Bethel Census Area
Population 18,391 (2025) 40,661 sq mi
Large wildfires have burned 1,918,765 acres of Bethel Census Area since 1984, 3rd most of 30 counties in Alaska; the largest was the Lime Hills Fire in 2013.
Hazard fingerprint Each spoke is this county’s percentile among U.S. counties where that hazard occurs. How it is computed
- Tornado damage paths since 19502
- Wildfire burn scars since 1984110
At a glance
The record for Bethel Census Area in eight numbers. Each links to its section below.
Tornadoes
About one every 38 years since 1950, none rated F3/EF3 or stronger.
Strongest
June 18, 2004
F0, 0.0 mile path
0 yards wide.
Most recent
Friday, June 18, 2004
F0, 0.0 mile path
22 years ago.
Every recorded tornado
| Jun 18, 2004 | F0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jun 14, 2004 | F0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
- Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Bethel Census Area: 0.
- 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.
Hurricanes and tropical storms
No tropical storm or hurricane has tracked within 100 miles since records began in 1851.
Wildfire and smoke
1.92 million acres burned in 110 large fires since 1984, equal to 7.4% of the land.
Largest
May 31, 2013
Lime Hills Fire, 193,970 acres
193,968 acres inside Bethel Census Area.
Most recent
June 19, 2024
Little Underhill Creek Fire
1,049 acres in total.
Every large fire
| Little Underhill Creek | 2024 | 1,058 | 1,049 |
| Muskeg Creek | 2024 | 1,006 | 1,014 |
| Aniak River | 2024 | 2,367 | 2,364 |
| Owhat River | 2024 | 1,359 | 1,354 |
| South Fork George River | 2024 | 8,170 | 8,173 |
| Eightmile Creek | 2024 | 4,511 | 4,423 |
| Fork Creek | 2022 | 2,723 | 2,722 |
| Door Mountain | 2022 | 167,041 | 167,023 |
| Kiknik | 2022 | 781 | 99,643 |
| Sawpit Creek | 2022 | 27,923 | 27,898 |
| Swift River | 2022 | 92,444 | 92,389 |
| Telaquana River | 2022 | 8,079 | 8,074 |
| South Lime Lake | 2022 | 3,646 | 3,645 |
| Aghaluk Mountain | 2022 | 115,868 | 115,788 |
| Stony River | 2022 | 80,956 | 80,954 |
| Hook Creek | 2022 | 4,757 | 4,756 |
| Kwethluk | 2022 | 10,596 | 10,594 |
| Taylor Creek | 2020 | 18,712 | 18,701 |
| Izaviknek River | 2020 | 3,728 | 3,728 |
| Ingakslugwat Hills | 2020 | 10,749 | 69,424 |
| Hoholitna | 2019 | 1,313 | 1,313 |
| Aghaluk Creek | 2019 | 2,271 | 2,269 |
| Smith Creek | 2019 | 49,274 | 71,948 |
| East Stony River | 2019 | 2,411 | 2,410 |
| Horn Foothills | 2019 | 3,948 | 3,944 |
| Kolmakof Hills | 2019 | 10,064 | 10,056 |
| Door Mountains | 2019 | 3,681 | 3,681 |
| Mccally Creek | 2019 | 3,095 | 3,094 |
| Little Titnuk | 2019 | 9,668 | 9,666 |
| Titnuk Creek | 2019 | 1,821 | 1,821 |
| Fuller Creek | 2019 | 9,200 | 9,200 |
| Jump Peak | 2019 | 3,786 | 3,778 |
| Swift Creek | 2019 | 4,351 | 4,345 |
| Little Kasigluk | 2019 | 4,327 | 4,324 |
| Door Mountains | 2018 | 10,548 | 10,542 |
| Bell Creek | 2017 | 2,298 | 2,295 |
| Timber Creek | 2016 | 7,832 | 7,825 |
| Israthorak Creek | 2016 | 6,179 | 6,180 |
| Bogus Creek | 2016 | 4,527 | 4,523 |
| Doestock Creek | 2016 | 2,504 | 2,501 |
| Owhat River 2 | 2016 | 1,217 | 1,217 |
| Smith Creek | 2016 | 1,113 | 5,430 |
| George River | 2016 | 3,595 | 3,595 |
| South Fork George River | 2016 | 1,139 | 1,137 |
| Gweek River | 2016 | 1,380 | 1,380 |
| Hook Creek | 2016 | 8,025 | 8,266 |
| Aropuk Lake | 2016 | 2,266 | 2,269 |
| Chuilnuk River | 2015 | 1,332 | 1,333 |
| Ophir Creek | 2015 | 31,489 | 31,462 |
| Rock Creek | 2015 | 9,308 | 9,297 |
| Owhat River | 2015 | 40,921 | 40,893 |
| Kwethluk River # 2 | 2015 | 23,912 | 23,906 |
| North Aniak | 2015 | 57,410 | 57,369 |
| Puk Palik Lake | 2015 | 15,890 | 15,875 |
| Mission Creek | 2015 | 2,982 | 2,978 |
| Izavlknek River | 2015 | 23,341 | 23,323 |
| Old Village | 2015 | 1,986 | 1,987 |
| Kuka Creek 4 | 2015 | 70,232 | 70,202 |
| Village Creek | 2015 | 16,711 | 16,706 |
| Quinn Creek | 2015 | 11,697 | 11,688 |
| Basket Creek #2 | 2015 | 1,138 | 1,139 |
| Kutokbuna Lake | 2015 | 12,243 | 12,240 |
| Why Lake | 2015 | 46,360 | 46,352 |
| Little Swift Creek | 2015 | 1,617 | 1,616 |
| Oskawalik River | 2015 | 2,303 | 2,302 |
| Fog River | 2015 | 39,019 | 38,994 |
| Can Creek | 2015 | 51,940 | 51,913 |
| Bogus Creek | 2015 | 26,393 | 26,377 |
| Whitefish Lake 1 | 2015 | 70,979 | 70,935 |
| Gagaryah 2 | 2013 | 4,903 | 4,903 |
| Whitefish Lake | 2013 | 4,414 | 4,413 |
| Hoholitna | 2013 | 3,166 | 3,165 |
| Kristin Creek | 2013 | 16,076 | 16,066 |
| Lime Hills | 2013 | 193,968 | 193,970 |
| Doestock Creek | 2013 | 24,634 | 24,617 |
| Gagaryah 2 | 2009 | 19,546 | 19,553 |
| Cheeneetnuk | 2009 | 28,530 | 28,524 |
| Winter Trail | 2009 | 2,248 | 2,246 |
| Hoholitna | 2009 | 8,681 | 8,675 |
| Oskawalik | 2009 | 3,892 | 3,890 |
| Big Lake | 2009 | 1,840 | 1,841 |
| Noyuk | 2007 | 3,003 | 3,001 |
| Kuka | 2007 | 2,489 | 2,493 |
| Takslesluk North | 2006 | 4,024 | 4,027 |
| North Horn | 2006 | 2,780 | 2,779 |
| Otter Creek | 2005 | 3,110 | 3,112 |
| Saddle | 2005 | 36,056 | 132,963 |
| Talbiksok | 2005 | 49,064 | 81,996 |
| George | 2005 | 59,043 | 62,942 |
| Swift | 2005 | 20,058 | 20,044 |
| Stony | 2005 | 3,211 | 3,211 |
| Crooked 3 | 2002 | 2,139 | 2,137 |
| Moose Creek | 2002 | 888 | 4,118 |
| Hoholitna | 2002 | 1,623 | 1,626 |
| Aropuk | 2002 | 19,837 | 19,905 |
| Kalskag | 2002 | 4,253 | 4,255 |
| Gagaryah 2 | 1994 | 3,572 | 3,569 |
| Anchor | 1993 | 3,074 | 3,073 |
| Timber | 1993 | 29,787 | 29,761 |
| Kulukbuk | 1991 | 2,895 | 2,894 |
| Little | 1991 | 6,100 | 7,028 |
| Stoney | 1991 | 8,459 | 8,457 |
| Cross | 1991 | 8,110 | 20,599 |
| Moly | 1991 | 5,767 | 5,764 |
| Rock Creek | 1990 | 11,313 | 11,308 |
| Crooked Cr | 1990 | 10,722 | 10,716 |
| Kogoyuk | 1989 | 5,910 | 5,906 |
| Shotgun Dr. | 1989 | 751 | 5,464 |
| Crooked Creek | 1989 | 8,547 | 8,547 |
| Landmark | 1987 | 2,721 | 4,165 |
- 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
Smokiest year
2022: 9 days
Heavy smoke on 3 days in 2022, the most of any year.
Last 10 years
2.9 days a year
Medium or heavy smoke, 2016 to 2025.
2025
2 days
Medium or heavy smoke.
- 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.
Floods and flood insurance
45 federal flood insurance claims since 1983, with $306,000 paid.
Most claims in one year
1991: 8 claims
$129,000 paid.
2nd most
2002: 7 claims
$49,000 paid.
3rd most
1985: 5 claims
$6,214 paid.
Claims by ZIP code
| 99557 | 24 | $216,000 |
| 99559 | 18 | $75,000 |
Flood events since 1996
- Coastal Flood2
1 death recorded in flood events since 1996.
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
Most severe crest
October 12, 2025
Kipnuk Tide Gauge at Kipnuk (MHHW datum), 8.10 ft
7.70 feet above the 0.4 ft flood stage; major flooding by today’s categories.
Most recent moderate or major crest
October 12, 2025
Kipnuk Tide Gauge at Kipnuk (MHHW datum), 8.10 ft
Major flooding.
River gauges
| Kipnuk Tide Gauge at Kipnuk (MHHW datum) | 0.4 | 8.10 ft | 4 |
| Kuskokwim River at Bethel | 8.5 | 14.42 ft | 2 |
| Kuskokwim River at Crooked Creek | 19.0 | 32.01 ft | 0 |
| Kwigillingok Tide Gauge at Kwigillingok (MHHW datum) | 0.6 | 7.50 ft | 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.
Drought
NOAA’s county drought index covers the lower 48 states only.
