Niobrara, NE Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes
Hot Rankings
The chance of earthquake damage in Niobrara is about the same as Nebraska average and is much lower than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in Niobrara is lower than Nebraska average and is higher than the national average.
Earthquake Index, #69
| Niobrara, NE | 0.05 |
| Nebraska | 0.04 |
| U.S. | 1.81 |
The earthquake index value is calculated based on historical earthquake events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the earthquake level in a region. A higher earthquake index value means a higher chance of an earthquake.
Volcano Index, #1
| Niobrara, NE | 0.0000 |
| Nebraska | 0.0000 |
| U.S. | 0.0023 |
The volcano index value is calculated based on the currently known volcanoes using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the possibility of a region being affected by a possible volcano eruption. A higher volcano index value means a higher chance of being affected.
Tornado Index, #442
| Niobrara, NE | 156.37 |
| Nebraska | 205.07 |
| U.S. | 136.45 |
The tornado index value is calculated based on historical tornado events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the tornado level in a region. A higher tornado index value means a higher chance of tornado events.
Other Weather Extremes Events
A total of 2,781 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of Niobrara, NE were recorded from 1950 to 2010. The following is a break down of these events:
| Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count |
| Avalanche: | 0 | Blizzard: | 37 | Cold: | 40 | Dense Fog: | 0 | Drought: | 7 |
| Dust Storm: | 0 | Flood: | 153 | Hail: | 1,504 | Heat: | 6 | Heavy Snow: | 38 |
| High Surf: | 0 | Hurricane: | 0 | Ice Storm: | 4 | Landslide: | 0 | Strong Wind: | 66 |
| Thunderstorm Winds: | 778 | Tropical Storm: | 0 | Wildfire: | 2 | Winter Storm: | 73 | Winter Weather: | 27 |
| Other: | 46 | ||||||||
Volcanos Nearby
No volcano is found in or near Niobrara, NE.
Historical Earthquake Events
A total of 2 historical earthquake events that had recorded magnitudes of 3.5 or above found in or near Niobrara, NE.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Depth (km) | Latitude | Longitude |
| 20.2 | 1982-11-15 | 4.3 | 5 | 43.01 | -97.85 |
| 48.4 | 1975-05-13 | 4.3 | N/A | 42.12 | -98.45 |
Historical Tornado Events
A total of 48 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near Niobrara, NE.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Start Lat/Log | End Lat/Log | Length | Width | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage | Crop Damage | Affected County |
| 11.0 | 1985-04-20 | 2 | 42°35'N / 98°04'W | 42°53'N / 97°34'W | 35.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Knox |
| 12.6 | 1950-06-13 | 2 | 42°36'N / 97°53'W | 42°39'N / 97°49'W | 4.10 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 101 | 25K | 0 | Knox |
| 15.4 | 1962-06-05 | 3 | 42°52'N / 97°54'W | 42°59'N / 97°47'W | 9.50 Miles | 1760 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Bon Homme |
| 15.6 | 1954-06-18 | 3 | 42°51'N / 97°53'W | 42°59'N / 97°46'W | 10.60 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Bon Homme |
| 19.4 | 2007-05-05 | 2 | 42°57'N / 97°49'W | 43°01'N / 97°49'W | 4.00 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 50K | 0K | Bon Homme |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A tornado blew over a shed, damaged several outbuildings, and flipped over a hog shed. A house was damaged when hit by debris from the hog shed. The tornado also shifted a two car garage off its foundation, damaged the adjoining house, blew a chimney off the roof, twisted a windmill, and caused tree damage. EPISODE NARRATIVE: Numerous thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening of May 5th produced large hail, damaging winds, several tornadoes, and flash flooding in southeast South Dakota. Significant damage was reported from several locations. | |||||||||||
