Rice County, Minnesota

What hazards hit Rice County most?

The most frequent records are hail reports: 179 since 1958. 55% of its hail reports since 1958 fell in May and June. 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 Rice County had?

NOAA records 40 tornadoes in Rice County from 1959 to 2025, the strongest rated F3, with 0 deaths and 3 injuries recorded in the county. That is 18th 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 43 tornadoes whose track touched Rice County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 40: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 0 people.

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 Rice County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the April 12, 2022 thunderstorm wind ($10.1 million in damage in 2025 dollars).

There was significant wind damage from a downburst that expanded in width as it traveled northeast. By the time it stopped producing damage, it was 8 wide on either side of Nerstrand. The damage began east-southeast of Morristown (near the Rice, Waseca, and Steele County line), moved across the south side of Faribault, and northeast to near the Nerstrand Big Woods State Park and then Nerstrand. The damage path became more isolated as it exited eastern Rice county. Numerous trees, power lines, roofs, and pole barns were damaged along this path. In addition, nine semi trucks were blown over on I-35 south of Faribault due to straight-line winds. Just over $1 Million dollars in damages were to public infrastructure, with remaining damages to houses, farms, and vehicles.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1007648)

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 Rice 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).

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

What time of year?

55% of its hail reports since 1958 fell in May and June. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Rice County

FEMA's register lists 14 declarations that include Rice County: 12 major disasters, 2 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for flood (5) 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 Rice County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 26 flood or flash flood records for Rice County from 1997 to 2025, on 21 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Rice County ranks 1428th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $3.6 million on 78 claims filed in Rice County; the most in one year was 14 in 2024. 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 Rice County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Rice County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $36.7 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 Rice County

1. Dakota County 844
2. Scott County 673
3. Goodhue County 583
4. Dodge County 573
5. Rice County 571
6. Waseca County 492
7. Le Sueur County 440
8. Steele County 420

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
• Hail in MinnesotaThe state's hail reports, 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 Rice CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Rice County's FEMA declarations (CSV)14 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis