Fairbanks North Star Borough
Population 93,972 (2025) 7,335 sq mi
Large wildfires have burned 1,089,619 acres of Fairbanks North Star Borough since 1984, 5th most of 30 counties in Alaska; the largest was the Boundary Fire in 2004.
Hazard fingerprint Each spoke is this county’s percentile among U.S. counties where that hazard occurs. How it is computed
- Wildfire burn scars since 198458
- Major flood years since 19782
At a glance
The record for Fairbanks North Star Borough in eight numbers. Each links to its section below.
Acres burned since 1984
1.09 million
5th of 30 in Alaska
58 large fires; the largest was Boundary, 2004
DetailsSnowiest season
147.3in
Winter of 1990-91
Tornadoes
No tornado is recorded here in the Storm Prediction Center database, which begins in 1950.
Hurricanes and tropical storms
No tropical storm or hurricane has tracked within 100 miles since records began in 1851.
Wildfire and smoke
1.09 million acres burned in 58 large fires since 1984, equal to 23% of the land.
Largest
June 13, 2004
Boundary Fire, 537,728 acres
327,289 acres inside Fairbanks North Star Borough.
Most recent
June 25, 2024
Slate Fire
27,110 acres in total.
Every large fire
| Slate | 2024 | 6,801 | 27,110 |
| Lost Horse Creek | 2023 | 9,072 | 9,168 |
| Mccoy Creek | 2023 | 14,064 | 14,051 |
| Pogo Mine Road | 2023 | 287 | 51,191 |
| Middle Fork | 2022 | 1,290 | 1,290 |
| Porcupine Creek | 2022 | 12,854 | 12,848 |
| Minto Lakes | 2022 | 29,926 | 37,613 |
| Yukon Creek | 2022 | 14,016 | 14,007 |
| Salcha River 2 | 2021 | 3,297 | 3,299 |
| Munson Creek | 2021 | 53,475 | 54,072 |
| Haystack | 2021 | 1,153 | 1,153 |
| Clear Creek | 2020 | 1,311 | 1,313 |
| Dry Creek 2 | 2019 | 2,298 | 2,298 |
| Beaver | 2019 | 12,845 | 12,832 |
| Shovel Creek | 2019 | 22,132 | 22,111 |
| Nugget Creek | 2019 | 17,125 | 17,112 |
| South Fork Salcha | 2017 | 4,604 | 8,215 |
| Mid Salcha | 2016 | 1,100 | 1,100 |
| Aggie Creek | 2015 | 4,138 | 30,854 |
| Anaconda Creek | 2015 | 1,173 | 1,175 |
| Blair | 2015 | 18,471 | 37,949 |
| Stuart Inert 2 | 2015 | 2,144 | 2,146 |
| Caribou Creek | 2013 | 2,100 | 2,098 |
| Skinnys Road | 2013 | 1,107 | 1,994 |
| Stuart Creek #2 | 2013 | 87,981 | 87,915 |
| Dry Creek | 2012 | 49,047 | 49,010 |
| Hardluck Creek | 2009 | 11,759 | 11,991 |
| Wood River 1 | 2009 | 120,132 | 120,046 |
| Sullivan | 2008 | 1,385 | 1,463 |
| Lost Horse Creek | 2005 | 76 | 2,028 |
| Dry Creek | 2005 | 1,164 | 1,163 |
| Munson Creek | 2005 | 1,065 | 1,064 |
| Willow Creek | 2004 | 7,507 | 7,499 |
| Aggie 2 | 2004 | 2,148 | 2,279 |
| Tatalina | 2004 | 10,172 | 15,563 |
| Wood River | 2004 | 38 | 6,223 |
| Tors | 2004 | 32,001 | 31,979 |
| Gold Creek | 2004 | 1,491 | 1,488 |
| Camp Creek | 2004 | 58,922 | 173,342 |
| Boundary | 2004 | 327,289 | 537,728 |
| Central Complex (Wolf Creek) | 2004 | 67,495 | 228,183 |
| Porcupine | 2003 | 1,161 | 1,161 |
| Un Chena | 2002 | 1,951 | 1,949 |
| West Fork Chena | 2002 | 22,383 | 22,366 |
| Tractor Trail | 2001 | 2,201 | 2,199 |
| Survey Line | 2001 | 1,266 | 1,265 |
| Beaver Ck | 2000 | 1,007 | 1,004 |
| Beaver Creek | 2000 | 3,177 | 3,176 |
| Mccoy Creek | 1999 | 5,287 | 5,279 |
| Gold Creek | 1997 | 1,096 | 1,096 |
| Butte Creek | 1997 | 3,301 | 3,301 |
| Porcupine | 1993 | 4,852 | 4,852 |
| Frozen Foot | 1990 | 3,952 | 3,953 |
| Granite T | 1990 | 3,607 | 3,602 |
| Cassier | 1990 | 2,841 | 3,204 |
| Teuchet 3 | 1990 | 1,154 | 1,152 |
| Eielson | 1987 | 9,635 | 9,629 |
| Caribou | 1986 | 4,267 | 4,267 |
- 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: 28 days
Heavy smoke on 21 days in 2022, the most of any year.
Last 10 years
13.1 days a year
Medium or heavy smoke, 2016 to 2025.
2025
20 days
Medium or heavy smoke. 2 so far in 2026.
- 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
244 federal flood insurance claims since 1978, with $2.6 million paid.
Most claims in one year
2008: 47 claims
$674,000 paid.
2nd most
1991: 28 claims
$125,000 paid.
3rd most
2003: 23 claims
$161,000 paid.
Claims by ZIP code
| 99709 | 65 | $1.0 million |
| 99714 | 61 | $582,000 |
| 99701 | 56 | $426,000 |
| 99705 | 45 | $253,000 |
| 99712 | 6 | $211,000 |
| 5 | $11,000 |
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
August 16, 1967
Tanana River at Fairbanks, 27.80 ft
3.30 feet above the 24.5 ft flood stage; major flooding by today’s categories.
Most recent moderate or major crest
May 11, 2023
Tanana River at Fairbanks, 26.11 ft
Moderate flooding.
River gauges
| Chatanika River at Elliot Hwy Bridge near Fox | 11.2 | — | 0 |
| Chatanika River at Steese Hwy Bridge near Chatanika | 13.5 | 13.86 ft | 0 |
| Chena River at Fairbanks | 12.0 | 10.78 ft | 0 |
| Chena River below Hunts Creek near Two Rivers | 17.2 | 20.17 ft | 0 |
| Chena River below Moose Creek Dam near Fairbanks | 24.5 | 27.51 ft | 0 |
| Chena River near Two Rivers | 20.0 | 23.65 ft | 0 |
| Goldstream Creek near Fairbanks | 18.0 | — | 0 |
| Little Chena River near Fairbanks | 25.0 | 31.90 ft | 0 |
| Salcha River near Salchaket | 15.0 | 21.78 ft | 0 |
| Tanana River at Fairbanks | 24.5 | 27.80 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, volcanoes and landslides
134 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles since 1900; the largest was magnitude 7.1 in 1937.
480
Magnitude 2.5+ inside the county since 1973
885
Magnitude 3+ within 50 miles since 1973
134
Magnitude 4+ within 50 miles since 1900
17
Magnitude 5+ within 50 miles since 1900
Largest within 50 miles
July 22, 1937
Central Alaska; inside the county, 6.2 miles deep.
Most recent, magnitude 3 or more
October 15, 2026
Magnitude 3.0
56 km ENE of Ferry, Alaska; 9.6 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
| Buzzard Creek | 22.3 | Low |
- 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
10
Landslides mapped, probable or better
10
With a recorded date
1
Source inventory
Mapped by AK DOT (10).
- 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.
Severe weather and other events
26 events in the National Weather Service record, 26 of them since 1996.
0
Hail reports, 1 inch or larger
0
Hail, 2 inches or larger
0
Damaging gusts, 58 mph+
26
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 Fairbanks International Airport, 7.7 miles from the county’s population centre, with records from 1929.
- All-time high
- 96°FJun 15, 1969
- All-time low
- −66°FJan 14, 1934
- Warmest night
- 70°FJun 25, 2013
- Coldest day
- −56°F2 times, most recently Jan 15, 1934
- Wettest day
- 3.42 inAug 12, 1967
- Snowiest day
- 16.0 inFeb 11, 1966
- Hottest year
- 2019mean 32.6°F
- Coldest year
- 1956mean 21.3°F
- Wettest year
- 202118.74 in
- Driest year
- 19575.55 in
- Snowiest season
- 147.3 in1990-91
Median first snow
October 2
Earliest: August 25, 1995
Median last snow
April 23
Latest: June 2, 1931
0 of 96 winters had no measurable snow.
Station Fairbanks International Airport (USW00026411), 430 ft elevation, 7.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1929 to October 26, 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.
Federal disaster declarations
16 since 1953. The most recent: Nenana Ridge Complex, July 6, 2025.
| Jul 6, 2025 | Fire | FM-5597-AK |
| Jun 23, 2025 | Fire | FM-5596-AK |
| Aug 3, 2023 | Fire | FM-5473-AK |
| Mar 24, 2022 | Severe Storm | DR-4648-AK |
| Apr 9, 2020 | Biological | DR-4533-AK |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | EM-3446-AK |
| Jun 28, 2019 | Fire | FM-5282-AK |
| Jan 23, 2014 | Severe Storm | DR-4162-AK |
| May 22, 2011 | Fire | FM-2909-AK |
| Sep 26, 2008 | Severe Storm | DR-1796-AK |
| Jul 1, 2004 | Fire | FM-2525-AK |
| Nov 8, 2002 | Earthquake | DR-1440-AK |
| Jun 26, 2002 | Flood | DR-1423-AK |
| Feb 17, 2000 | Severe Storm | DR-1316-AK |
| May 30, 1991 | Snowstorm | DR-909-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 Fairbanks North Star Borough stands among 30 counties in Alaska and 3,143 in the United States.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 0 | — |
| Tornadoes rated F3/EF3 or stronger | 0 | — |
| Tropical cyclones within 50 mi | 0 | — |
| Hurricane-strength passes within 50 mi | 0 | — |
| Wildfire acres since 1984 | 1,089,619 | 5 / 30 |
| Flood insurance claims | 244 | 1 / 30 |
| Flood insurance paid | $2.6 million | 3 / 30 |
| Disaster declarations | 16 | 5 / 30 |
| Flood events since 1996 | 0 | — |
| Hail and wind events since 1996 | 0 | — |
| Winter storm events since 1996 | 26 | 11 / 30 |
| Reported damage since 1996 | $0 | — |
| River crests at major flood stage | 1 | 9 / 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 | 13.1 | 1 / 30 |
| Earthquakes M4+ within 50 mi since 1900 | 134 | 18 / 30 |
| Earthquakes M2.5+ in the county since 1973 | 480 | 15 / 30 |
Neighbouring counties
| Denali Borough | 0 | 0 |
| Southeast Fairbanks Census Area | 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 USW00026411.
- 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.