Moses Lake

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 Grant County, the county that contains Moses Lake.

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 Grant County, the county that contains Moses Lake.

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 Grant County, the county that contains Moses Lake.

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 Grant County.

Mapped by WA WGS (45), West Coast Slow Moving (Yuankun and others, 2021) (4), 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. Apr 4, 2022High Wind, Upper Columbia Basin$5.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Mesonet in the Washtucna area recorded a gust of 54 at 1630LST. Several other sites recorded gusts into the upper 40s to low 50s. Power outage in Wilbur affected 52 customers. Winds also broke 1 inch thick tree limbs and blew shingles off roofs in the Spring Canyon area East of Grand Coulee.

2. Jun 21, 2026Wildfire, Upper Columbia Basin$4.9 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The fire started on the June 21 by an unknown human cause. It burned 3366 acres of shrub and grass including wheat fields. Evacuations impacted around 200 families. An unknown number of outbuildings were destroyed. It was contained on June 26. Damage is estimated.

3. Jul 23, 2026Wildfire, Moses Lake Area$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Railroad Wildfire was discovered around 0203 on July 23. It was started by unknown human cause. It is located near Beverly and Schwana. It burned 8200 acres of grassland. Ten homes were destroyed. It continued through the end of July. Cost is estimated.

4. Dec 14, 2006High Wind, Moses Lake Area$2.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A deep low pressure system tracked east across Vancouver Island and Southern British Columbia. Damaging southwest winds resulted across most of Central and Eastern Washington. Numerous trees and power outages resulted from the storm. Several trees landed on power lines, homes, and vehicles. Areas along the East Slopes of the Cascades were hit especially hard. Heavy snow from the day before combined with strong wind gusts caused significant damage. The Loup Loup transmission went down, which resulted in a power outage to the entire Methow Valley and residences from Loup Loup Pass to Malott. In Mazama, falling trees took out nearly every span of power lines for three miles. The…

5. Jan 7, 2007High Wind, Moses Lake Area$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong lee side trough east of the Cascades led to strong damaging gravity wave winds. Where these gravity waves mixed down to the surface, extensive to catastrophic damages occurred. These winds mixed down in the Wenatchee, Manson, south Lake Chelan area, Quincy, and the Royal slope area of Royal City. Numerous trees were blown down, several of which fell on power lines, cars and homes. Extensive roof damage occurred to several homes and businesses. Chelan County was hit especially hard where commissioners declared a state of emergency. A total of 400-500 trees fell onto power lines in Chelan County. In Quincy, numerous irrigation systems with a length of a quarter mile and…

6. Jan 13, 2009Freezing Fog, Upper Columbia Basin$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong ridge of high pressure over the area resulted in persistent freezing fog that lasted nearly two weeks. This led to ice buildup and significant damage to power lines from Davenport to Almira on the Highway 2 corridor. This was the most damaging weather event to hit Lincoln County since the November 1996 Ice Storm. Avista had to replace at least 160 power poles, 1,400 insulators, and more than 60 transformers. During the peak of the outages, around 6,800 customers were without power.

7. Jul 27, 2018Wildfire, Waterville Plateau$1.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Chelan Hills Wildfire damaged 4 homes in the Orondo area as well as destroying several outbuildings and damaging orchards and crops in the fire area.

8. Nov 19, 1996Ice Storm, Moses Lake Area$1.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Before the freezing rain hit there was already 2 to 4 inches of snow on the ground. Between 1 and 1.5 inches of freezing rain fell over the Spokane area, knocking out power to 50% of the people and forcing the mayor to declare a state of emergency. It was the worst ice storm in 60 years, and the worst power outage in 108 years. 3 days after the storm, 100,000 people in the county were still without power. 6 days after the storm, 20,000 were still without power, with below freezing temperatures for most of the time. All the hotels and motels were full. School was closed for 3 days, and the airport was closed for several hours during the storm. Trees were down everywhere, and…

9. Aug 4, 2022Astronomical Low Tide, Upper Columbia Basin$935,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Farm equipment working a field sparked a wildfire that was quickly spread through grass fields by winds. It burned from August 4-6. It burned 2500 acres. Six homes and eight outbuildings were destroyed.

10. Aug 4, 2022Wildfire, Upper Columbia Basin$935,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Farm equipment working a field sparked a wildfire that was quickly spread through grass fields by winds. It burned from August 4-6. It burned 2500 acres. Six homes and eight outbuildings were destroyed.

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

−22°F2 times, most recently Jan 17, 1950

Warmest night

80°FAug 1, 1949

Coldest day

−1°F3 times, most recently Dec 16, 1964

Wettest day

2.50 inFeb 1, 1961

Snowiest day

10.3 inJan 31, 1963

Hottest year

1958mean 54.5°F

Coldest year

1955mean 48.4°F

Wettest year

200610.72 in

Driest year

20084.10 in

Station Moses Lake Grant County Airport (USW00024110), 1,169 ft elevation, 4.9 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1949 to October 27, 2026; 97.3% 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 Grant 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 USW00024110.
• 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.