Brown County, Minnesota

What hazards hit Brown County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 139 since 1956. 53% of its severe thunderstorm wind events since 1956 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 Brown County had?

NOAA records 32 tornadoes in Brown County from 1952 to 2024, the strongest rated F4, with 1 death and 23 injuries recorded in the county. That is 17th of 87 Minnesota counties by days with tornadoes per 1,000 square miles since 1950. 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 33 tornadoes whose track touched Brown County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 32: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 1 person.

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 Brown County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the June 20, 2019 hail ($35,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

A fire department spotter reported hail as large as two inches fell for around 15 minutes at Lake Hanska County Park. Nearby, Prairie Grounds Campground was also hit, with one camper totaled and another camper had hail punch holes through its plastic roof vents. A pontoon was also significantly damaged. Some crops in the area were destroyed.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 833841)

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 Brown 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).

Extreme cold in the 2010s: 15 records against 5 in the decade before, 15 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 Brown 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?

53% of its severe thunderstorm wind events since 1956 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 Brown County

FEMA's register lists 20 declarations that include Brown County: 16 major disasters, 4 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for flood (11) and severe storm (3).

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 Brown County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 19 flood or flash flood records for Brown County from 1997 to 2023, on 18 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Brown County ranks 1838th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $493,000 on 35 claims filed in Brown County; the most in one year was 13 in 1997. 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 Brown County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Brown County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $24.4 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 Brown County

1. Cottonwood County 707
2. Blue Earth County 661
3. Renville County 639
4. Redwood County 582
5. Brown County 519
6. Nicollet County 462
7. Watonwan County 401

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 Brown CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Brown County's FEMA declarations (CSV)20 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis