Crowley County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Apr 15, 2008Wildfire, Crowley County$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wildfire erupted west of Ordway and strong winds spread the blaze rapidly east northeastward. Highways 96 and 71 were shut down, as 8900 acres of grassland was consumed. Twenty-four structures were destroyed west and north of Ordway. Over 150 power poles were destroyed. The entire town of Ordway was evacuated. Tragically, two firefighters perished when the truck they were in plummeted into a culvert, where a bridge had burned out.

2. Aug 19, 2004Flash Flood$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Slow moving thunderstorms caused very heavy rain which flooded and closed highway 96 for a time. Several homes were evacuated just east of Sugar City. Residences had water in their basements, in some cases more than four feet deep, which damaged and destroyed personal effects.

3. Jun 8, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A microburst knocked over several camping trailers at Lake Meredith southwest of Sugar City causing 5 minor injuries.

4. Apr 29, 2000Lightning$1,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Areas of thunderstorms developed over southeast Colorado, bringing high winds and large hail to some locations. One notable wind event was a microburst near Ellicott in El Paso county, which resulted in a power outage and moved an empty mobile home. In Ordway in Crowley county, a tree was struck by lightning. A branch fell and broke a window in a residence.

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

111°F2 times, most recently Jul 20, 2005

All-time low

−29°F2 times, most recently Jan 21, 2025

Warmest night

73°F6 times, most recently Jun 27, 2024

Coldest day

−4°FFeb 15, 2021

Wettest day

3.60 inJul 26, 1940

Snowiest day

18.0 inNov 19, 1930

Hottest year

2017mean 55.6°F

Coldest year

2013mean 50.8°F

Wettest year

199919.07 in

Driest year

20023.16 in

Snowiest season

54.5 in1972-73

Station Ordway 4 W (USC00056131), 4,350 ft elevation, 2.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1980 to October 27, 2026; 90.8% 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.

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 USC00056131.
• 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.