| 21.3 | 1956-05-10 | 2 | 42°59'N / 97°52'W | 43°04'N / 97°49'W | 5.60 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 2 | 0K | 0 | Bon Homme |
| 21.8 | 1975-06-21 | 2 | 42°27'N / 97°54'W | 0.50 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Knox | |
| 22.9 | 1973-06-24 | 2 | 43°01'N / 98°18'W | 1 | 1 | 25K | 0 | Charles Mix | |||
| 23.4 | 1954-07-29 | 2 | 43°03'N / 98°20'W | 42°59'N / 98°18'W | 4.10 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Charles Mix |
| 24.1 | 1985-04-20 | 2 | 42°56'N / 97°40'W | 42°59'N / 97°38'W | 3.50 Miles | 1000 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Bon Homme |
| 24.4 | 2007-05-05 | 2 | 43°04'N / 97°54'W | 43°07'N / 97°55'W | 4.00 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 100K | 0K | Bon Homme |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A tornado damaged two farms, including a house shifted off its foundation, and several outbuildings destroyed. The tornado also caused widespread tree damage, including some trees debarked and uprooted. The tornado also blew off the tops of grain bins and blew down power lines. EPISODE NARRATIVE: Numerous thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening of May 5th produced large hail, damaging winds, several tornadoes, and flash flooding in southeast South Dakota. Significant damage was reported from several locations. | |||||||||||
| 24.4 | 1959-05-30 | 2 | 42°43'N / 97°37'W | 42°49'N / 97°29'W | 9.30 Miles | 33 Yards | 1 | 2 | 250K | 0 | Knox |
| 24.9 | 2007-05-05 | 2 | 42°45'N / 97°30'W | 42°48'N / 97°35'W | 6.00 Miles | 500 Yards | 0 | 3 | 1.0M | 0K | Knox |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A grain bin was damaged as this tornado initially touched down along with two or three large power line support structures northwest of Crofton. The tornado tracked toward Lewis and Clark Lake taking the roof off of a house and destroying a garage. The tornado also caused other roof damage as it continued tracking toward Lewis and Clark Lake. When it reached the lake it caused significant damage to a recreation area and marina. The tornado also caused 3 minor injuries when it apparently lifted a large SUV off the ground and carried it a hundred feet or so before setting it down with the windows blown in. Numerous campers and boats were flipped or missing at the recreation area, along with vehicle damage. About $1 million in damage was estimated to have occurred at the recreation area. Many trees were also toppled. This tornado and others in Knox county downed 30 to 40 power poles. A Storage building in the area was also severely damaged. This tornado started as one tornado to the southwest was lifting and a weaker one to the northeast was forming. There were several reports by the public of multiple tornadoes in the area, either from the three tornadoes mentioned here, or from multiple vortexes within this tornado. The tornado crossed Lewis and Clark Lake and did f1 damage in South Dakota. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A warm front that was along the Kansas and Nebraska border early Saturday morning May 5th, lifted north during the day bringing widespread heavy rain and severe weather, including tornadoes, to eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa. The warm front was part of a large upper level system that brought several days of severe weather and flooding to the region. Heavy rain and flooding was reported with some of the activity Saturday morning, along with isolated severe thunderstorm reports. However, during the afternoon the severe weather became more widespread over northeast Nebraska where supercells spawned several tornadoes. At this time, thunderstorms, some severe with heavy rain, produced flash flooding over parts of southeast Nebraska. By evening the severe weather, including supercell producing tornadoes, shifted into southwest Iowa, although isolated severe thunderstorms persisted over parts of eastern Nebraska until after midnight cdt. | |||||||||||
| 27.4 | 1962-05-29 | 4 | 42°41'N / 98°27'W | 43°00'N / 98°40'W | 24.20 Miles | 300 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Holt |
