Kimball County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. May 7, 2000Hail$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail damaged much of Kimball, NE, with 40 to 50 percent of the city reporting excessive damage.

2. Apr 6, 2024Blizzard, Kimball$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Scotts Bluff Emergency Manager and KNEB station manager reported blizzard conditions in Kimball County for well over 3 hours. KNEB Station Manager reported Highway 71 closed between the town of Kimball and Gering due to blizzard conditions. Wind gusts were in excess of 50 mph on the Kimball AWOS with sustained winds of 35 mph or stronger during this time. Widespread power outages were reported across Kimball County.

3. May 24, 1997Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A series of thunderstorms produced in excess of 7.5 inches of rain over parts of western Kimball County during a 5-hour time frame. Flooding occurred along Lodgepole Creek from Bushnell east to the county line.

4. Jun 25, 1997Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   6000 acres of crops damaged: several roads damaged.

5. Apr 11, 2001Winter Storm, Kimball$200,000
6. Jun 26, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$45,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Microburst wind gusts damaged trailers in mobile home park.

7. Dec 8, 1997Winter Weather$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Snowpacked and icy roads contributed to many vehicular accidents, one of which killed a 73-year-old man and his 59-year-old wife on Highway 71 when a semitrailer truck lost control, crossed the center line and struck their car head-on. Both vehicles caught fire and were totaled. The numerous other accidents involved property damage and some minor injuries but no additional fatalities.

8. Jun 1, 1997Hail$30,000
9. Oct 24, 1997Blizzard, Kimball$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An early season blizzard dumped up to 12 inches of snow in areas of the Nebraska Panhandle, downing power poles and power lines as well as making many roads impassable. Wet, wind-driven snow damaged unharvested milo, corn and sunflower fields, and many motorists were stranded on impassable roads or when vehicles slid off roads. Scotts Bluff county spent an estimated $5K in overtime trying to keep roads passable. High school athletic events were postponed, as were many other events. By the evening of the 24th, approximately half of the homes in Kimball were without power due to fallen power poles and lines. The following occurrences were documented as occurring on the 24th. In…

10. May 21, 2008High Wind, Kimball$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Strong winds developed for a short time in response to locally strong pressure gradients, producing some tree and power line damage.

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°FJun 26, 2012

All-time low

−31°FFeb 14, 2021

Warmest night

76°FJul 26, 2026

Coldest day

−9°FJan 11, 1963

Wettest day

4.54 inJun 11, 1970

Snowiest day

19.8 inNov 27, 1983

Hottest year

2012mean 52.5°F

Coldest year

1978mean 44.9°F

Wettest year

196527.53 in

Driest year

20205.83 in

Snowiest season

87.4 in1983-84

Station Sidney Municipal Airport (USW00024030), 4,288 ft elevation, 36.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 20, 2026; 96.7% 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 USW00024030.
• 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.