Washington County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Washington County: 5.
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 storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 to 2025.

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.

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.

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.

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 county boundary (or inside the county).
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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 13, 2003Hail$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to the size of baseballs did damage did extensive damage across a large part of Fayetteville. Cars and roofs of buildings were especially devastated.

2. Jan 26, 2009Ice Storm, Washington$45.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Upper level disturbances passing through the Southern Plains resulted in precipitation development north of a stationary arctic front located in North Texas. Freezing rain began across the area during the early afternoon hours of the 26th and became more widespread and heavy through the afternoon and evening hours. The heaviest icing and most widespread power outages and tree damage occurred across portions of Washington, Madison, Benton, and Carroll Counties where one to two inch accumulations were reported. At the height of the storm, 75 percent of electric customers were without power in Benton County and nearly 100 percent were without power in Carroll County. Some remote,…

3. Mar 30, 2022Tornado$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed south of Joyce Boulevard and east of Steele Boulevard, southwest of the Northwest Arkansas Mall. The tornado damaged businesses, blew down trees, rolled a van, and then moved across the western portion of the mall. As it moved north-northeast from near the mall, the tornado blew down a cellular phone tower, and destroyed a building near Main Drive. As it continued north-northeast, it damaged numerous homes and businesses, and blew down numerous trees. Major portions of the roofs of several homes were blown off on Pagosa Street, and a vehicle was flipped over in a driveway. The tornado then destroyed the gymnasium at George Elementary School, which was a…

4. Apr 22, 1996Hail$9.0 million
5. Apr 22, 2004Flash Flood$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several rounds of thunderstorms pelted Washington county during the April 20s. For the 72 hour period ending a 7 am cdt Fayetteville and Prairie Grove has 7.41 and 7.33 inches of rain respectively. This heavy rain caused rounds of flash flooding from the evening of April 22nd to the daytime hours of April 24th. Numerous county roads were flooded and damaged during that time span. Damage to the roads was estimated to be in excess of $6 million. Roads were not the only things damaged. A train track near Greenland was washed out. Several 40 foot metal shipping containers were washed into the Illinois river near Hogeye. As many as 40 to 50 homes sustained damage. Many of those homes…

6. Dec 31, 2010Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This segment is the second of six segments of this long-track tornado. The tornado moved into Washington County snapping numerous trees as it approached the town of Cincinnati. In Cincinnati, the tornado destroyed several permanent homes, destroyed the volunteer fire station, destroyed a mobile home, damaged several other permanent homes, snapped or uprooted numerous trees, snapped numerous power poles, and destroyed barns and outbuildings. Two people were killed in the mobile home that was destroyed and a third person was killed either in or near a barn while he was tending to his cattle. At least seven injuries also occurred. The tornado was about 300 yards wide when it went…

7. May 19, 2025Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed along SW Campbell Road, west of I-49, where trees were snapped and uprooted. It moved northeast across I-49, severely damaging a metal building structure, and then turned to the east across the southern portion of Drake Field. It then turned east-northeast, crossing Highway 16 and dissipated near Combs Bell Road. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted along the path of this tornado, industrial buildings and homes and businesses were damaged, many power poles were snapped, and outbuildings were destroyed. The tornado produced a tornadic debris signature from the KSRX WSR-88D. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 115 to 125 mph.

8. Nov 28, 2001Ice Storm, Washington$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Surface High Pressure built into the region from the north supplying the cold air at the surface. An upper level storm system out of the southwest supplied the lift for the precipitation. Ice accruals of 1/2 to 1 inch were found across the region. The ice also extended across into Adair County Oklahoma. The ice brought down trees and utility lines/poles across the area. The ice track was fairly narrow due to colder air aloft farther north and west that supported frozen precipitation instead of freezing precipitation.

9. Apr 20, 2025Tornado$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed just south of Jess Anderson Road and north of Highway 16. The tornado moved northeast, uprooting trees and snapping large tree limbs as it crossed Jess Anderson Road and Wheeler Road. The tornado damage numerous homes in a neighborhood along and just west of Hughmount Road, several of which sustained significant roof damage and broken windows. It continued to damage the roofs of homes and uproot trees as it crossed Weir Road, Rupple Road, and Howard Nickell Road. It dissipated north of Howard Nickell Road and west of Salem Road. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 100 to 110 mph.

10. Aug 5, 2009Hail$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Tea cup size hail damaged numerous homes and automobiles.

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°F2 times, most recently Aug 3, 2011

All-time low

−20°FFeb 16, 2021

Warmest night

83°FAug 5, 2011

Coldest day

2°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

7.45 inSep 26, 1996

Snowiest day

14.6 inFeb 9, 2011

Hottest year

2024mean 61.8°F

Coldest year

2014mean 55.4°F

Wettest year

199075.01 in

Driest year

196321.03 in

Snowiest season

33.0 in2009-10

Station Fayetteville Drake Field (USW00093993), 1,237 ft elevation, 5.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1949 to October 26, 2026; 99.3% 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.

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.

Neighbouring counties

• 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 USW00093993.
• 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.
• 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.