Earthquakes and volcanoes
183 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles since 1900; the largest was magnitude 6.9 in 1903.
129
Magnitude 2.5+ inside the county since 1973
952
Magnitude 3+ within 50 miles since 1973
183
Magnitude 4+ within 50 miles since 1900
36
Magnitude 5+ within 50 miles since 1900
Largest within 50 miles
June 2, 1903
Kuskokwim River Basin, Southwestern Alaska; inside the county.
Most recent, magnitude 3 or more
October 1, 2026
Magnitude 3.2
35 km WSW of Skwentna, Alaska; 43.1 miles away.
Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles
- 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 county boundary (or inside the county).
- 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
| Ingakslugwat Hills | 16.3 | Low |
| Hayes | 24.4 | High |
| Spurr | 26.4 | Very high |
| Redoubt | 37.5 | Very high |
| Iliamna | 61.6 | High |
- 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.
Severe weather and other events
20 events in the National Weather Service record, 20 of them since 1996.
0
Hail reports, 1 inch or larger
0
Hail, 2 inches or larger
0
Damaging gusts, 58 mph+
13
Winter weather events since 1996
0
Heat events since 1996
0
Cold events since 1996
- 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.
Weather records
From Bethel Airport, 14.3 miles from the county’s population centre, with records from 1923.
- All-time high
- 90°FJun 17, 1926
- All-time low
- −52°F3 times, most recently Jan 25, 1947
- Warmest night
- 64°FJul 6, 2019
- Coldest day
- −39°FJan 27, 1989
- Wettest day
- 2.30 inAug 12, 1951
- Snowiest day
- 17.6 inJan 3, 1952
- Hottest year
- 2016mean 36.8°F
- Coldest year
- 1939mean 24.8°F
- Wettest year
- 195140.76 in
- Driest year
- 19346.17 in
Station Bethel Airport (USW00026615), 107 ft elevation, 14.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1923 to October 28, 2026; 99.8% 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.
Federal disaster declarations
20 since 1953. The most recent: Severe Storms, Flooding, and Remnants of Typhoon Halong, October 22, 2025.
| Oct 22, 2025 | Flood | DR-4893-AK |
| Aug 23, 2023 | Flood | DR-4730-AK |
| Sep 23, 2022 | Severe Storm | DR-4672-AK |
| Aug 26, 2022 | Flood | DR-4667-AK |
| Apr 9, 2020 | Biological | DR-4533-AK |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | EM-3446-AK |
| Jan 23, 2014 | Severe Storm | DR-4162-AK |
| Jun 25, 2013 | Flood | DR-4122-AK |
| Dec 22, 2011 | Severe Storm | DR-4050-AK |
| Jun 10, 2011 | Flood | DR-1992-AK |
| Jun 11, 2009 | Flood | DR-1843-AK |
| Oct 27, 2006 | Fire | DR-1666-AK |
| Aug 4, 2006 | Flood | DR-1657-AK |
| Dec 9, 2005 | Severe Storm | DR-1618-AK |
| Nov 15, 2004 | Severe Storm | DR-1571-AK |
| Jun 26, 2002 | Flood | DR-1423-AK |
| Feb 17, 2000 | Severe Storm | DR-1316-AK |
| May 30, 1991 | Snowstorm | DR-909-AK |
| Jun 10, 1989 | Flood | DR-832-AK |
| May 10, 1989 | Freezing | DR-826-AK |
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.
How this compares
Where Bethel Census Area stands among 30 counties in Alaska and 3,143 in the United States.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 2 | 1 / 30 |
| Tornadoes rated F3/EF3 or stronger | 0 | — |
| Tropical cyclones within 50 mi | 0 | — |
| Hurricane-strength passes within 50 mi | 0 | — |
| Wildfire acres since 1984 | 1,918,765 | 3 / 30 |
| Flood insurance claims | 45 | 7 / 30 |
| Flood insurance paid | $306,000 | 7 / 30 |
| Disaster declarations | 20 | 1 / 30 |
| Flood events since 1996 | 2 | 10 / 30 |
| Hail and wind events since 1996 | 2 | 23 / 30 |
| Winter storm events since 1996 | 13 | 17 / 30 |
| Reported damage since 1996 | $0 | — |
| River crests at major flood stage | 7 | 3 / 30 |
| High tide flooding days a year, last 10 years | 0.0 | — |
| Months in severe drought since 1895 | 0 | — |
| Medium or heavy smoke days a year, last 10 years | 2.9 | 22 / 30 |
| Earthquakes M4+ within 50 mi since 1900 | 183 | 16 / 30 |
| Earthquakes M2.5+ in the county since 1973 | 129 | 19 / 30 |
Neighbouring counties
| Dillingham Census Area | 0 | 0 |
| Kenai Peninsula Borough | 0 | 0 |
| Kusilvak Census Area | 0 | 0 |
| Lake and Peninsula Borough | 0 | 0 |
| Matanuska-Susitna Borough | 0 | 0 |
| Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area | 0 | 0 |
Sources and vintage
Every number on this page comes from these public records.
- 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 USW00026615.
- 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.
- 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 November 1, 2026.