Fairbanks
Population 31,468 (2025)
12 large wildfires have burned within 25 miles of Fairbanks since 1984.
Hazard fingerprint Each spoke is this county’s percentile among U.S. counties where that hazard occurs. How it is computed
- Wildfire burn scars within 25 miles since 198412
- Major flood years since 1978, Fairbanks North Star Borough2
At a glance
Tornado paths within 25 miles, tropical cyclone tracks within 100 miles and wildfire perimeters within 25 miles of the city centre. Storm events, flood insurance claims and disaster declarations are for Fairbanks North Star Borough. Earthquakes within 50 miles, volcanoes within 100 miles and smoke days are measured from the city centre; river and tide gauges, tsunami and landslide records and the drought index are for Fairbanks North Star Borough.
Snowiest season
147.3in
Winter of 1990-91
Tornadoes
No tornado is recorded here in the Storm Prediction Center database, which begins in 1950.
Hurricanes and tropical storms
No tropical storm or hurricane has tracked within 100 miles since records began in 1851.
Wildfire and smoke
12 large fires burned within 25 miles since 1984.
Largest
June 13, 2004
Boundary Fire, 537,728 acres
17.2 miles from the city centre.
Most recent
July 28, 2023
Lost Horse Creek Fire
9,168 acres in total.
Every large fire
| Lost Horse Creek | 2023 | 17.7 | 9,168 |
| Minto Lakes | 2022 | 24.8 | 37,613 |
| Haystack | 2021 | 18.3 | 1,153 |
| Clear Creek | 2020 | 9.1 | 1,313 |
| Shovel Creek | 2019 | 18.7 | 22,111 |
| Dry Creek | 2012 | 10.2 | 49,010 |
| Wood River 1 | 2009 | 15.0 | 120,046 |
| Lost Horse Creek | 2005 | 21.9 | 2,028 |
| Willow Creek | 2004 | 18.5 | 7,499 |
| Boundary | 2004 | 17.2 | 537,728 |
| Gold Creek | 1997 | 21.5 | 1,096 |
| Eielson | 1987 | 22.8 | 9,629 |
- Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.
Smoke overhead
Smokiest year
2022: 28 days
Heavy smoke on 21 days in 2022, the most of any year.
Last 10 years
13.1 days a year
Medium or heavy smoke, 2016 to 2025.
2025
20 days
Medium or heavy smoke. 2 so far in 2026.
- A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.
NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.
Floods and flood insurance
244 federal flood insurance claims since 1978, with $2.6 million paid.
Flood insurance figures are for Fairbanks North Star Borough, the county that contains Fairbanks.
Most claims in one year
2008: 47 claims
$674,000 paid.
2nd most
1991: 28 claims
$125,000 paid.
3rd most
2003: 23 claims
$161,000 paid.
Claims by ZIP code
| 99709 | 65 | $1.0 million |
| 99714 | 61 | $582,000 |
| 99701 | 56 | $426,000 |
| 99705 | 45 | $253,000 |
| 99712 | 6 | $211,000 |
| 5 | $11,000 |
This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.
River crests
River gauges in Fairbanks North Star Borough, the county that contains Fairbanks.
Most severe crest
August 16, 1967
Tanana River at Fairbanks, 27.80 ft
3.30 feet above the 24.5 ft flood stage; major flooding by today’s categories.
Most recent moderate or major crest
May 11, 2023
Tanana River at Fairbanks, 26.11 ft
Moderate flooding.
River gauges
| Chatanika River at Elliot Hwy Bridge near Fox | 11.2 | — | 0 |
| Chatanika River at Steese Hwy Bridge near Chatanika | 13.5 | 13.86 ft | 0 |
| Chena River at Fairbanks | 12.0 | 10.78 ft | 0 |
| Chena River below Hunts Creek near Two Rivers | 17.2 | 20.17 ft | 0 |
| Chena River below Moose Creek Dam near Fairbanks | 24.5 | 27.51 ft | 0 |
| Chena River near Two Rivers | 20.0 | 23.65 ft | 0 |
| Goldstream Creek near Fairbanks | 18.0 | — | 0 |
| Little Chena River near Fairbanks | 25.0 | 31.90 ft | 0 |
| Salcha River near Salchaket | 15.0 | 21.78 ft | 0 |
| Tanana River at Fairbanks | 24.5 | 27.80 ft | 1 |
- Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.
NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.
Drought
NOAA’s county drought index covers the lower 48 states only.
Earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides
53 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles since 1900; the largest was magnitude 7.1 in 1937.
340
Magnitude 3+ within 50 miles since 1973
53
Magnitude 4+ within 50 miles since 1900
11
Magnitude 5+ within 50 miles since 1900
Largest within 50 miles
July 22, 1937
Central Alaska; 28.5 miles away, 6.2 miles deep.
Most recent, magnitude 3 or more
October 15, 2026
Magnitude 3.0
56 km ENE of Ferry, Alaska; 47.7 miles away.
Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles
- Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the city centre.
- Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.
Volcanoes within 100 miles
| Buzzard Creek | 57.7 | Low |
- U.S. volcanoes within 100 miles, from the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. The threat category is the USGS 2018 National Volcanic Threat Assessment, which ranks volcanoes by how hazardous their past eruptions were and how many people and how much infrastructure lie near them. It is not a forecast of eruption.
USGS Volcano Hazards Program, retrieved October 30, 2026.
Mapped landslides
Landslides mapped in Fairbanks North Star Borough.
10
Landslides mapped, probable or better
10
With a recorded date
1
Source inventory
Mapped by AK DOT (10).
- Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.
USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.
Severe weather and other events
26 events in the National Weather Service record for Fairbanks North Star Borough, 26 of them since 1996.
0
Hail reports, 1 inch or larger
0
Hail, 2 inches or larger
0
Damaging gusts, 58 mph+
26
Winter weather events since 1996
0
Heat events since 1996
0
Cold events since 1996
- Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.
NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.
Weather records
From Fairbanks International Airport, 7 miles from the city centre, with records from 1929.
- All-time high
- 96°FJun 15, 1969
- All-time low
- −66°FJan 14, 1934
- Warmest night
- 70°FJun 25, 2013
- Coldest day
- −56°F2 times, most recently Jan 15, 1934
- Wettest day
- 3.42 inAug 12, 1967
- Snowiest day
- 16.0 inFeb 11, 1966
- Hottest year
- 2019mean 32.6°F
- Coldest year
- 1956mean 21.3°F
- Wettest year
- 202118.74 in
- Driest year
- 19575.55 in
- Snowiest season
- 147.3 in1990-91
Median first snow
October 2
Earliest: August 25, 1995
Median last snow
April 23
Latest: June 2, 1931
0 of 96 winters had no measurable snow.
Station Fairbanks International Airport (USW00026411), 430 ft elevation, 7.0 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1929 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.
NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.
Federal disaster declarations
16 since 1953. The most recent: Nenana Ridge Complex, July 6, 2025.
Declarations for Fairbanks North Star Borough.
| Jul 6, 2025 | Fire | FM-5597-AK |
| Jun 23, 2025 | Fire | FM-5596-AK |
| Aug 3, 2023 | Fire | FM-5473-AK |
| Mar 24, 2022 | Severe Storm | DR-4648-AK |
| Apr 9, 2020 | Biological | DR-4533-AK |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | EM-3446-AK |
| Jun 28, 2019 | Fire | FM-5282-AK |
| Jan 23, 2014 | Severe Storm | DR-4162-AK |
| May 22, 2011 | Fire | FM-2909-AK |
| Sep 26, 2008 | Severe Storm | DR-1796-AK |
| Jul 1, 2004 | Fire | FM-2525-AK |
| Nov 8, 2002 | Earthquake | DR-1440-AK |
| Jun 26, 2002 | Flood | DR-1423-AK |
| Feb 17, 2000 | Severe Storm | DR-1316-AK |
| May 30, 1991 | Snowstorm | DR-909-AK |
| May 10, 1989 | Freezing | DR-826-AK |
This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.
Sources and vintage
Every number on this page comes from these public records.
- Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
- Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
- Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
- Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
- Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
- Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
- Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USW00026411.
- River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
- Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
- Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
- Volcanoes USGS Volcano Hazards Program, U.S. volcanoes and 2018 threat assessment.
- Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
- Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.
Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.