Sanborn County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 1, 2011Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Major flooding of the James River, as well as flooding of small streams and lakes in the county, continued through April. Much farmland remained flooded, both near to and away from the James River. The James River was 5.8 feet above flood stage near Forestburg on April 1st, and fell very slowly during the month. A large area of land and numerous roads were flooded. Water was running over other roads, from flooded streams, creeks, and fields as well as from the James River. Many roads were heavily damaged. Some homes and businesses were also flooded, with the flooding of these places slowly alleviating through the month. High water and groundwater levels from record precipitation…

2. Nov 27, 2005Ice Storm, Sanborn$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…

3. Jun 24, 2003Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado, crossing into Sanborn County from Jerauld County, destroyed or severely damaged several buildings on two farms. The tornado lifted the roof off a house. Another farmhouse had windows blown out, and shingles and aluminum siding torn off. Destroyed buildings included a barn, garage, outbuildings, and other small structures. Vehicles inside the destroyed garage were damaged. The tornado also caused tree, power line, and crop damage.

4. Jul 24, 2002Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail cracked windows and damaged shingles on buildings. The hail also caused severe damage to vehicles. Crop damage was also reported, but the amount of crop damage was not known.

5. Mar 13, 2019Flood$230,000
   National Weather Service narrative

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

6. May 5, 2007Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall caused flooding of low areas including fields, homes, businesses, schools, roads, streams, and bridges. The flooding was a longer term event than flash flooding, which had also resulted. Long term major flooding of the James River also resulted, with the river peaking at 7.0 feet above flood stage near Forestburg on May 9th. Some parks and other recreation areas were affected. A few roads and bridges were washed out by the high water. The flooding delayed planting of crops in some areas.

7. Jun 4, 1999Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado caused severe damage to one home, lighter damage to several other homes, uprooted or severely damaged many large trees, and damaged vehicles, power lines, and small structures; all in Forestburg. The tornado caused little reported damage outside of Forestburg along its 10 mile path.

8. Jun 21, 2024Flood$112,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall amounts across Sanborn County from June 20-22 ranged from 3 to 7 inches. This rainfall resulted in some overland flooding and minor flooding along the James River. ||Overland flooding resulted in some damages to township and county roads. Preliminary damage assessments estimate loss to public infrastructure to be nearly 112 thousand dollars.||The majority of overland flooding subsided by June 23, bur river flooding continued through the end of the month. For additional information on river flooding, please see other flood entries for Sanborn County.

9. Nov 28, 2005Blizzard, Sanborn$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…

10. Jun 15, 2010Flood$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Persistent heavy rain caused lasting flooding of numerous fields and other lowlands, and of many roads. Several homes were flooded and many of the flooded roads were closed.

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

116°FAug 4, 1934

All-time low

−46°FFeb 9, 1899

Warmest night

80°F2 times, most recently Jul 7, 1973

Coldest day

−25°FFeb 2, 1917

Wettest day

5.62 inMay 24, 1914

Snowiest day

20.0 inJan 12, 1910

Hottest year

1934mean 50.8°F

Coldest year

1917mean 42.1°F

Wettest year

201937.38 in

Driest year

201410.08 in

Snowiest season

64.9 in1909-10

Station Forestburg 4 Nne (USC00393029), 1,277 ft elevation, 5.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to June 26, 2026; 91.6% 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 USC00393029.
• 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.