| 29.8 | 1985-04-20 | 2 | 42°54'N / 97°36'W | 43°01'N / 97°26'W | 10.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Yankton |
| 31.4 | 1992-05-15 | 2 | 42°46'N / 98°39'W | 1.00 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Holt | |
| 32.1 | 1972-09-20 | 2 | 42°59'N / 97°29'W | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Yankton | |||
| 32.6 | 2007-05-05 | 2 | 43°06'N / 97°36'W | 43°06'N / 97°36'W | 1.00 Mile | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 100K | 0K | Yankton |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A tornado destroyed 3 concrete silos, destroyed numerous outbuildings, heavily damaged a large shed, damaged a barn, caused tree damage, and caused other damage on a farm. EPISODE NARRATIVE: Numerous thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening of May 5th produced large hail, damaging winds, several tornadoes, and flash flooding in southeast South Dakota. Significant damage was reported from several locations. | |||||||||||
| 32.8 | 1962-05-21 | 3 | 43°00'N / 98°35'W | 43°00'N / 98°35'W | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Charles Mix | ||
| 33.1 | 1975-05-06 | 3 | 42°10'N / 97°28'W | 42°49'N / 97°30'W | 44.80 Miles | 90 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Pierce |
| 33.6 | 1965-05-24 | 2 | 42°54'N / 97°24'W | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Yankton | |||
| 33.8 | 1962-05-21 | 3 | 42°52'N / 98°43'W | 43°00'N / 98°35'W | 11.00 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Boyd |
| 34.0 | 1954-06-18 | 3 | 43°02'N / 97°30'W | 43°01'N / 97°27'W | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Yankton | ||
| 34.3 | 1960-06-15 | 2 | 42°17'N / 97°55'W | 42°17'N / 97°41'W | 11.50 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Antelope |
| 34.6 | 2003-06-09 | 3 | 42°32'N / 98°48'W | 42°26'N / 98°25'W | 23.00 Miles | 880 Yards | 0 | 0 | 5.7M | 1.3M | Holt |
| Brief Description: As the tornado initially touched down, it encountered a farmstead and destroyed three barns, a detached garage, and 3 large metal grain binds, and also ripped off a portion of the house roof, broke windows, and uprooted and snapped off 90% of the trees around the farmstead. As the tornado moved southeast, it hit two more farmsteads where it completely overturned a modular home, destroyed barns, snapped off nearly all trees. Further along the path to the southeast, the tornado threw farm machinery one quarter mile into a grove of trees. Then it hit another farm where it ripped off an attached garage on a house, broke most windows in the house, moved an old home off its foundation 2 feet, and killed one cow and extensively injured 14 other cows. A barn was also destroyed at a dairy farm across the road to the southeast. The tornado then moved southeast mainly across farmland destroying fields of corn and soybeans, overturning 200 hundred center pivot irrigation systems, snapping off 1,000 power poles, and breaking off numerous large trees. As the tornado passed 3 miles north of O'Neill, it destroyed storage sheds at numerous homesteads. Baseball size hail associated with the storm punctured holes in vinyl siding and broke windows and skylights in homes. Finally just before dissipating 2 miles north of Page, the tornado lifted the front porch on a home which then took off the roof and one exterior wall of the home. | |||||||||||
| 34.7 | 1972-08-05 | 2 | 43°01'N / 97°27'W | 0.30 Mile | 400 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Yankton | |
| 35.4 | 1960-06-14 | 2 | 42°18'N / 97°42'W | 1.00 Mile | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Pierce | |
| 35.8 | 1965-06-28 | 2 | 43°13'N / 97°48'W | 43°15'N / 97°45'W | 2.30 Miles | 73 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Hutchinson |
| 36.3 | 1965-06-26 | 3 | 42°58'N / 97°49'W | 43°25'N / 97°28'W | 35.60 Miles | 163 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Bon Homme |
