Bear Lake County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 ID GS (59).

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. Feb 5, 2017Flood$808,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An extensive warmup combined with record snows in December and January caused minor flooding and roof collapses as the weight of heavy snow mixed with rain caused multiple rood collapses. The Geneva School roof collapsed.

2. Mar 21, 2025Winter Weather, Caribou Range$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong cold front brought winds in excess of 50 mph to the area. Blowing snow impacted highway 26 leading to a closure of the highway from Ririe to Swan Valley. Multiple vehicle crashes reported prior to closing. An 18-wheeler jackknifed and damaged a guardrail. A box truck slid off the road and was on its side in ditch.

3. Mar 1, 2017Flood$135,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Continued extensive snow melt created continued sheet flooding throughout the month with water as much as 3 feet deep in fields near Ovid. Damage estimates continued to increase from roads to property damage.

4. Aug 12, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm with high winds caused damage in the Montpelier area on this date. Trees were downed, a satellite dish was blown off the roof of a school, and tents were toppled at the county fair. A spotter in Montpelier measured a wind gust of 65 mph (56 kts).

5. May 1, 2017Flood$55,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Bear River near the Wyoming border remained at flood stage for much of the month and minor field flooding mainly continued through May. Reports of some basement flooding in the county along with road and bridge damage continued.

6. Feb 26, 2023Winter Storm, Caribou Range$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy snow and wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph closed US Highway 26 from Ririe to the Wyoming border. The LDS Church in Swan Valley was set up to house stranded motorists until the road was reopened. Snowfall amounts were 6 inches at the Swan Valley COOP site with SNOTEL estimates of 15 inches at Giveout, 23 inches at Slug Creek Divide, and 13 inches at Somsen Ranch. A police car was destroyed near Antelope Creek Road on US 26 by a snowplow with multiple accidents and slide offs prior to the closing of the road.

7. Mar 25, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   89 mph wind gust measured 2 miles west of Georgetown. Several downed power lines and poles with power outages throughout the county.

8. Jun 16, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds demolished a new hay barn.

9. Jun 10, 1998Tornado$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado was observed just outside of Montpelier. It caused some damage to a farm property.

10. Mar 10, 2023Avalanche, Bear Lake Valley$15,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    One residence and shed heavily damaged by avalanche in Georgetown Canyon 3 miles northeast of Georgetown.

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

99°F2 times, most recently Jul 28, 1931

All-time low

−41°FFeb 1, 1985

Warmest night

71°FJul 28, 1935

Coldest day

−10°FDec 22, 1990

Wettest day

1.96 inJun 18, 2018

Snowiest day

18.0 inFeb 14, 1995

Hottest year

1934mean 46.8°F

Coldest year

1985mean 37.9°F

Wettest year

198219.16 in

Driest year

19884.36 in

Snowiest season

94.0 in2022-23

Station Lifton Pumping Station (USC00105275), 5,935 ft elevation, 12.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1919 to October 27, 2026; 97.2% 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 USC00105275.
• 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.