Gillette

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 Campbell County, the county that contains Gillette.

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 Campbell County, the county that contains Gillette.

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 Campbell County, the county that contains Gillette.

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 Campbell County.

Mapped by WY WSGS (1,774).

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. May 26, 2010Hail$46.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm produced hail to around golf ball size in Gillette, causing extensive damage across the city. The storm moved generally from south to north through the city. The most heavily damaged areas were in the Westover Hills and Foothills subdivisions, as well as the downtown area. The hail damaged the roofs and windows of several thousand homes and buildings. Thousands of automobiles were damaged across the city, including several automobile dealerships that reported damage to nearly their entire inventory. Damage estimates were near 50 million dollars.

2. Jun 21, 2003Hail$17.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong upper-level shortwave moving over northeastern Wyoming produced a long lived supercell thunderstorm. The thunderstorm developed over western Campbell County and moved east across Gillette and continued to Rozet. The storm continued into southern Crook County, moving just north of Moorcroft and Sundance. West of Gillette, the storm became tornadic and produced brief tornadoes. One tornado briefly touched down 12 miles west of Gillette in the vicinity of Force Road, north of Interstate 90, with no damage. Another tornado briefly touched down near the Wyodak Power Plant, about 5 miles east of Gillette, also with no damage. Golf ball to baseball sized hail was common across…

3. Aug 1, 2013Hail$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large amounts of ping pong to golf ball size hail fell around Wright. Portions of town had hail drifts three to five feet high. The wind-driven hail caused extensive damage to homes and vehicles.

4. Aug 12, 2005Tornado$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down 1 mile north of Wright and traveled southeast into the town. It crossed Wyoming Highway 387, slammed into a mobile home park, and dissipated a half mile from the highway before reaching the elementary school and Wright Blvd on the southeast edge of the park. It damaged 120 of the approximately 250 homes in the park; 91 were completely destroyed. Roofs, porches, siding, and trees sustained light damage from the strong wind gusts. Two people were killed and 13 injured; all were in mobile homes.

5. May 28, 2001Flash Flood$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain began falling over the Donkey Creek drainage, just south of Gillette, around 5 pm MST. Rainfall rates over 2 inches per hour were recorded. A National Weather Service spotter recorded a storm total precipitation amount of 7.5 inches during the evening. Donkey Creek quickly rose to flood stage, tearing up paved golf cart paths and a service bridge located at the Gillette Country Club. Water depth was recorded at 4ft by a water mark on a stop sign at Four J Road near Southern Drive at 7 pm MST. In downtown Gillette, several cars were reported floating down the street, and numerous businesses had 1 to 2 feet of water on the first floor. There were no injuries or…

6. Mar 23, 2009Blizzard, Northern Campbell$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A powerful spring storm brought blizzard conditions to northeastern Wyoming. Heavy snow and wind gusts over 60 mph produced significant blowing and drifting snow, reducing visibilities to near zero for many hours. Snowfall of one to two feet were common across the area, with the highest amounts over the Bear Lodge Mountains and Wyoming Black Hills. Interstate 90 and many roads were closed for more than 24 hours. Some power outages were also reported. Many livestock perished.

7. Mar 23, 2009Blizzard, South Campbell$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A powerful spring storm brought blizzard conditions to northeastern Wyoming. Heavy snow and wind gusts over 60 mph produced significant blowing and drifting snow, reducing visibilities to near zero for many hours. Snowfall of one to two feet were common across the area, with the highest amounts over the Bear Lodge Mountains and Wyoming Black Hills. Interstate 90 and many roads were closed for more than 24 hours. Some power outages were also reported. Many livestock perished.

8. Oct 4, 2005Winter Storm, Northern Campbell$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong low pressure system developed over the Central Rockies and moved through the Northern Plains, bringing heavy snow to much of northeast Wyoming. Precipitation started as rain during the day and changed over to snow late in the afternoon, mixed with freezing rain and sleet. Heavy snow fell during the night and ended in the morning. Snowfall amounts were generally 6 to 12 inches, with locally higher amounts across northern Campbell and Crook Counties. The heavy, wet snow resulted in many downed trees, branches and power lines. This caused numerous power outages and some minor property damage. The 7 inches of snow at Colony tied for the 5th highest daily snowfall for October.…

9. Aug 7, 2009Hail$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail damaged houses and automobiles in the Oriva Hills subdivision northwest of Gillette.

10. Jul 19, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Wind-driven hail damaged siding, windows, and roofs of several buildings along Adon and Grey Roads. A medium-sized horse trailer was flipped over.

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

110°FJul 17, 1909

All-time low

−40°FFeb 8, 1936

Warmest night

75°FJul 18, 1909

Coldest day

−25°FFeb 3, 1989

Wettest day

4.10 inJun 22, 1964

Snowiest day

18.0 inMar 22, 1933

Hottest year

2012mean 49.9°F

Coldest year

1993mean 41.5°F

Wettest year

198226.37 in

Driest year

19368.13 in

Snowiest season

108.5 in1996-97

Station Gillette 3SE (USC00483855), 4,490 ft elevation, 2.5 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1902 to October 27, 2026; 94.9% 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 Campbell 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 USC00483855.
• 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.