Vernal

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 Uintah County, the county that contains Vernal.

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 Uintah County, the county that contains Vernal.

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 Uintah County, the county that contains Vernal.

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 Uintah County.

Mapped by UT GRC (179), NASA (2), USGS Conterminous (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. Sep 3, 1999Tornado$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado was witnessed by many people in the Naples area, including law enforcement personnel. Several mobile homes were damaged or destroyed. Several garages and sheds were destroyed, with heavy debris strewn for hundreds of yards. Power poles and trees were downed or pulled out of the ground, with some trees thrown up to a quarter mile away. Several houses were damaged from flying debris and fallen trees. A horse trailer was slammed against a structure. Gardens and hay pastures were leveled.

2. Jun 29, 2007Wildfire, Eastern Uinta Basin$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Neola North Wildfire ignited during a period of hot and very dry conditions that resulted in explosive fire growth. Shortly after the blaze started it became deadly, rapidly sweeping across a field near the small community of Farm Creek near Whiterocks. The fire burned over and killed three people trying to protect property from the flames. The fire threatened many structures. Some structures were lost and evacuations were ordered. The fire consumed lodgepole and pinyon pine, grass, brush, and spruce trees. This fire burned into the month of July and for a continuation on this incident please see the July 2007 Storm Data publication.

3. Apr 23, 2023Wildfire, Eastern Uinta Basin$330,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Red Bridge Fire started Sunday evening south of Fort Duchesne and burned nearly 460 acres of federal land. It was fully contained by Wednesday evening. Investigators determined the fire was human caused.

4. Jul 1, 2007Wildfire, Eastern Uinta Basin$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Neola North Wildfire ignited June 29th during a period of hot and very dry conditions that resulted in explosive fire growth. Shortly after the blaze started it became deadly, rapidly sweeping across a field near the small community of Farm Creek near Whiterocks. The day the fire started it burned over and killed three people trying to protect property from the flames. The fire threatened many structures. Some structures were lost and evacuations were ordered. The fire consumed lodgepole and pinyon pine, grass, brush, and spruce trees. The fire burned approximately 43,511 acres before being contained on July 12th.

5. Aug 7, 2008Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall on the south side of the Uinta Mountains produced widespread flash flooding across a large portion of Uintah County which extended from northwest to southwest of Vernal. Highway 40 southwest of Vernal was closed for a while due to flood waters across the road. Many other roads in the impacted area were covered extensively with debris, up to four feet deep in places. A portion of the Red Cloud Loop Road was washed out, with water flowing up to 10 feet deep and 15 feet wide. Raging water came down the streets of the Flake subdivision west of Maeser. Five homes had water in their basements and some had water in their garages, although most homes in the Flake…

6. May 19, 1997Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Snowmelt water overflowed a high elevation irrigation canal which was blocked with ice. The overflow caused rapid erosion of loose soils on a forested mountainside 24 miles northwest of Vernal. This resulted in a 1000 yard long chasm up to 300 feet deep and 1000 feet wide. Over 2 million cubic yards of soil and rock were displaced. A debris dam in the chasm eventually breached, resulting in a wall of water moving down Dry Fork (creek) and into Ashley Creek. Some dirt roads were washed out and the water supply for many residents in the Vernal area became clogged with sediment. The large volume of sediment also flowed into irrigation canals near Vernal which forced an extended…

7. Aug 6, 2009Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Golfball size hail struck the Naples area. Gardens and crops were decimated. Cars were dented and windows broken. Many houses and businesses incurred damage to siding and roofs, as well as broken windows.

8. Sep 22, 2016Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The town of Vernal received 2.26 inches of rain while 2.59 inches was measured in Ballard from a persistent period of rainfall. There were numerous reports of flooding across the area. Some houses were flooded and many roads were inundated. Some streets were closed due to the flooding.

9. May 23, 2005Flood, Eastern Uinta Basin$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Warm spring temperatures resulted in rapid melting of the snowpack which caused flooding of the Whiterocks River and the Uinta River near the town of Whiterocks. After years of drought and a lack of flushing flows, debris buildup in rivers and creeks enhanced flooding. The Whiterocks River exceeded its banks in several places causing extensive lowland flooding and inundation of two mobile homes. The Uinta River also exceeded its banks in several places, resulting in flooding of lowlands, portions of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation, and two homes. Flooding also occurred along portions of deep creek, a tributary of the Uinta River.

10. Jun 1, 2011Flood$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy runoff from record snowpack kept rivers and creeks across Unitah County running at elevated to over bankfull conditions through much of June. ||The Green River exceeded flood stage on June 1st at the Jensen river gage, briefly fell below this mark between the 2nd and the 3rd, and then returned to at least a minor flood stage through the end of the month. At it's peak, the Green River at Jensen rose to a moderate flood stage level from June 9th through June 20th. During these high flows, low land flooding was reported with some damage to irrigation equipment along the river banks. Oil and gas drilling had to be halted along the river due to the impact of the high water…

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°FJun 21, 1919

All-time low

−38°F3 times, most recently Feb 7, 1989

Warmest night

79°F3 times, most recently Jul 24, 1917

Coldest day

−8°FJan 4, 1952

Wettest day

2.19 inSep 23, 2016

Snowiest day

16.0 inDec 4, 2013

Hottest year

1901mean 52.1°F

Coldest year

1952mean 41.4°F

Wettest year

194114.78 in

Driest year

19582.81 in

Snowiest season

73.5 in2022-23

Station Vernal (USC00429111), 5,345 ft elevation, 0.8 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1894 to September 30, 2026; 96.3% 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 Uintah 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 USC00429111.
• 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.