Great Falls

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 Cascade County, the county that contains Great Falls.

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 Cascade County, the county that contains Great Falls.

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 Cascade County, the county that contains Great Falls.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 19, 2003Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm moved northeast across Central Cascade County during the evening hours of the 19th. One to two inches of rain fell in 30 minutes as the storm moved through. Flash flooding did occur in the towns of Sand Coulee and Tracy. Water flooded 25 homes and left roadways filled with mud and debris.

2. May 7, 2024Blizzard, Little Belt And Highwood Mountains$114,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   MT DOT sensor at Monarch Canyon showed visibility at or below one-quarter mile for at least 7 hours (Power failed at that point). US-89 was closed from Armington Junction to White Sulphur Springs early morning May 8. The Onion Park Snotel estimated 28 inches new snow with rates of 2 inches per hour. Elsewhere, the Porphyry Peak RAWS reported sustained winds averaging 25 mph, with gusts into the 50's mph before the sensor failed at 1005 PM MDT May 7. A widespread power outage affected much of the zone through Wednesday morning. End time is estimated given lack of observations after late evening of the 7th. The Monarch Fire Department reported 48 inches storm total snow by noon…

3. Jun 3, 2005Flood, Cascade$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains fell over portions of Cascade and Chouteau counties the weekend of June 3rd through the 5th. Some areas received an estimated 6 to 12 inches of rain. Seven bridges were washed out in the Highwood area of Chouteau County which resulted in many people being stranded and over 30 property owners warned about the rising waters. Additionally, several campers were stranded at camp sites that became flooded. In Cascade County, over 200 feet of Willow Creek Road was washed out. Power poles were knocked down in both counties resulting in 9-1-1 emergency communications being out in Chouteau County.

4. May 17, 2023Flood$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   BTCM8, Belt Creek near Monarch, crested at 6.79 feet on May 17th. Water levels resulted in strong currents that claimed the lives of two men visiting from Canada. The two men went into the fast moving water to retrieve their dog. The dog made it to shore, but the two men were pulled downstream and ultimately drowned. Water levels also flooded a portion of Sluice Boxes State Park's entrance parking lot as well as fields and yards from Sluice Boxes northward to Armington. A house in Neihart was flooded near the area were O'Brien Creek enters Belt Creek.

5. Jun 19, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm produced an estimated 70 mph wind gust at Sun River. A mobile home was destroyed.

6. Jun 5, 2023Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water and debris rushed across several areas of Wilson Butte Road resulted in damage and impacts. Water flowed out of the rockier boulder terrain on the east side of the road, crossed the road with water depth being 2 to 3 feet deep at times. Water and debris entered at least two homes. One culvert was completely washed out with drainage pipes unearthed. Some wheat crops were flattened. NWS Employee that lives along the road had water enter their basement. Wilson Butte Road was impassable for approximately an hour.

7. Jan 16, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Roof torn off mobile home...trailer tipped over...power outages.

8. Jul 3, 1998Tornado$28,000
9. Mar 8, 2026High Wind, Cascade County Below 5000Ft$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous weather stations reported high wind gusts with a few also reporting high sustained winds over the span of 3 to 7 hours. The highest wind gust was measured at Montana mesonet station Sun River SE of 73 mph, and also measured an average sustained wind of 49 mph from 8:55am to 4:40 pm MST. The public and the Great Falls Airport ASOS reported reduced visibility due to blowing dust. Multiple reports of fences, trees and powerline damages across the city of Great Falls. A roof was blown off of Lincoln Elementary School in Great Falls.

10. Apr 27, 2003Strong Wind, Cascade$20,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A strong wind gust caused a camper trailer to be blown over, as the vehicle was traveling north on Interstate 15 near Dearborn.

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

106°F2 times, most recently Aug 24, 1969

All-time low

−43°FDec 29, 1968

Warmest night

76°FJul 13, 1953

Coldest day

−26°FDec 29, 1968

Wettest day

2.87 inAug 23, 2014

Snowiest day

16.5 inApr 20, 1973

Hottest year

1987mean 48.8°F

Coldest year

1996mean 40.2°F

Wettest year

197525.24 in

Driest year

19529.02 in

Snowiest season

117.5 in1988-89

Station Great Falls Airport (USW00024143), 3,667 ft elevation, 4.4 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1937 to October 27, 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.

Declarations for Cascade 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 USW00024143.
• 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.