fairbury area. The flooding resulted in the mandatory evacuations of areas of the western and southern parts of town, to the west of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. The flooding of some residents along the river did result in one fatality of an elderly residence in her basement. The river crested at 25.42 feet or 6.92 feet above flood stage.

2. May 29, 2008Tornado$1.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado was a continuation of a long-tracked tornado that started in Jewel county Kansas and tracked into Thayer county Nebraska before crossing into Jefferson county Nebraska. The tornado did EF3 damage in Kansas and EF2 damage in Jefferson county. ||In Jefferson county the tornado started 2 miles west and 1 1/4 mile north of Reynolds, knocking over large tree branches, snapping trees and overturning several center pivot irrigation systems. The storm tracked northeast from there continuing to snap wooden power poles and causing additional tree damage as well as farm outbuilding damage. The tornado crossed the Little Blue River 2 3/4 miles northwest of Fairbury before turning…

3. Oct 25, 1997Heavy Snow, Jefferson$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major early season snowstorm struck the area. A heavy wet snowfall of 6 to 14 inches fell on trees, many of which were still fully or partially leafed, and caused extensive damage and/or total destruction. At least 205,000 residents in the affected area were without power just after the storm, many of the outages lasted for several days. Omaha Public Power District estimated that it was the worst outage in 50 years. Nearly 85% of the trees in the Omaha area and 25% of the trees in the Lincoln area sustained damage or were totally destroyed. Many emergency shelters in and around the Omaha and Lincoln areas were opened for use by those who suffered a hardship from the storm.

4. Apr 29, 2010Tornado$650,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An Assessment team from the NWS determined that a tornado tracked around 3 miles west through northwest of the Diller area. The damage path was around 300 yards at its widest. Trees and farm outbuildings were damaged along its path and 35 large power poles were snapped. A house in the area also sustained major damage to the roof and windows and the upper floor was partially shifted from the lower floor and a wall was bowed outward and garage destroyed. A center irrigation pivot was damaged at the tornadoes lifting point.

5. Jul 18, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm produced a 20 mile long path of damage due to downburst winds across Jefferson county. The winds were estimated at between 80 and 90 mph. The winds toppled trees and damaged roofs and windows most significantly in a 3 block wide swath in southern Fairbury. Power poles were snapped and several sheds and garages were also destroyed in this area. In rural areas there were center pivot irrigation systems and grain bins overturned as well as scattered tree damage.

6. May 7, 2015Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The emergency manager reported that flash flooding continued as heavy rainfall continued during the overnight. The flooding destroyed a bridge along state highway 15 in northern Jefferson County.

7. Jun 13, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An area of apparently straight line wind damage was reported from southwest of Fairbury to north of town. Grain bins were destroyed, roofs were damaged, cars thrown, trees were uprooted and power poles were snapped. This was the second slow moving supercell to track across Jefferson county this evening.

8. Jun 13, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This slow moving supercell earlier produced a tornado in the adjacent county in northern Kansas. In Nebraska, near Reynolds, most of the damage was apparently caused by straight line winds, possibly from the rear flank downdraft, estimated at close to 100 mph. The strong winds stripped corn nearly to the ground in this area, overturned center pivot irrigation systems and grain bins and did some outbuilding damage. The winds also uprooted trees which blocked Highway 8 in town.

9. May 8, 1996Tornado$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Another tornado formed from the same supercell that produced the Gilead and Gladstone/Alexandria tornadoes. During its 21/2 mile path, the tornado severely damaged two farmsteads and extensive damage to seven other farmsteads. Damage was estimated at $350,000.

10. Jun 4, 2008Flash Flood$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy rain caused flash flooding that washed out several roads and a bridge near Daykin and also produced runoff from farm fields that flooded across Highway 15 north of Fairbury. Rainfall from the thunderstorms was likely 2 to 4 inches from late afternoon of June 4 into the early morning hours of June 5.

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

114°F2 times, most recently Aug 13, 1936

All-time low

−42°FFeb 16, 2021

Warmest night

85°FJul 25, 1936

Coldest day

−15°FFeb 11, 1899

Wettest day

7.65 inJul 9, 1950

Snowiest day

21.0 inApr 3, 1920

Hottest year

1934mean 58.0°F

Coldest year

1979mean 48.4°F

Wettest year

200748.37 in

Driest year

193415.36 in

Snowiest season

60.7 in1914-15

Station Fairbury 7S (USC00252820), 1,463 ft elevation, 8.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1895 to October 26, 2026; 97.9% 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 USC00252820.
• 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.