Perkins County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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. Jun 24, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Delayed report. VFD reports multiple pivots overturned in the area. Significant building damage from apparent straight line winds. Time estimated from radar. Emergency management and print media reports damage to homes, vehicles and severe damage to crops.

2. Mar 28, 2007Tornado$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large supercell thunderstorm originally spawned two tornadoes with the eastern tornado eventually taking over. The tornado touched down approximately 6 miles south-southwest of Grant and moved northeast for a few miles and then turned northwest to pass 3 miles west of Grant and continue northwest to near the Perkins and Keith County line approximately 12 miles north-northwest of Grant. The tornado encountered the first farm where it destroyed outbuildings and grain bins and damaged the roof of a metal storage building. Damage to the second farm included ripping off half the roof on the home. At the third farmstead, the tornado destroyed grain bins and a barn and ripped a hole in…

3. Jul 1, 2012Drought, Perkins$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 19 percent of the land use in Perkins County (2007 Census USDA) was rated 69% poor or very poor. Cropland was hit even harder where land use is near 80 percent as the departure from normal precipitation reached below 2 inches. 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.

4. Aug 21, 1997Hail$800,000
5. Jul 2, 1999Tornado$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down 9 miles south southwest of Grant and lifted 1 mile south of Madrid. One man sustained minor injuries when his pickup was struck. The pickup was tossed and whirled around. The pickup was a total loss. Other damage included the destruction or damage to 30 center pivot irrigation systems and several barns, grain bins, and quonset buildings were damaged or destroyed. Damage to utilities included the loss of 82 power poles, 25 transformers, 10 high voltage transmission towers.

6. Aug 28, 1999Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Roads and culverts were washed out by flooding associated with torrential rains.

7. Jun 11, 2007Flash Flood$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Nearly stationary thunderstorms produced heavy rainfall of 4 to 10 inches causing water to flow over roadways mainly west and south of Grant. Water flowed across Highway 23 west of Grant and across numerous secondary roads. Highways were closed and travel was discouraged for much of the county. One home around the Grant Golf Course was inundated with water while many others were saved by sandbags.

8. Nov 28, 2005High Wind, Perkins$300,000
   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. Snow developed over the area Sunday morning with snow accumulations of a trace to 3 inches before tapering off Monday. Northwest winds increased significantly Sunday night and continued through Monday afternoon. Damage due to the wind included trees falling on homes and power lines, numerous power lines and poles down, and highway signs destroyed. In Perkins County, the rural electric association reported 150 poles down along with 10 "H" type…

9. Jun 13, 2007Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall occurred on already saturated ground causing additional flash flooding. Roads were washed out in the Kitty Heights area. The railroad tracks west of Grant were under water. Also, the county fairgrounds in Grant were under 2-4 feet of water.

10. Aug 10, 1999Flash Flood$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A thunderstorm producing up to 10 inches of rain caused widespread flooding in Perkins and Keith Counties. In Perkins County, the water washed out an aged bridge 9 miles north of Madrid and a culvert 3 miles southeast of Madrid. Flooding was also reported along the Keith-Perkins County line north of Madrid and Elsie.

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 Aug 2, 2008

All-time low

−27°FFeb 15, 2021

Warmest night

75°F2 times, most recently Jun 19, 2022

Coldest day

−5°F2 times, most recently Dec 22, 2022

Wettest day

5.06 inApr 19, 1971

Snowiest day

9.5 inJan 14, 1960

Hottest year

2012mean 54.2°F

Coldest year

1960mean 48.4°F

Wettest year

196527.37 in

Driest year

20028.77 in

Snowiest season

56.1 in1959-60

Station Imperial Municipal Airport (USW00024091), 3,269 ft elevation, 23.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1951 to October 25, 2026; 87.6% 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 USW00024091.
• 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.