Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota severe weather history spans 288 recorded events between 1959 and 2025. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 50.0% of all recorded events. It ranks #1,849 nationally and #60 in Minnesota.
288
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
1
Direct injuries
$3.9M
Property damage
The record
What the Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota severe weather history averages 4.4 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 119 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 21 events fall before 1990 and 267 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is thunderstorm wind, with $2.0M in reported property damage. In total, 8 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Lac qui Parle County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 144 | 0 | $2K | 3.5 | 1959–2025 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 109 | 0 | $2.0M | 87 | 1981–2025 |
| Tornado | 16 | 0 | $163K | F1 | 1967–2025 |
| Funnel Cloud | 6 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2005–2025 |
| Flood | 6 | 0 | $1.8M | 0 | 2007–2023 |
| Flash Flood | 3 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2002–2025 |
| Lightning | 2 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1997–1997 |
| Heavy Rain | 2 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2006–2016 |
Decade by decade
Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
18 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 17 touched down inside it and 1 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951-07-20 | EF2 | 0 | 4 | 1.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 2025-06-28 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 1.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 2022-05-12 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.9 mi | Touched down here |
| 2022-05-12 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 1.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 2002-06-25 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 5.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 1981-06-21 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1970-07-01 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 mi | Touched down here |
| 1967-06-14 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 10.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1965-05-05 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 34.7 mi | Crossed in |
| 2023-05-06 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 2.3 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Lac qui Parle County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 9, 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | HAYDENVILLE | 0 | 1 | $1.0M |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Several county roads became inundated due to flood waters along the Minnesota River.||Monetary costs were based on FEMA, State, and Local assistance which includes the following categories; debris removal, emergency protective measures, road systems and bridges, water control facilities, and utilities.
Spring snow melt with rapid warming brought ice jams and flooding to portions of West Central Minnesota. On the 14th, Lac Qui Parle county officials reported flooded township roads west of the intersection of roads 212 and 75 (along the West Fork of the Lac Qui Parle River). The ice jam responsible for the flooding was west of the city of Dawson. The Dawson Sentinel reported plenty of damage to the Helgeson Bridge southeast of Dawson. Three quarters of the bridge was toppled.
Snow melt and a slow thaw led to numerous county and township roads to close; in total, roughly 71 sections of roadway had been closed, accumulating an estimated 81 miles. Many of these sections were washed out and damaged and required repairs. The City of Dawson experienced flooding of their football and baseball fields, as well as a portion of city park and Ash Street.||A driver drove around the barricade blocking County Road 55 about a half-mile north of Hwy. 212 in Garfield Township on Thursday, March 28th. Deputies from the Lac qui Parle County Sheriff's Office retrieved a female driver and her male passenger after their vehicle was swept off a country road and pushed into a farm field. No significant injuries were reported.||Preliminary damage estimates indicated nearly $300,000 was caused by flood waters.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Very Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
6,682
Population (ACS)
$158K
Median home value
21
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 19, 2023 | Flood | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR |
| Aug 9, 2022 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Jul 8, 2022 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Apr 7, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Jun 12, 2019 | Flood | SEVERE WINTER STORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota?
288 events are on record between 1959 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths and $3.9M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Lac qui Parle County?
Hail, with 144 recorded events — 50.0% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Lac qui Parle County?
18 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 17 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Lac qui Parle County?
21 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Lac qui Parle County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Lac qui Parle County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Lac qui Parle County as very low risk, placing it in the 19 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Koochiching County 269
- Lake County 161
- Kittson County 390
- Lake of the Woods County 220
- Kandiyohi County 472
- Le Sueur County 266
Cite this page
“Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/minnesota/lac-qui-parle-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.