| 36.8 | 1980-10-16 | 2 | 42°13'N / 98°01'W | 0.30 Mile | 60 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Antelope | |
| 37.0 | 1959-05-30 | 2 | 42°49'N / 97°29'W | 42°50'N / 97°08'W | 17.50 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Cedar |
| 38.3 | 1973-06-18 | 2 | 42°21'N / 97°46'W | 42°12'N / 97°31'W | 16.20 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Pierce |
| 39.0 | 1965-05-08 | 4 | 41°55'N / 98°05'W | 42°30'N / 97°33'W | 48.60 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25.0M | 0 | Antelope |
| 39.0 | 1959-05-30 | 3 | 42°53'N / 97°17'W | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Yankton | |||
| 39.5 | 1962-05-21 | 3 | 42°06'N / 97°47'W | 42°26'N / 97°27'W | 28.50 Miles | 500 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Pierce |
| 39.8 | 1962-05-21 | 3 | 42°26'N / 97°27'W | 42°46'N / 97°06'W | 29.00 Miles | 500 Yards | 0 | 1 | 2.5M | 0 | Cedar |
| 40.0 | 1996-06-19 | 2 | 42°31'N / 98°46'W | 42°29'N / 98°43'W | 3.00 Miles | 350 Yards | 0 | 0 | 1.0M | 0 | Holt |
| Brief Description: TORNADO ON THE GROUND FOR 3 MILES. THREE FARMSTEADS HEAVILY DAMAGED. THREE HEAD OF LIVESTOCK KILLED. HEAVY DAMAGE TO LARGE POWER TRANSMISSION LINE. CENTER PIVOT IRRIGAION SYSTEM DESTROYED. | |||||||||||
| 42.4 | 1984-06-05 | 2 | 43°20'N / 97°46'W | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Hutchinson | |||
| 42.6 | 1964-04-26 | 2 | 41°57'N / 98°10'W | 42°20'N / 98°10'W | 26.40 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Antelope |
| 43.3 | 1975-05-06 | 4 | 42°12'N / 97°34'W | 42°16'N / 97°32'W | 4.10 Miles | 300 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Pierce |
| 45.6 | 2003-06-23 | 4 | 42°30'N / 97°19'W | 42°32'N / 97°04'W | 13.00 Miles | 1200 Yards | 1 | 0 | 3.7M | 0 | Cedar |
| Brief Description: An eventual f4 tornado began its destructive path around 6 miles southwest of Coleridge. The tornado moved northeast and crossed the northern sections of the city uprooting trees, downing power lines and destroying a couple of grain bins. A construction business in a garage was also destroyed. The tornado then continued northeast of town hitting a large hog farm. At this farm a 70-year-old man was killed while in a storage shed when a tractor that was flipped by the winds crushed him. Many livestock were also killed by debris or flung through the air by the deadly winds. In one case cattle were carried over a mile then left dead in a pile. The tornado then widened to around 3/4 of a mile, reaching its maximum intensity. Numerous vehicles were tossed at this location and a complete farmstead was flattened. Trees were also stripped and debarked. The tornado remained around 3/4 of a mile wide for a few more miles before turning slightly to the southeast and diminishing, but not before hitting 2 more farmsteads and moving one house off of its foundation. In total, 11 homes received substantial damage and between 100 and 200 utility poles were downed. M70EQ | |||||||||||
| 45.7 | 1992-05-15 | 2 | 42°44'N / 98°56'W | 0.50 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Holt | |
| 46.5 | 1965-06-07 | 2 | 43°08'N / 97°20'W | 43°10'N / 97°15'W | 3.60 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Turner |
| 46.9 | 1953-06-07 | 2 | 42°08'N / 97°36'W | 42°15'N / 97°25'W | 12.10 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 2 | 25K | 0 | Pierce |
| 48.0 | 1962-05-21 | 3 | 42°03'N / 97°50'W | 42°06'N / 97°47'W | 3.60 Miles | 500 Yards | 0 | 6 | 2.5M | 0 | Madison |
| 48.0 | 1969-06-25 | 2 | 43°24'N / 98°14'W | 43°26'N / 98°22'W | 6.60 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 2 | 25K | 0 | Douglas |
| 48.2 | 1954-06-18 | 3 | 43°03'N / 97°19'W | 43°08'N / 97°05'W | 12.80 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Yankton |
| 48.4 | 1953-06-07 | 2 | 42°15'N / 97°25'W | 42°25'N / 97°07'W | 18.90 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 4 | 25K | 0 | Cedar |
* The information on this page is based on the global volcano database, the U.S. earthquake database of 1638-1985, and the U.S. Tornado and Weather Extremes database of 1950-2010.