Thurston County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (6).

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 25, 2000Flash Flood$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Four to 8 inches of rain which fell from Sunday morning into the early afternoon hours caused flooding of several roads...mainly in eastern Thurston county. At least 1 road was partially washed out near Walthill, and more than 65 bridges and road culverts were damaged by the storm. The Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Thurston County Road Department estimated that the flooding caused around $400,000 worth of damage.

2. Mar 13, 2019Flood$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is for flooding along the Logan Creek. The river gage at Pender, operated by the Nebraska DNR, peaked at 28.8 feet at 8 am on March 14th. Major flood stage is 23 feet. Preliminary this peak is the highest on record. Though the town is protected by a levee, some significant flooding did occur in Pender. Water entered the Pender Community Center, as deep as 1.5 feet in some places. Highway 9 was closed as water was over the road.

3. Jun 1, 2011Flood$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding along the Missouri River gradually worsened over the area during June as record releases from Gavins Point Dam brought widespread flooding along the river. Releases from Gavins Point Dam reached around 160,000 cfs after mid June and the high flows continued through July. In Thurston county the flooding generally began during the first week of the month as the gauge at Sioux City, upstream, and Decatur, downstream, didn't surpass flood stage until around June 6th. River levels at both of those locations reached the moderate category. Flooding in Thurston county was mostly confined to agricultural lowlands, recreation areas and roads near the river, but the flooding did…

4. Aug 6, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds blew trees onto a house.

5. Jun 8, 2008Flash Flood$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain during the evening and overnight hours of June 7th and 8th caused flash flooding around the Jct of Highways 9 and 16 near Pender. The water caused debris to be washed onto the road and bridge and prompted its closure for a while. Damage was mainly reserved to debris cleanup.

6. Jul 1, 2011Flood$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding along the Missouri River continued across the area during July as record releases from Gavins Point Dam brought widespread flooding along the River. Releases from Gavins Point Dam reached around 160,000 cfs after mid June and the high flows continued through July before decreasing some. The gauge at Sioux City, upstream of the county, and Decatur, downstream, were in a moderate flooding category during the month. Flooding in Thurston county was mostly confined to agricultural lowlands, recreation areas and roads near the river, but the flooding did force the evacuation of 12 people near Macy. The flooding persisted into late August.

7. Aug 1, 2011Flood$2,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding along the Missouri River continued across the area into August as record releases from Gavins Point Dam due to heavy rain above Sioux City brought widespread flooding along the River. Releases from Gavins Point Dam reached around 160,000 cfs after mid June and the high flows continued through July before decreasing some in early August and even more by the end of the month. The gauge at Sioux City, upstream of the county, and Decatur, downstream, were in a moderate flooding category into early to mid August before falling sharply below flood stage late in the month. Flooding in Thurston county was mostly confined to agricultural lowlands, recreation areas and roads near…

8. Aug 23, 2007Flash Flood$1,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain caused flash flooding across the jct of Highways 9 and 16 near Pender.

9. Jun 15, 2014Flood$1,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain caused minor flooding along Logan Creek in the Pender area. The creek briefly crossed it's 20 foot flood stage near Pender during the afternoon of June 15th. Mainly farmland and a local road or two near the stream was impacted.

10. Jan 17, 1996High Wind, Thurston$1,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Winter storm winds gusting to 65 mph resulted in damage to glass displays, a glass door, a roof, and a portable livestock building in Norfolk. Winds gusting to 70 mph demolished an $18,000 building in Hartington and destroyed grain bins in Beemer. High winds damaged part of the Albion Elementary School addition that was under construction and did tree and shed damage in Thurston County.

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°F2 times, most recently Jul 12, 1995

All-time low

−28°F3 times, most recently Feb 16, 2021

Warmest night

81°FJun 21, 2025

Coldest day

−13°FDec 21, 1989

Wettest day

5.50 inJul 17, 1972

Snowiest day

18.4 inMar 15, 2004

Hottest year

2012mean 52.5°F

Coldest year

1996mean 45.1°F

Wettest year

201441.36 in

Driest year

197614.33 in

Snowiest season

65.9 in1961-62

Station Sioux City Airport (USW00014943), 1,092 ft elevation, 17.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1940 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 USW00014943.
• 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.