Saline County

Every recorded tornado

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

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NE Univ of NE Lincoln (2).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 6, 2015Flood$100 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extremely heavy rainfall of 5 to 10 inches fell along the Turkey Creek basin. This allowed for the creek to swell into moderate flood levels. Flooding along the Creek resulted in numerous rural road closures and significant low-land flooding. The combination of the Turkey Creek and Big Blue river led to nearly the entire town of De Witt to be flooded on the 7th of May resulting in a voluntary evacuation of the city. The creek at Wilber crested at 17.89 feet, or 5.39 feet above flood stage.

2. May 22, 2004Tornado$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This long tracked tornado is often referred to as the Hallam tornado. It initially touched down 3 miles west of Daykin in northern Jefferson county. The tornado was rated an f0 or f1 in Jefferson county damaging farm outbuildings, grain bins and trees. From there the tornado crossed into Saline county southwest of Western and remained an f0 or f1 until it struck the southern portion of Wilber where it strengthened to f2. Roofs were blown off of homes just southeast of Wilber.The tornado traveled from Wilber into Gage county, crossing the county line west of Clatonia where it grew to its most intense stage, f4. The tornado remained nearly at this strength as it crossed into…

3. Aug 9, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$16.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong line of severe thunderstorms swept across Saline County, Nebraska, on the morning of August 9th, 2025, producing a swath of damaging straight-line winds, particularly impactful across the northern portion of the county. The damage swath extended from the area around Friend eastward toward Dorchester and then southeast to Crete.||The most intense winds were reported in Friend, where an emergency manager documented widespread damage including trees down, power outages, roof damage to businesses, and estimated winds gusting between 80 to 90 mph. A separate measured report from an emergency manager in Friend measured a wind gust of 84 mph. Further impressive damage was…

4. May 7, 2015Flood$4.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall of 3 to 7 inches across the Big Blue River basin led to minor flooding along the river near Crete. The flooding was even more significant to the south of the river gauge near DeWitt where the entire town was inundated with flooding leading to evacuations. The Big Blue River created near Crete at 24.21 feet, or 3.21 feet above flood stage during the afternoon of the 7th.

5. Oct 25, 1997Heavy Snow, Saline$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major early season snowstorm struck the area. A heavy wet snowfall of 6 to 14 inches fell on trees, many of which were still fully or partially leafed, and caused extensive damage and/or total destruction. At least 205,000 residents in the affected area were without power just after the storm, many of the outages lasted for several days. Omaha Public Power District estimated that it was the worst outage in 50 years. Nearly 85% of the trees in the Omaha area and 25% of the trees in the Lincoln area sustained damage or were totally destroyed. Many emergency shelters in and around the Omaha and Lincoln areas were opened for use by those who suffered a hardship from the storm.

6. Apr 20, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A line of fast moving thunderstorms bowed across southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa this day bringing thunderstorm wind gusts of 60 to 80 mph. This was the first report of damage in the Omaha/Valley NWS coverage area with this line. As the storm went through Friend, more than 10 farmsteads sustained damage to outbuildings and equipment. At one farm a roof was blown off of a horse barn and machine shed, and a horse trailer was destroyed injuring 2 horses, also a fifth-wheel camper trailer was rolled. Irrigation pivots were also overturned, damaged and/or destroyed.

7. Jun 11, 2015Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This was the second significant flood of June along Turkey Creek, and the third of the year. The river crested over 4 feet above flood stage, and although briefly feel below flood stage on the 13th, additional heavy rain on the 14th allowed the creek to stay above flood stage until the 18th. Significant flooding of row crops in the flood plain was observed from Wilbur downstream to De Witt where some structures near town were again flooded.

8. Jun 13, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A thunderstorm microburst with winds estimated at over 70 mph destroyed outbuildings and caused extensive tree and vehicle damage near Friend.

9. Mar 13, 2019Flood$325,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding occurred countywide along creeks and rivers. Notably, for flooding along the Big Blue River, the river gage at Crete, operated by the USGS, peaked at 30.68 feet at 6 pm on March 15th. Major flood stage is 29 feet. Preliminarily this peak is the highest on record. One home was confirmed impacted by the flooding. Several homes in the 20th and Main Street area had water in basements due to storm drains backing up. Flooding reported on the north side of Crete with numerous roads closed due to flooding. Swan Creek was out of its banks and inundated numerous roads across southern Saline county. Property loss amounts are for the entire county.

10. Mar 30, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$125,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorm wind gusts were measured at 66 mph by emergency management in Wilber. The winds destroyed a machine shed northeast of Wilber and caused some equipment damage at the Wilber-Claytonia High School.

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°F3 times, most recently Aug 13, 1936

All-time low

−27°F4 times, most recently Feb 17, 2021

Warmest night

87°FJul 18, 1898

Coldest day

−13°FFeb 11, 1899

Wettest day

8.10 inMay 7, 2015

Snowiest day

21.0 inFeb 11, 1965

Hottest year

1934mean 56.5°F

Coldest year

1902mean 48.7°F

Wettest year

201546.19 in

Driest year

193612.38 in

Snowiest season

59.7 in1959-60

Station Crete 4ESE (USC00252020), 1,460 ft elevation, 7.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 92.2% 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 USC00252020.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.