Aitkin County, Minnesota

What hazards hit Aitkin County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 182 since 1972. 63% of its severe thunderstorm wind events since 1972 fell in June and July. The rank column places the county among Minnesota's counties by days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land over each hazard's complete period.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (county and forecast-zone records attributed to the county; a zone record shows its own totals on each county it covers). Days: dates with at least one record of the hazard in the county. Ranks: days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer), since 1950 for tornadoes, 1955 for hail and thunderstorm wind, 1996 for the rest.

How many tornadoes has Aitkin County had?

NOAA records 22 tornadoes in Aitkin County from 1952 to 2024, the strongest rated F4, with 1 death and 3 injuries recorded in the county. A tornado that crossed a county line is counted in each county it touched, with the length of its path inside the county.

Counted as whole tornadoes rather than county records, the Storm Prediction Center's database holds 22 tornadoes whose track touched Aitkin County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 22, the same count); along their whole tracks they killed 13 people, 1 of them in Aitkin County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Minnesota.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, tornado records by county (path length in the county, maximum width); ratings as published: F scale before February 1, 2007, EF scale after. Whole-track figures: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database (1950-2025). SPC severe weather database.

When was the last damaging storm in Aitkin County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the August 8, 2025 lightning ($10,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database; every record of 2025-2026 is listed, earlier ones when they caused deaths, injuries or $250,000 of damage (2025 dollars), and every tornado.

The deadliest and costliest records

A damage figure marked "step" is a record from before 1993: NOAA then filed damage by category, and the figure is the category as entered, in the dollars of that year, not an estimate of the loss.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths and injuries direct and indirect; damage is property plus crops as estimated by the National Weather Service, converted to 2025 dollars.

Is it getting more frequent?

Records per decade for Aitkin County's most frequent hazards. Counts rose everywhere after 1996, when NOAA began recording every event type, so compare decades within a hazard's complete period only (the shaded cells come before it).

Drought in the 2020-26: 43 records against 13 in the decade before, 43 of them forecast-zone records. Cells marked z rose mostly through zone records. The local National Weather Service office files these once per forecast zone, so a change in how it draws its zones or splits a storm into records moves this count as much as the weather does; read it beside the Aitkin County days with a record above.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records per calendar decade; zone records from the CZ_TYPE field (Z).

What time of year?

63% of its severe thunderstorm wind events since 1972 fell in June and July. The two busiest months are in violet.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began.

Federal disaster declarations for Aitkin County

FEMA's register lists 21 declarations that include Aitkin County: 18 major disasters, 3 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for flood (11) and severe storm (6).

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), declarations through October 2, 2026; one declaration is counted once however many areas it names. OpenFEMA dataset page.

How many floods has Aitkin County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 32 flood or flash flood records for Aitkin County from 1997 to 2020, on 22 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Aitkin County ranks 1329th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $755,000 on 95 claims filed in Aitkin County; the most in one year was 56 in 2012. Claims count insured losses only: uninsured flood damage is not in this file.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims, as of September 8, 2026; claims by year of loss, payments in the dollars of the year paid. OpenFEMA dataset page.

FEMA's modeled risk for Aitkin County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Aitkin County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $15.5 million. These are FEMA's model estimates of future loss from 18 hazards, not a count of what happened; they can differ from the record above.

Source: FEMA National Risk Index, county table, December 2025 release. FEMA's National Risk Index map.

Counties that share a border with Aitkin County

1. St. Louis County 2,311
2. Itasca County 975
3. Cass County 913
4. Crow Wing County 789
5. Aitkin County 687
6. Carlton County 570
7. Pine County 534
8. Mille Lacs County 400
9. Kanabec County 314

Source: U.S. Census Bureau county adjacency file; NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1950. The Census Bureau's adjacency file.

Next

• Tornadoes in MinnesotaEvery Minnesota tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in MinnesotaThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Minnesota recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Aitkin CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Aitkin County's FEMA declarations (CSV)21 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis