Cheyenne County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Cheyenne 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 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.

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. Jun 12, 2009Hail$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The combination of hail and strong wind broke windows and stripped leaves off of trees. Wind speeds were estimated at 65 mph.

2. Mar 24, 2017Winter Storm, Cheyenne County$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Up to a foot of snow was reported in the far northwest corner of the county near the Palmer Divide. The wet, heavy snow, along with wind gusts around 60 MPH caused 400 power poles to be broken north of Highway 287 to the county line and west of Highway 59. Power poles running north to south were not broken.

3. Dec 15, 2021Wildfire, Cheyenne County$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds knocked over a power pole in a corn field, sparking a fire along County Road N south of Cheyenne Wells. The fire burned 125 acres, damaging an irrigation pivot and burning an unknown number of power poles near the field.

4. Aug 28, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$175,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Report of roof damage, some windows blown out. Stock tanks and dumpsters tossed up to half a mile away to the southeast. A communications tower folded in half. Tons of dead trees and fences blown over and laying to the southeast as well.

5. Aug 2, 2017Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An official for the railroad that runs by Wild Horse reported portions of track had been washed out along a five mile stretch from roughly CR R to CR 14. There were also public reports of water running over Highway 287/40 between CR R and CR 14. Rainfall estimates close to 2.50 occurred in this area in less than an hour time frame. Total amount of washed out track was not given; best guess is around 400 ft.

6. Jul 26, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A delayed report was received via social media of two center pivots blown over due to strong wind estimated at 80 mph.

7. Apr 22, 2010Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Observer reported ten windows were broken in his house, two vehicles completely damaged beyond repair, and hail damage to all buildings.

8. Apr 29, 2014Dust Storm, Cheyenne County$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Initial report was from public, and later confirmed throughout the morning by law enforcement, fire/rescue, cooperative observer and trained spotters. Most of the county experienced low to no visibility in blowing dirt through the morning as winds gusted 50 to 70 mph. Newspaper reported highway 40/287 was closed and numerous minor injury accidents which involved four semis and six cars.

9. May 26, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two to possibly three roofs have collapsed in town and numerous trees have been blown down. Several semis have also been blown over Highway 287 and there are power lines across the highway due to power poles being blown down.

10. Aug 11, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Significant damage and a power outage was originally reported by emergency management in Arapahoe due to thunderstorm wind gusts. Additional damage reports from the public in Arapahoe included the following: a 30 foot by 80 foot Quonset hut was completely destroyed, numerous power lines were downed, multiple houses had their roofs blown off, and a large steel building with a concrete base was destroyed as a result of this thunderstorm wind event.

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°F3 times, most recently Jun 29, 1963

All-time low

−29°FJan 28, 1948

Warmest night

85°F2 times, most recently Jun 28, 1934

Coldest day

−6°FJan 11, 1963

Wettest day

6.90 inJul 30, 2014

Snowiest day

18.0 inNov 19, 1975

Hottest year

1954mean 56.2°F

Coldest year

1993mean 49.6°F

Wettest year

194122.63 in

Driest year

20204.64 in

Snowiest season

68.0 in1959-60

Station Eads (USC00052446), 4,212 ft elevation, 28.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1907 to September 30, 2026; 98.4% 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 USC00052446.
• 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.