Merrick County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Dec 29, 2006Ice Storm, Merrick$4.0 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…

2. May 11, 2005Flash Flood$3.0 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…

3. Mar 13, 2019Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Excessive rainfall, blizzard conditions, and high winds occurred on this Tuesday night, Wednesday and Thursday, and they were followed by extensive and significant flooding that lasted for days afterward. The seeds of the disastrous flooding were planted in the weeks leading up to this event. The factors that came together made this a worst case scenario. February through early March was bitterly cold and snowy due to a blocking ridge between Alaska and Hawaii and the downstream trough along the West Coast of the United States. The 32-day stretch from February 4th through March 7th was the third coldest on record, after 1936 and 1960. By itself, February was the coldest month in…

4. Jun 7, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts estimated to be near 75 MPH resulted in tree and crop damage in the area, as well as flipped irrigation pivots. Power outages were reported in the area, and trees were reported down in Clarks. A wind gust of 70 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located four miles west-southwest of Clarks, and a wind gust of 60 MPH was measured by a mesonet station four miles northeast of Clarks.

5. Jun 19, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts were estimated to be as high as 80 MPH. Along this path, an old grain elevator was destroyed, large trees branches were blown down, irrigation pivots were overturned, and a couple of power poles were broken.

6. May 19, 2025Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   For the third time in less than a week, severe weather impacted south central Nebraska. A narrow, broken line of thunderstorms formed roughly along Nebraska Highway 14 and slowly moved east during the afternoon hours. Though reports of severe weather were limited, hail was very large in some spots. The town of Edgar in Clay county was hardest hit with baseball sized hail. Most homes in towns sustained at least some damage, including broken windows, shredded siding and roof damage. Tree damage was extensive as well. Half-dollar to ping-pong sized hail was reported in parts of Nance, Merrick and Polk counties. By late afternoon, the storms weakened slightly and moved east of south…

7. Dec 25, 2016High Wind, Merrick$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Based on observations from neighboring counties such as Hall and Hamilton, a significant high wind event impacted Merrick County for over two hours, likely featuring peak gusts of generally 60-75 MPH and sustained speeds 40-50 MPH.

8. Jun 3, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency management reported several pivots were flipped over and mangled north of Chapman. At a convenience store in Chapman, a metal light pole was blown down, and a large metal ice chest was moved away from the main building into the parking lot.

9. May 12, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   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…

10. Jun 2, 2023Tornado$400,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A tornado touched down in rural portions of Merrick County a few miles northwest of Central City, with a maximum estimated wind speed of 80 MPH along a 4-mile path. The most noteworthy damage occurred at a large cattle company feedlot, where a large portion of a roof was blown off of a confinement barn, several outdoor pens and livestock shades were destroyed, and a few head of cattle were injured and had to be euthanized. In addition, several irrigation pivots were overturned. Some tree damage was also noted along the path of the tornado. At one farmstead, the home suffered gutter damage and an unoccupied tractor parked nearby had its windows blown out. There was also some hail…

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°F2 times, most recently Jul 24, 1940

All-time low

−28°FJan 27, 1963

Warmest night

82°FJul 19, 1940

Coldest day

−9°F3 times, most recently Dec 24, 1983

Wettest day

6.50 inMay 11, 2005

Snowiest day

17.8 inMar 20, 2006

Hottest year

2012mean 55.1°F

Coldest year

1951mean 47.3°F

Wettest year

201939.71 in

Driest year

201211.55 in

Snowiest season

78.6 in1983-84

Station Grand Is Cntrl Ne Regional Airport (USW00014935), 1,843 ft elevation, 18.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1938 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00014935.
• 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.