Live
Active alerts for this county
Heat Advisory
Pottawattamie; Mills; Montgomery; Fremont; Page; Saunders; Douglas; Sarpy; Lancaster; Cass; Otoe; Gage; Johnson; Nemaha; Pawnee; Richardson
Pawnee County, Nebraska severe weather history spans 208 recorded events between 1956 and 2026. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 50.5% of all recorded events. It ranks #2,395 nationally and #92 in Nebraska.
208
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
1
Direct injuries
$673K
Property damage
The record
What the Pawnee County, Nebraska severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Pawnee County, Nebraska severe weather history averages 3.0 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 58 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 39 events fall before 1990 and 169 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is tornado, with $335K 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 Pawnee County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 105 | 0 | $0 | 4.5 | 1957–2026 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 63 | 0 | $197K | 80 | 1957–2025 |
| Tornado | 21 | 0 | $335K | F2 | 1956–2025 |
| Flash Flood | 8 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1996–2021 |
| Heavy Rain | 4 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2008–2019 |
| Funnel Cloud | 3 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1998–2022 |
| Flood | 3 | 0 | $101K | 0 | 2008–2010 |
| Lightning | 1 | 0 | $40K | 0 | 1996–1996 |
Decade by decade
Pawnee County, Nebraska severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
20 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 19 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975-12-13 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1968-04-16 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1967-06-07 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 67.3 mi | Crossed in |
| 2023-05-12 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 3.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 2021-12-15 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 2021-12-15 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 2015-08-08 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 2.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 1984-06-07 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 mi | Touched down here |
| 1978-09-13 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 4.9 mi | Touched down here |
| 1974-05-13 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Pawnee County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 3, 1958 | Tornado | 0 | 1 | $250K |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Rainfall of 2 to 6 inches in a few hours time caused flooding along Turkey Creek from Johnson county into Pawnee county to near Steinauer. The flooding caused some road damage and structual damage to 1 bridge in Pawnee county. The flood waters also affected agricultural lowlands.
Storm chaser videos indicate that an intermittent weak tornado tracked just south of Highway 8, beginning in an open field east of Highway 50, and continuing with an intermittent ground-level circulation and dust until ending prior to reaching 631 road. The ground level dust circulation did appear to be connected to a cloud base circulation, although without a fully visible condensation funnel. No damage was noted with this tornado.
A tornado developed in the extreme northeast part of Pawnee County from a supercell moving southeast. The tornado only occurred for a short distance in Pawnee County before moving into Richardson County. Little damage occurred in in Pawnee County but the tornado was given an EF1 rating based on how extensive the crop damage was from the tornado.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Very Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
2,530
Population (ACS)
$79K
Median home value
20
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 23, 2022 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR |
| Apr 4, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Mar 21, 2019 | Flood | SEVERE WINTER STORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Jun 25, 2015 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Jul 28, 2014 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Pawnee County, Nebraska?
208 events are on record between 1956 and 2026, causing 0 direct deaths and $673K in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Pawnee County?
Hail, with 105 recorded events — 50.5% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Pawnee County?
20 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 19 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Pawnee County?
20 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Pawnee County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Pawnee County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Pawnee County as very low risk, placing it in the 4 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Pawnee County, Nebraska 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
- Otoe County 473
- Perkins County 492
- Nuckolls County 395
- Phelps County 470
- Nemaha County 356
- Pierce County 279
Cite this page
“Pawnee County, Nebraska.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/nebraska/pawnee-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.