Ellensburg

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 Kittitas County, the county that contains Ellensburg.

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 Kittitas County, the county that contains Ellensburg.

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 Kittitas County, the county that contains Ellensburg.

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.

Volcanoes within 100 miles

1. 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 Kittitas County.

Mapped by WA WGS (2,501), West Coast Slow Moving (Yuankun and others, 2021) (18), NASA (4), USGS Conterminous (2).

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 7, 2009Flood$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain on deep snow caused moderate flooding with damage in Elk Meadows subdivision, Cle Elum, Roslyn, and the west portion of Ellensburg. Roads were flooded and buckled in many areas.

2. May 15, 2011Flood$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flood waters damaged or closed 22 roads along Manastash, Taneum, Cooke, Coleman, Wilson, and Caribou Creeks. Bridges and irrigation systems were also impacted.

3. Jan 15, 2011Flood$2.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   In addition to the high water on the Yakima River, numerous small streams and creeks in the west part of the county flooded with roads covered with water in housing developments along Interstate 90 west of Cle Elum and in the northern and western sections of Ellensburg. Forty homes, 64 roads and 3 commercial properties were impacted. Most of the home impacted were surrounded by water with residents cut off from the property by water covered roads. Damage to roads and public works in Kittitas County is estimated at 1.5 million dollars with residential and business damage near 650,000 dollars.

4. May 14, 2011Lightning$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning started a roof fire which damaged a few other rooms of a residence.

5. May 4, 2005Flash Flood$90,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Very heavy rain fell near Vantage along interstate 90. This resulted in water, mud, rocks, and debris running down the sides of Ryegrass Coulee and onto the shoulders of eastbound lanes on interstate 90 at several places about three miles west of Vantage. Severe erosion damaged the freeway embankment, leaving vertical drop offs of severeal feet. Three to four inches of water was also running across the road on the Vantage Highway. The estimated cost of fixing the damaged three miles stretch of interstate 90 was $90,000.

6. Sep 19, 2010Lightning$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck an 80 foot fir tree and started a house fire. The lightning split the tree and the energy was transferred into the cast iron sewer pipe and into the home catching the house on fire. A large piece of the split tree hit a car that was parked across the street.

7. May 19, 2001High Wind, Kittitas Valley$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High pressure building west of the Washington Cascades, combined with a cold front moving through the Columbia basin, brought high winds to the Kittitas Valley. The ASOS at the airport in Ellensburg measured sustained winds of over 40 mph for a couple of hours beginning around noon. At 12:15 pm, a large tent at the Ellensburg National Art Show and Auction was damaged, prompting a hasty evacuation. Shortly before 1 pm, wind gusts estimated between 50 and 60 mph toppled a tree onto some power lines along Kittitas Road just east of Ellensburg.

8. Feb 12, 2011Strong Wind, Kittitas Valley$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A fast moving cold front brought high winds. Peak wind gusts in miles per hour included Hanford Emergency Ops Center (72), Gable Mountain (71), Yakima Barricade (77), Hanford (61), Rattlesnake Springs (69), Hanford 200 West (71), Hanford Army Loop (69), Vernita Bridge (78), Richland Airport (58). Tree branches up to 1.5 inches in diameter were downed by the winds 8 miles west northwest of Connell. A wildfire in White Swan, fanned by the high winds up to 69 mph, was carried from a house to a logging mill and into the town. The wildfire burned 20 homes. A trailer was blown over west of Ellensburg.

9. Jan 29, 2007High Wind, Kittitas Valley$7,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A brief period of high winds around 4:00 PM knocked down power poles and lines from 1 mile north of Kittitas to 10 miles south of Kittitas.

10. Jan 31, 2003Flood, Kittitas Valley$3,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The Yakima River at Easton, with a flood stage of 51.1 feet, peaked at 51.7 feet at 6:00 PM. Minor flooding occurred in West Ellensburg and the Elk Meadows development west of Cle Elum. Water went under a few homes, and also a bedroom which was located in a garage. Erosion to roads, shoulders, and driveways occurred in the Elk Meadows area.

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

114°FJun 29, 2021

All-time low

−29°FJan 26, 1957

Warmest night

76°FAug 16, 2023

Coldest day

−2°FJan 31, 1950

Wettest day

1.34 inMay 9, 2005

Snowiest day

8.6 inDec 7, 1948

Hottest year

2015mean 53.3°F

Coldest year

1955mean 44.4°F

Wettest year

194814.12 in

Driest year

19525.39 in

Station Ellensburg Bowers Field (USW00024220), 1,747 ft elevation, 2.5 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1940 to October 26, 2026; 93.6% 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 Kittitas 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 USW00024220.
• 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.