Butte

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond this area.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. 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

1. 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.

Flood insurance figures are for Silver Bow County, the county that contains Butte.

Claims by ZIP code

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 Silver Bow County, the county that contains Butte.

River gauges

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.

The drought index is for Silver Bow County, the county that contains Butte.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

1. 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.
2. 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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Dec 29, 2004Heavy Snow, Butte / Pintlar Region$85,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy snow event across southwest Montana brought snow amounts ranging from 5 to 8 inches in the valleys to a foot over higher mountains. The city of Anaconda received a record breaking 5.9 inches for December 30th. The previous record was 5 inches set in 1977. The Montana Highway Patrol reported several severe accidents while at least 20 cars slid off roads from snow packed and icy roads. A truck driver totaled his $85,000 truck when he struck a vehicle in front of him who lost control and slowed down. His truck skidded sideways and rolled into a ditch.

2. Aug 6, 2009Hail$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive hail damage to homes, roofs, and vehicles reported on Green Acres and Continental Drive near Butte. Hail size ranged between 1.75 and two inches in diameter. In addition, wind gusts were estimated up to 70 mph, which caused some tree branches to break.

3. Jun 6, 2023Flash Flood$15,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Bert Mooney Airport recorded 1.65 inches of rain in an hour. The 911 dispatch reported manholes being blown from deep water rushing down the streets, a motorhome was pushed into a ditch, and there were multiple reports of water in people's homes.

4. Jun 16, 2005Hail$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong thunderstorms moved through Anaconda and Rocker areas, with large hail up to golf ball size reported in each location. A weather spotter reported hail damage to cars in Rocker.

5. Aug 1, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Bert Mooney airport located four miles south-southeast of Butte reported a strong west wind gust of 53 mph due to a thunderstorm that moved through. Power companies reported six utility poles on a 50K transmission line down due to the storms in southwest Montana. This caused power outages in Silver Bow county that lasted through the night. The strong winds also caused downed trees in the Butte area.

6. Aug 6, 2009Hail$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A trained spotter reported that the hail caused damage to the windows of his home as well as three vehicles. Tree branches were stripped from the large hail.

7. Jul 23, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tree fell on a house bringing damage to a power box. Another large tree fell and downed multiple power poles. The power outage affected 5000 homes.

8. May 13, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$2,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An initial thunderstorm produced a 54 MPH wind gust just west of Homestake Pass at 1254MST. This gust resulted in a power outage that lasted until 1930MST. Later, at 1629MST, a 67 MPH wind gust was measured at the Bert Mooney Airport (KBTM). This severe gust was associated with a weak thunderstorm that mixed down stronger winds from aloft, aided by evaporative cooling. The strong winds caused a tree branch to fall onto a car.

9. Mar 19, 2017Flood$1,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An ice jam on the Big Hole River at the Dickie Bridge caused water to back up and flood a land owner to the west of the bridge.

10. Aug 6, 2009Flash Flood$1,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Flooding was reported on both Elm and Silverbow Street. A few homes on Silverbow had flooding in their basements. The Butte Plaza Mall parking lot was flooded, and strong winds caused water to flow into the doorways and walkways of the mall.

1. 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.

All-time high

100°FJul 22, 1931

All-time low

−52°F2 times, most recently Dec 23, 1983

Warmest night

75°FJul 12, 1897

Coldest day

−25°FJan 21, 1962

Wettest day

3.00 in2 times, most recently Jun 9, 1913

Snowiest day

30.0 inOct 10, 1911

Hottest year

1925mean 44.9°F

Coldest year

1975mean 34.1°F

Wettest year

190920.55 in

Driest year

20216.49 in

Station Butte Bert Mooney Airport (USW00024135), 5,505 ft elevation, 9.0 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1894 to October 27, 2026; 96.5% 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.

Declarations for Silver Bow County.

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.

• 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 USW00024135.
• 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.
• 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.