McAlester

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 storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 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 Pittsburg County, the county that contains McAlester.

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.

The drought index is for Pittsburg County, the county that contains McAlester.

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.

Mapped landslides

Landslides mapped in Pittsburg County.

Mapped by East OK, West AR (Regmi and Walter, 2020) (3), NASA (1).

1. 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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jan 12, 2007Winter Storm, Pittsburg$7.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An arctic cold front moved into northeastern Oklahoma during the late evening hours of the 11th and had finally passed through the southeastern portion of the state by the evening of the 12th. A strong upper level low pressure system moved into the southern Rockies and several disturbances translated across the Southern Plains bringing periods of heavy sleet and freezing rain to the region. The initial precipitation began around daybreak on the 12th and the final round occurred on the 14th. |A devastating swath of one to three inch ice amounts fell in an estimated 60 to 80 mile wide band from roughly Atoka to McAlester to Muskogee to Grove. An estimated 120,000 electric customers…

2. Apr 30, 2019Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed from a remnant mesocyclone that had a history of producing a strong tornado in Bryan and Atoka Counties. The circulation in the storm strengthened southwest of Haileyville, just east of the S Bache Road and south of Ray Road, where this tornado developed. It moved north-northeast significantly damaging several homes, destroying barns and outbuildings, and snapping or uprooting trees from Ray Road to Crawley Road. The tornado then moved through open country for a couple miles and turned northeast as it moved across S Smallwood Lane, where it snapped many trees and destroyed outbuildings. It continued to produced significant tree damage along Highway 63 as it…

3. Apr 21, 1996Tornado$750,000
4. May 19, 2025Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed approximately 3 miles southwest of the town of Pittsburg near Staples Road. The tornado intensified as it approached Pittsburg Lake. EF-1 to EF-2 damage was done to homes and trees just north of Pittsburg Lake on Indian Trail Road. One person was injured in the most badly damaged home. The tornado continued to grow as it passed just southeast of Pittsburg, where it did EF-1 and EF-2 damage to two homes. The tornado reached its maximum width of 1.7 miles near Blanco. Several homes just south and southwest of Blanco received significant roof damage, and a number of power poles were broken as well. Winds were estimated from 95 mph to 115 mph in these areas. The…

5. May 10, 2008Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong tornado severely damaged homes, snapped and uprooted numerous trees, and blew down power poles and power lines.

6. Apr 23, 2000Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F1 tornado touched down north of Hartshorne and lifted 2 miles later northeast of Hartshorne.The tornado destroyed five mobile homes and a frame house. The roofs of four other homes were damaged. The tornado also uprooted large trees and downed power lines.

7. Apr 24, 2026Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed north of Harper Valley Road and west of Poe Lane. It moved east-southeast across Harper Valley Road, where trees were uprooted and large tree limbs were snapped. The tornado then moved southeast across Kiowa, where numerous trees were uprooted or snapped, homes were damaged, outbuildings were destroyed, and power poles were snapped. It then dissipated just southeast of Kiowa. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 95 to 105 mph.

8. May 10, 2008Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado destroyed mobile homes, severely damaged permanent homes, snapped or uprooted numerous trees, destroyed barns and outbuildings, and blew down power poles and power lines. This tornado continued into Latimer County.

9. Sep 9, 2010Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office reported Highway 113 between Canadian and Indianola flooded, as well as Highway 69 in the Canadian area. Numerous other roads in the northern portion of the county were closed due to flooding. Some of those roads, along with tin horns and even a bridge, were washed out.

10. Jun 7, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Strong thunderstorm wind damaged multiple buildings in downtown McAlester.

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

116°FAug 10, 1936

All-time low

−14°FJan 10, 1977

Warmest night

87°FJun 12, 1897

Coldest day

7°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

8.06 inOct 13, 1981

Snowiest day

12.0 inFeb 18, 1921

Hottest year

1911mean 65.7°F

Coldest year

1979mean 58.6°F

Wettest year

201578.65 in

Driest year

196320.71 in

Snowiest season

21.3 in1977-78

Station Mcalester Regional Airport (USW00093950), 753 ft elevation, 3.0 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 99.2% 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 Pittsburg 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 USW00093950.
• 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.
• 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.