La Paz County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within La Paz County: 0.
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.

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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

Mapped by AZ GS (26).

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. Oct 22, 2000Flash Flood$6.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   In the early morning hours of Sunday October 22, a large low pressure area dumped four to six inches of rain over parts of eastern LaPaz and western Maricopa County. This caused flash flooding in the upper part of the Centennial Wash between the Harcuvar and Harquahala mountain ranges. The heavy runoff flowed into the town of Wenden where water ran over the highway 60 bridge. At its peak the wash was about 3/8ths of a mile wide and 12 feet deep. The resulting high water surged through the town of Wenden with at least 400 residents evacuated. There was extensive damage to the town and for many miles downstream. The reported flow was in excess of 20,000 cfs. When the flood hit…

2. Jan 22, 2010Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flood waters mainly from the Centennial Wash moved through Wenden in the early morning hours. Law enforcement began evacuating people before waters closed the local streets and roads. About 200 people took shelter at a local high school. Flood waters up to 6 feet deep took out power poles, telephone poles, trees, damaged roads and homes. The entire town of Wenden was underwater for several days. Power was restored in most areas within 2 weeks. Generally, about 3 to 5 inches of rain fell in the watershed area during the week of January 18-22.

3. Jul 25, 2026Wildfire, Parker Valley$4.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wildfire, designated as the Island Fire, broke out a couple of miles south of Cibola, AZ along the Colorado River during the evening hours on the 25th and rapidly grew to over 3000 acres in the subsequent days. The fire impacted the Hart Mine Road Bridge, causing it to collapse into the Colorado River. The bridge is owned by the Bureau of Reclamation and even though it is a remote, low traffic bridge in the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge area, it served as a critical route between Cibola, AZ and California, especially for farmers being able to transport produce and heavy machinery. It also served as a shortcut access to faster southbound highway routes, including towards Yuma,…

4. Aug 24, 2022Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Report from La Paz County Emergency Management of water rushing into houses. Washes in the area were running full. Timing estimated from radar. No injuries were reported.

5. Sep 2, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive damage in town due to microburst winds. Power poles were knocked down and trailers were overturned. The Desert Gardens Mobile Home and Car Sales sustained the heaviest damage with several mobile homes destroyed.. Signs along I-10 were blown down, and Arizona highway 95 was closed for a short time.

6. Sep 10, 2013Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms with locally heavy rain decreased across eastern La Paz county during the afternoon hours on September 10th. However, due to the heavy rains that had occurred over the past couple of days, there was still significant flow in the Centennial Wash running though Wenden, affecting communities such as Salome. Local law enforcement indicated that many roads in Wenden were closed due to flow in Centennial Wash, and the stream gage in the wash reported 4 feet of elevation at 1345MST. Given the continued runoff the water level had the potential to rise even further into the afternoon thus increasing the likelihood of additional roads and low lying areas over eastern La Paz…

7. Jul 10, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$125,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Isolated high based thunderstorms developed across La Paz county during the evening hours on July 10th. The storms produced wind gusts estimated to be in excess of 50 knots. Video footage taken by an amateur photographer showed several power poles being snapped by high winds along highway 95 north of Quartzsite. Video footage indicated that the poles were snapped between mileposts 112 and 113 on highway 95. Additional public reports indicated a total of 17 power poles were blown over or snapped by high winds.

8. Jul 10, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Isolated high based thunderstorms developed over La Paz county during the late afternoon and evening hours on July 10th. The storms generated gusty microburst winds, estimated to be in excess of 60 knots. According to Cate's Column in the Parker Live Online paper, significant damage occurred in the community of Bouse. Strong winds lifted the roof off of a house and tossed it down a hill. The winds smashed windows, blew out metal garage doors, plucked coolers from rooftops, flattened several carports, and uprooted a number of Mesquite and Palo Verde trees.

9. Aug 1, 2005Flash Flood$100,000
10. Sep 9, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Quartzsite Fire Department reported an estimated gust of 75 mph that blew two tractor trailer trucks off the road.

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

124°FJul 1, 1950

All-time low

21°F2 times, most recently Jan 13, 2013

Warmest night

96°FJul 26, 2026

Coldest day

36°FJan 13, 1963

Wettest day

3.05 inAug 29, 1951

Snowiest day

0.1 inJan 1, 2015

Hottest year

1934mean 78.4°F

Coldest year

2013mean 71.1°F

Wettest year

197813.67 in

Driest year

19560.22 in

Station Parker Rsvr (USC00046699), 738 ft elevation, 23.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1934 to September 30, 2026; 88.2% 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 USC00046699.
• 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.