Butte County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Butte 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 (15), USGS Conterminous (1).

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. Sep 7, 2020High Wind, Arco-Mud Lake Desert$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A powerful cold front brought damaging winds to the Arco-Mud Lake Desert region. A 77 mph wind gust was measured 6 miles northwest of Atomic City with 73 mph 12 miles east of Howe. 40 to 50 mph sustained winds were recorded for several hours. Several mesonet sites also recorded 60 to 70 mph gusts during the event. A front porch roof was ripped off a residence in Monteview at around 5 pm MDT. A power pole was snapped in half 8 miles northwest of Monteview. Large tree uprooted 3 miles north of Monteview with numerous tree limbs down along Monteview Highway. Powerlines were reported downed with power out in Mud Lake. Most of this damage reported at around the 5 pm MDT hour. Several…

2. Feb 4, 2017Flood$265,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive snowmelt occurred at low elevations as a warmup took place for a good portion of the first 2 to 3 weeks of the month. Extensive sheet flooding of fields occurred as well as extensive minor flooding of roadways and extreme damage of roadways due to the extreme snowfall and cold temperatures in December and January.

3. Mar 14, 2026High Wind, Arco-Mud Lake Desert$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A peak gust of 89 mph was recorded at East Butte. INL Puzzle recorded 79 mph and Tom Cat Summit 77 mph. Several dozen of gusts over 60 mph occurred in the Arco-Mud Lake Desert Region through the day. Just west southwest of Hamer a power line was downed and caused a wildfire that burned and destroyed 800 tons of hay along with complete loss of two power poles.

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

   Sheet flooding continued throughout March in the county with continued road and minor property damages continuing.

5. Mar 13, 2018Flood$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive sheet flooding caused extensive damage to county roads.

6. May 1, 2017Flood$45,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Field flooding damaging agriculture and the flooding continued to damage back roads with some minor basement flooding continued through the month.

7. Jun 15, 2021Wildfire, Lost River Valleys$22,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The North Monument Fire was detected at 4 pm on the 15th and burned about 7 miles west of Arco. US 20/26/93 were temporarily closed due to the fire. Three power poles were destroyed. Some power outages reported at Craters of the Moon National Monument. Fire grew quickly to 150 acres due to wind before being contained.

8. Jul 31, 1998Flash Flood$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   BLM reported road washed out on Big Southern Butte by 1 to 2 inches of rain from a thunderstorm. BLM estimated the storm caused a 50 year flood on the butte.

9. Dec 17, 2025High Wind, Lost River Valleys$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts measured were 74 mph at Howe, 62 mph at Willow Creek Summit, 66 mph at the Sand Dunes mesonet, and 62 mph at Darlington. ||A portion of the roof of the LDS Church in Howe was blown off. A large tree at the Little Lost River Church in Howe was downed with two power poles snapped off and there was also damage at the Howe Community Center.

10. Dec 4, 2023Winter Weather, Arco-Mud Lake Desert$15,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A two vehicle collision resulted in the death of one of the passengers. Idaho State Police investigaed a vehicle fatality collision which occurred on Monday, December 4, 2023, at 7:05 A.M. on State Highway 33 at mile marker 57 east of Terreton.||A 2008 Chevrolet Silverado was traveling eastbound on SH33. A 2018 Volvo semi-truck hauling a trailer was traveling westbound on SH33. The Chevrolet crossed the center line where it struck the Volvo head on.||The driver of the Chevrolet, a 23-year-old-man from Terreton, was not wearing a seatbelt and succumbed to his injures at scene. The driver of the semi-truck, a 24-year-old-man from Louisville, KY, was wearing a seatbelt and was…

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

102°F4 times, most recently Jul 21, 1960

All-time low

−46°FJan 21, 1937

Warmest night

72°F2 times, most recently Jul 8, 2007

Coldest day

−13°FDec 23, 1983

Wettest day

2.44 inFeb 8, 1985

Snowiest day

30.0 inFeb 2, 1915

Hottest year

1934mean 49.9°F

Coldest year

1964mean 38.9°F

Wettest year

192316.58 in

Driest year

20133.50 in

Station Arco (USC00100375), 5,325 ft elevation, 4.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1914 to September 30, 2026; 87.5% 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 USC00100375.
• 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.