Pierce County, Nebraska severe weather history spans 279 recorded events between 1953 and 2025. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 49.5% of all recorded events. It ranks #1,902 nationally and #75 in Nebraska.
279
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
2
Direct injuries
$4.7M
Property damage
The record
What the Pierce County, Nebraska severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Pierce County, Nebraska severe weather history averages 3.9 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 84 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 62 events fall before 1990 and 217 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is tornado, with $3.5M in reported property damage. In total, 7 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Pierce County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 138 | 0 | $10K | 3.25 | 1956–2025 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 88 | 0 | $637K | 87 | 1957–2025 |
| Tornado | 28 | 0 | $3.5M | F4 | 1953–2017 |
| Flood | 11 | 0 | $20K | 0 | 2007–2021 |
| Flash Flood | 7 | 0 | $496K | 0 | 2004–2019 |
| Funnel Cloud | 5 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1996–2024 |
| Lightning | 2 | 0 | $43K | 0 | 1997–1997 |
Decade by decade
Pierce County, Nebraska severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
37 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 30 touched down inside it and 7 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965-05-08 | EF4 | 4 | 53 | 125.7 mi | Crossed in |
| 1975-05-06 | EF4 | 0 | 0 | 4.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1975-05-06 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 44.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 1963-05-12 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 12.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 1962-05-21 | EF3 | 0 | 7 | 71.7 mi | Crossed in |
| 1973-06-18 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 16.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 1960-06-14 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1960-06-15 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 11.5 mi | Crossed in |
| 1953-06-07 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 16.6 mi | Crossed in |
| 1953-06-07 | EF2 | 0 | 6 | 31.0 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Pierce County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 7, 1953 | Tornado | 0 | 2 | $25K |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Heavy rain producing thunderstorms caused flash flooding across some county roads from around Pierce to near Plainview. Besides washing the gravel off of a few county roads, some crops in low areas also sustained damage. Pierce had 4.13 inches from the storm with 4.18 inches reported several miles south of Plainview. The rain began falling during the late afternoon hours of the 15th and persisted a bit past midnight on the 16th.
A second wave of thunderstorm wind gusts hit pierce at 1125 pm cdt. Law enforcement personel estimated the wind gusts at between 80 and 100 mph. These strong winds uprooted or split quite a few trees in town which closed several roads and damaged a few buildings.
Rainfall of at least 3 to 5 inches fell over much of the upper Elkhorn River basin in the week ending 7am 6/12. This caused lowland flooding along the North Fork of the Elkhorn River near and a bit north of Pierce. Farmland and a few county roads near the river were flooded. Some flooding also occurred along creeks in the Pierce area which flooded a city park in Pierce, a parking lot of a senior manor, and a few roads, all of which prompted the sandbagging of several houses. The North Fork of the Elkhorn River near Pierce crested a little over 14 feet during the late morning of 6/13, flood stage is 12 feet. The river at Pierce was above flood stage from the early morning hours of June 12th until the early evening of 6/16.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Very Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
7,325
Population (ACS)
$196K
Median home value
17
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 27, 2022 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | 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 29, 2018 | Snowstorm | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR |
| Jul 15, 2010 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR |
Within the county
Most affected places
- Pierce 100
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Pierce County, Nebraska?
279 events are on record between 1953 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths and $4.7M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Pierce County?
Hail, with 138 recorded events — 49.5% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Pierce County?
37 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 30 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Pierce County?
17 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Pierce County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Pierce County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Pierce County as very low risk, placing it in the 14 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Pierce 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
- Phelps County 470
- Platte County 523
- Perkins County 492
- Polk County 325
- Pawnee County 208
- Red Willow County 596
Cite this page
“Pierce County, Nebraska.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/nebraska/pierce-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.