Logan County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Oct 4, 2011Wildfire, Logan$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A fire began in Lincoln County when a combine ignited the fire while harvesting soybeans. A Red Flag Warning was in effect where strong winds helped spread the fire quickly and burning an estimated 40 square miles of acres that encompassed corn and soybean crops. A home and barn, along with a number of farm machinery damaged or destroyed as the fire spread from northern Lincoln County into Logan County to near the town of Stapleton. As the fire approached the city emergency crews closed Highway 83 and a mandatory evacuation of the community. One landowner was hospitalized due to inhalation as fire crews worked through the night to control hot spots.

2. Jul 1, 2012Drought, Logan$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe drought conditions (D2), which began the month of June, intensified to extreme drought conditions (D3) by the end of the month. Pastures that make up close to 80 percent of the land use in Logan County (2007 Census USDA) was rated 69% poor or very poor. The lack of rain limited grazing capacity as the departure from normal precipitation reached below 1 inch. Crop producers began silage of dryland corn. On July 23rd all counties in Nebraska were approved for CRP Emergency Haying and Grazing. The drought continued into August.

3. Mar 13, 2019Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads reported washed out in Logan County.

4. Aug 14, 1998Hail$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Golfball size hail accompanied by 50 to 60 mph winds caused extensive damage to buildings and vehicles in and around Stapleton. Considerable crop damage near Stapleton.

5. Jun 12, 2010Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms with prolonged heavy rain falling on already saturated ground caused widespread flooding across eastern Logan County. Three to five inches of rain fell, severely damaging rural roads.

6. Jun 5, 1999Hail$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The large hail began as walnut sized hail and, within 5 minutes became baseball sized. numerous vehicles were damaged and windows were broken and siding damaged on several residential buildings.

7. Nov 27, 2005Blizzard, Logan$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A very strong low pressure system moved out of Colorado the Sunday after Thanksgiving and intensified as it moved northeast across the Western and Northern Plains hampering travel on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. Very warm air wrapped up into the system ahead of the storm causing freezing rain to develop across portions of Boyd, Holt, Rock, Loup, Garfield, Wheeler, and northeast Custer Counties Sunday afternoon, November 27th, while snow fell across the remainder of the area. By Sunday night, the freezing rain switched over to snow as cold air plunged into western and north central Nebraska. Winds increased significantly Sunday night into Monday morning with zero…

8. Jun 27, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Empty 5th wheel camper was blown over and pushed into the corner of a home causing damage to the siding and a roof overhang. An anchored wooden swing set was also blown over. Basket ball hope with a weighted base blown 20 yards.

9. Jun 22, 1999Hail$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail and strong winds in and around Stapleton damaged a center pivot irrigation system and destroyed a half section of irrigated corn.

10. Jul 16, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Fire department reports powerlines down, broken windows, and trees down west of Stapleton. Winds estimated at 70 to 80 MPH.

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

108°FJul 3, 1990

All-time low

−32°F2 times, most recently Dec 23, 1989

Warmest night

74°FAug 16, 2025

Coldest day

−11°FDec 30, 1990

Wettest day

3.99 inJun 9, 2020

Snowiest day

15.0 inJan 19, 2023

Hottest year

2006mean 51.5°F

Coldest year

1993mean 44.6°F

Wettest year

201935.10 in

Driest year

200212.31 in

Snowiest season

62.5 in2018-19

Station Stapleton 5W (USC00258133), 3,022 ft elevation, 5.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1989 to October 26, 2026; 98.8% 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 USC00258133.
• 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.