Ridgefield

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 Clark County, the county that contains Ridgefield.

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 Clark County, the county that contains Ridgefield.

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 Clark County, the county that contains Ridgefield.

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.

Tsunamis

Tsunami records for Clark County.

1. Places where NOAA's Global Historical Tsunami Database records a tsunami's water arriving, with the greatest height it reached above sea level at the time. Only tsunamis NOAA rates probable or definite are counted. Heights from eyewitness accounts and tide gauges are mixed, and older events are less completely recorded.

NOAA NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database, 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 Clark County.

Mapped by WA WGS (604), OR DOGAMI (391), NASA (15), West Coast Slow Moving (Yuankun and others, 2021) (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 8, 2020High Wind, South Washington Cascades$950 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Three Corner Rock RAWS (TRKW1) recorded a max sustained wind of 37 mph, and a peak gust of 67 mph.

2. Dec 7, 2015Heavy Rain$1.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain resulted in urban flooding across the Vancouver metro area. SE Mill PLain was closed between 172nd and 192nd due to deep standing water. An apartment building in Hazell Dell was evacuated due to a land slide.

3. Jun 1, 2011Flood$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain combined with snowmelt runoff to produce flooding on the Columbia River. The Columbia River at Vancouver (VAPW1) crested at 17.43 feet at 07:30 am on June 2nd, 2011. The Clark County Parks Department sustained significant damage at Captain William Clark Park in Camas and inumdation/minor damage at three other parks (Vancouver Lake, Frenchman's Bar, and Salmon Creek Trail) along the Columbia, totaling about $50k - $100k. The Port of Camas-Washougal reports about $100k estimated cost to repair two sections of levee that had significant erosion damage. Vancouver Public Works reported damage to the Vancouver Renaissance Walkway, with a rough estimate of repair costs $100k - $1M.

4. Jan 10, 2008Tornado$525,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado had estimated wind speeds of 90 to 110 mph. Damage reports along the path of the tornado include: 200+ trees down, most between 12 to 24 inches in diameter, and approximately 6 trees greater than 36 inches; 30 to 40 homes damaged, with primarily roof damage; 19 power poles were snapped off; 3 lightly constructed structures were destroyed; a parked semi-trailer was tipped over, and several dozen sculling boats were damaged near Vancouver Lake.

5. Dec 10, 2015Tornado$311,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Around 36 homes and 2 businesses sustained damage from the tornado. Dozens of trees with a diameter of 1 to 3 feet were uprooted and blown down, and around a half of a dozen 1 to 2 foot diameter trees were snapped.

6. May 26, 2011Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain combined with snowmelt runoff to produce flooding on the Columbia River. The Columbia River at Vancouver (VAPW1) crested at 17.43 feet on June 2nd, 2011.

7. Dec 8, 2015High Wind, South Washington Cascades$58,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Three Corner Rock RAWS measured two surges of strong winds on December 8th, once between 11 am and 2 pm, and then again between 5 pm and 9 pm. The sustained winds during these two time periods was 56 mph. A peak gust of 77 mph was reported in the first surge, and a peak gust of 92 mph was measured in the evening.

8. Sep 27, 2021Tornado$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-0 tornado with estimated winds of 85 mph (DI:28 ,DOD:3) began near the intersection of NE 72nd Avenue and State Highway 502 at 45.7804 latitude, -122.5982 longitude. The tornado tracked in a northeast direction, ending up near NE 259th St. and NE 147th Ave at 45.8105 latitude and -122.5229 longitude. The tornado path was about 240 yards wide with a track length of about 3.9 miles. The estimated start and end time of the tornado is 1806PST and 1821PST. No injuries or fatalities were reported. The majority of the damage was to trees that were uprooted or snapped. Other damage included a tree that fell on an RV, and fences damaged by toppled trees.

9. Oct 31, 2015Heavy Rain$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   There were several reports of 3 to 4 inches of 24-hour Rain totals in Clark County. A trained spotter reported that the Washougal River was near bank full. Another weather spotter reported a minor mudslide on Washougal River Road between mile posts 3 and 4 where the debris was 3 inches deep. An Emergency Manager claimed were three residential floodings, several places with high water, and two road closures (Southeast Mill Plain and Southeast Village Loop).

10. Jun 27, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Portland Radar tracked a Severe Thunderstorm through Clark County into Cowlitz County. The Portland Oregonian, Vancouver Columbian and KOIN TV reported uprooted trees falling on vehicles and trailer houses, downed power lines and localized flooding of Interstate 5 and Highway 99 in the Battleground area. Clark Public Utilities reported 2600 lost power. Five were injured, two seriously; one when a tree fell across the trailer house she was in and the other was struck by a limb of a falling tree.

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°FJun 28, 2021

All-time low

−3°FFeb 2, 1950

Warmest night

75°FJun 28, 2021

Coldest day

14°FDec 30, 1968

Wettest day

2.69 inNov 19, 1996

Snowiest day

14.4 inJan 21, 1943

Hottest year

2015mean 57.4°F

Coldest year

1964mean 50.1°F

Wettest year

199663.20 in

Driest year

198522.48 in

Snowiest season

44.5 in1949-50

Station Portland International Airport (USW00024229), 22 ft elevation, 15.6 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1938 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 Clark 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 USW00024229.
• 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.
• Tsunamis NOAA NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database.
• 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.