Miner County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Nov 27, 2005Ice Storm, Miner$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy freezing rain coated roads, trees, power lines, and most other objects with ice up to 3 inches thick. Travel quickly became difficult to impossible. Many roads including Interstate Highways 90 and 29 were closed for extended periods of time. Most schools and businesses were forced to close. Electric power was lost over widespread areas when many miles of power lines and thousands of poles were knocked down, with more damaged. Strong winds which accompanied the ice storm and the immediately following blizzard combined with the weight of the ice to bring down many of the power lines and poles. Tens of thousands of households and businesses lost power, with the time power was…

2. Sep 12, 2019Flood$328,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding resulted in crop losses and damage to public infrastructure including county and township roads and culverts. Crop loss estimates provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.

3. Mar 13, 2019Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding resulted in damage to public infrastructure including county and township roads and culverts.

4. Jan 17, 1996Blizzard, Miner$110,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A blizzard spread across the area from the west. Snow accumulating 3 to 12 inches was accompanied by 50 to 60 mph winds and very cold temperatures. The blizzard was accompanied by wind chill readings around 70 below zero. Roads and many businesses, schools, and other activities were shut down. The total destruction of at least 3 homes by fire was due in part to the inability of firefighters to travel across the blocked roads. Several accidents occurred and other vehicles slid into ditches or became stranded. One man died of exposure near Bridgewater after his vehicle was stranded. Power outages occurred, one due to a transformer exploding in Gregory County. Some pipes froze and…

5. Nov 28, 2005Blizzard, Miner$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Snowfall varying from 4 to 15 inches combined with winds gusting over 50 mph to produce blizzard conditions. The heaviest snowfalls were mostly near and west of the James River, in the area where a severe ice storm immediately preceded the blizzard. Several reports of 6 to 8 foot drifts were received from this area. Visibilities were lowered frequently to zero and travel was made impossible in many areas. Roads, including Interstate Highways 90 and 29 were closed for extended periods of time. Most schools and businesses that were not already closed because of the ice storm were forced to close. The winds during the blizzard continued to bring down power lines and poles, most of…

6. Apr 1, 2011Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding of lakes and lowlands, including some farmland, continued in the county through April. While flooding of small streams abated, lake and lowland flooding continued with very slow improvement. Several roads remained flooded. High water and groundwater levels resulting from record precipitation in the previous year was the main reason that the flooding either grew worse or improved so slowly.

7. Jun 20, 2024Flood$90,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall amounts across Miner County from June 20-22 ranged from 4 to 9 inches. Overland flooding ensued with gravel wash reported on roads across three townships. Preliminary damage assessments estimate loss to public infrastructure across the county to be around 90 thousand dollars.

8. Jun 9, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds blew down trees, limbs, and branches. One large limb fell onto a power line, causing a fire which destroyed a building housing a post office, food pantry, and apartment.

9. Jun 26, 2010Hail$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail to golf ball size caused heavy damage to vehicles, roofs, siding, and windows. The hail was accompanied by 40 mph winds. The hail caused local crop damage, but the amount of crop damage was not known.

10. May 18, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorm winds overturned cars, uprooted trees, blew down power lines, tore the roof off an abandoned hog barn, and caused minor building damage.

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

113°F2 times, most recently Aug 4, 1934

All-time low

−46°FJan 13, 1916

Warmest night

92°FJul 20, 1934

Coldest day

−20°FDec 21, 1989

Wettest day

5.78 inSep 12, 2019

Snowiest day

14.0 inMar 31, 1998

Hottest year

1931mean 51.2°F

Coldest year

1993mean 39.7°F

Wettest year

201943.23 in

Driest year

195812.35 in

Snowiest season

73.0 in1935-36

Station Howard (USC00394037), 1,566 ft elevation, 1.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 22, 2026; 85.2% 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 USC00394037.
• 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.