Red Willow County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Mar 6, 2018Wildfire, Red Willow$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The high winds caused a piece of metal roofing to touch an overhead power line, igniting the fire three miles northwest of McCook. The high winds pushed the fire in a southerly direction, burning 212 acres. Evacuations were ordered for the northwest part of McCook totaling 446 people. McCook elementary school students were moved to the high school. Sixteen people were treated for burns and smoke inhalation. The only severe burn victim was a transient living in a canyon. One home on the north edge of McCook was destroyed by the fire.

2. Aug 10, 1996Tornado$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   TORNADO MOVED SOUTH SOUTHWEST AT 30 MPH THROUGH THE WEST PORTION OF INDIANOLA. DAMAGE INCLUDED NUMEROUS TREES UPROOTED, A GARAGE DESTROYED, SECTIONS OF ROOFS BLOWN OFF, CAMPERS FLIPPED, AND WINDOWS, TV ANTENNAES, GRAIN BINS, GUTTERS, AND SHINGLES DAMAGED. AT TWO MILES SOUTHWEST OF INDIANOLA, TORNADO CURVED SOUTHEAST BEFORE DISSIPATING. A POWER FAILURE PREVENTED SIRENS FROM BEING ACTIVATED IN INDIANOLA.

3. May 23, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Variety of damage to a property due to damaging winds ranging from 78 to 118 mph. Five sets of double poles snapped near the ground for a half mile going north from this location in addition to some power lines down facing the east. Parts of boards from an outbuilding were impaled into a metal shed. A yard shed was also overturned.

4. Aug 9, 2021Wildfire, Red Willow$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   As storms moved across Red Willow County, lightning struck a well-built large home built after 2012 along the northwest corner of the Heritage Hills Golf Course in McCook. The house fire took approximately five hours to extinguish and was considered a total loss.

5. May 22, 2008Tornado$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado moved into Red Willow county from Decatur county, Kansas. A garage lost a roof and 2 walls approximately 3.5 miles north of Lebanon. A stock trailer was pushed 6 feet and 4 oil tanks were blown over, one being tossed 1/4 mile. About 25 utility poles were either broken or damaged in this area.

6. Jun 29, 2000Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Reports of Baseball size Hail resulted in broken windows and crop damage in and around Bartley. Crop Damage unknown.

7. May 23, 2008Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several days of heavy rainfall resulted in widespread flooding of county roads across the county.

8. Jul 21, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several slow-moving, strong thunderstorms moved from northern Kansas into extreme southern Nebraska during the evening, affecting eastern Hitchcock and Red Willow counties in Nebraska. Locally heavy rainfall of 3 to 4 inches produced rapid runoff, closing highway 6/34 for several hours. Small hail and strong, damaging winds also accompanied the storms. Two people suffered minor injuries when a tarp blew down at a local rodeo, still in progress during the storm. A ferris wheel was also damaged at a local carnival. At least six utility poles were blown down, and a roof was removed from a hangar at the McCook airport. A roof was blown off a house in the city of McCook. Numerous trees…

9. Feb 25, 1998High Wind, Red Willow$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds damaged roofs, trees, buildings, fences, awnings, windows. Winds gusted 60 to 70 mph at times. A mobile home at the North Shore Marina west of Trenton was destroyed by estimated 80 mph wind gust. Power lines were downed in isolated areas.

10. May 23, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A pivot was blown over by straight line winds.

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°FJul 20, 1932

All-time low

−30°FJan 12, 1912

Warmest night

88°FAug 1, 1935

Coldest day

−7°FDec 22, 1983

Wettest day

6.06 inMay 26, 2023

Snowiest day

19.0 inApr 17, 1944

Hottest year

1933mean 56.9°F

Coldest year

1993mean 48.3°F

Wettest year

193038.80 in

Driest year

19548.05 in

Station Mccook (USC00255310), 2,602 ft elevation, 1.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1896 to October 26, 2026; 94.4% 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 USC00255310.
• 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.