Webster County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (1).

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. Sep 21, 2023Hail$15.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to the size of baseballs fell across Red Cloud for approximately 25 minutes. There were numerous reports of car damage, and there was likely roof and siding damage as well. Trees in the area also suffered damage from the hail.

2. Jun 14, 2014Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A line of thunderstorms with damaging wind gusts up to 80 MPH moved across the county. Numerous power poles were downed in the Inavale, Red Cloud and Guide Rock areas. Power outages were also reported. Several trees, including ones large in diameter, were damage or uprooted. In Guide Rock, a garage was blown off its foundation partially onto a roadway.

3. Dec 29, 2006Ice Storm, Webster$2.0 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…

4. Jul 9, 2014Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail ranging in size from quarters to golf balls was reported.

5. Jul 9, 2014Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts were estimated to be between 60 and 70 MPH. Irrigation pivots were reported downed just west of Blue Hill and bean fields were damaged due to the combination of the wind and hail of unknown size.

6. Jun 10, 2004Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado cut across Webster County shortly after sunset. The tornado caused damage at about half-dozen locations during its journey.

7. May 29, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorms roared across south-central Nebraska just after midnight CDT downing power lines, damaging buildings and over turning irrigation center pivots. The storms slipped southeast through Bertrand at 12:45 am CDT knocking power out to a portion of the town. As the thunderstorms moved southeast, they intensified and eventually produced 60 to 80 mph winds in a 20 mile wide swath from 20 miles southwest of Hastings to 30 miles southeast of York.The damage began near Bladen as 20 pivots were upset in northern Webster county. The most extensive damage was reported from southern Clay and northern Thayer counties. In Glenvil, large trees were uprooted and grain bins blown…

8. May 19, 2012Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Golf ball size hail fell for nearly 20 minutes, causing severe crop damage and building damage in the area.

9. Dec 15, 2021Tornado$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado touched down just inside Franklin County south of Campbell, moved through northwestern Webster County and into southern Adams County. As this tornado tracked northeast, some power poles, and irrigation pivot, and an outbuilding were damaged east of Campbell. Once it crossed into Adams County, a few more pivots were tipped and a home sustained minor damage. The maximum wind gust was estimated to be 85 MPH.

10. Jul 4, 2000Flood, Webster$300,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy rains of 3 to 5 inches caused flash flooding to occur in the McCool Junction and Waco areas of York county. Other thunderstorms that trained across the upper reaches of the Little Blue River caused flash flooding in Phelps and Franklin counties during the late evening hours of the 3rd. The resulting runoff caused flooding to occur along the Little Blue River. Numerous roadways were flooded. Damage was done to several road bridges and a couple of railway bridges.

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

117°FJul 13, 1934

All-time low

−36°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

89°FJul 25, 1936

Coldest day

−9°F2 times, most recently Feb 16, 2021

Wettest day

6.93 inSep 17, 1919

Snowiest day

14.0 in2 times, most recently Oct 26, 1997

Hottest year

1934mean 56.7°F

Coldest year

1993mean 47.5°F

Wettest year

197340.42 in

Driest year

193411.94 in

Snowiest season

60.5 in1959-60

Station Red Cloud (USC00257070), 1,732 ft elevation, 7.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1901 to September 30, 2026; 97.3% 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 USC00257070.
• 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.