Camas County
Population 1,316 (2025) 1,074 sq mi
Large wildfires have burned 142,304 acres of Camas County since 1984, 24th most of 44 counties in Idaho; the largest was the Thorn Creek Fire in 1990.
Hazard fingerprint Each spoke is this county’s percentile among U.S. counties where that hazard occurs. How it is computed
- Tornado damage paths since 19504
- Wildfire burn scars since 198419
At a glance
The record for Camas County in eight numbers. Each links to its section below.
Acres burned since 1984
142,304
24th of 44 in Idaho
19 large fires; the largest was Thorn Creek, 1990
DetailsStrongest tornado
F1
July 5, 1961, 5.1 mile path
Tornadoes
About one every 19 years since 1950, none rated F3/EF3 or stronger.
Strongest
July 5, 1961
F1, 5.1 mile path
10 yards wide.
Most recent
Friday, August 29, 1986
F0, 1.0 mile path
40 years ago.
Every recorded tornado
| Aug 29, 1986 | F0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jun 8, 1967 | F0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Jul 5, 1961 | F1 | 5.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Jun 2, 1961 | F0 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 |
- Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Camas County: 0.
- 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.
Hurricanes and tropical storms
No tropical storm or hurricane has tracked within 100 miles since records began in 1851.
Wildfire and smoke
142,304 acres burned in 19 large fires since 1984, equal to 21% of the land.
Largest
August 8, 1990
Thorn Creek Fire, 70,381 acres
31,812 acres inside Camas County.
Most recent
September 4, 2022
Wildhorse Fire
8,775 acres in total.
Every large fire
| Wildhorse | 2022 | 138 | 8,775 |
| Ross Fork | 2022 | 8,922 | 40,690 |
| Phillips Creek | 2020 | 1,997 | 1,996 |
| Stewart Creek | 2018 | 6,442 | 6,441 |
| Kelley | 2013 | 11,607 | 16,289 |
| Beaver Creek | 2013 | 18,150 | 111,308 |
| Mccan | 2013 | 22,874 | 22,876 |
| Fir Grove | 2013 | 4,579 | 7,132 |
| Leggit | 2013 | 230 | 1,152 |
| South Barker Wfu | 2008 | 5,884 | 36,083 |
| Cow Creek | 2007 | 5,357 | 5,355 |
| Willow Creek | 2001 | 13,408 | 18,545 |
| Trail Creek | 2000 | 38 | 33,538 |
| Davis Mountain | 1996 | 4,005 | 19,386 |
| Boyer | 1995 | 384 | 1,130 |
| Powell Creek | 1992 | 1,946 | 1,948 |
| Thorn Creek | 1990 | 31,812 | 70,381 |
| Sheep Lake | 1989 | 2,304 | 2,302 |
| Mckay Gulch | 1988 | 2,217 | 2,218 |
- 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
Smokiest year
2021: 64 days
Heavy smoke on 39 days in 2021, the most of any year.
Last 10 years
24.4 days a year
Medium or heavy smoke, 2016 to 2025.
2025
9 days
Medium or heavy smoke. 25 so far in 2026.
- 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.
Floods and flood insurance
No federal flood insurance claims are recorded for this county.
Flood events since 1996
- Flash Flood4
- Heavy Rain3
- Flood1
OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.
Drought
In severe drought or worse for 145 of 1,581 months since 1895 (9%); the longest spell lasted 11 months.
145
Months in severe drought or worse since 1895
26
Months in extreme drought
9%
Share of all months, severe or worse
Lowest reading
April 1977
−5.02, extreme drought
Longest severe spell
11 months
April 1934 to February 1935.
Latest month
September 2026
−3.96, severe drought
- 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.
Earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides
74 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles since 1900; the largest was magnitude 6.9 in 1983.
1
Magnitude 2.5+ inside the county since 1973
725
Magnitude 3+ within 50 miles since 1973
74
Magnitude 4+ within 50 miles since 1900
7
Magnitude 5+ within 50 miles since 1900
Largest within 50 miles
October 28, 1983
The 1983 Borah Peak Earthquake, Idaho; 45.6 miles away, 6.2 miles deep.
Most recent, magnitude 3 or more
September 11, 2026
Magnitude 3.2
22 km NW of Stanley, Idaho; 35.3 miles away.
Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles
- 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).
- 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
| Black Butte Crater lava field | 1.9 | Low |
| Craters of the Moon Volcanic Field | 45.4 | Low |
| Wapi Lava Field | 62.4 | Low |
| Hells Half Acre lava field | 98.1 | Low |
- 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
52
Landslides mapped, probable or better
0
With a recorded date
1
Source inventory
Mapped by ID GS (52).
- 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.
Severe weather and other events
230 events in the National Weather Service record, 221 of them since 1996.
5
Hail reports, 1 inch or larger
0
Hail, 2 inches or larger
5
Damaging gusts, 58 mph+
188
Winter weather events since 1996
0
Heat events since 1996
1
Cold events since 1996
Largest hail
May 25, 1965
1.50 inches
Strongest measured or estimated gust
June 6, 2011
70 mph
More event types since 1996
| Avalanches | 2 | 4 |
Costliest events since 1996
- May 21, 2013Strong Wind, Boise Mountains$10,000
National Weather Service narrative
Wind damage was reported in Garden Valley with trees down and damage to homes.
- 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.
Weather records
From Soldier R.s., 9.6 miles from the county’s population centre, with records from 1986.
- All-time high
- 100°FJul 31, 2000
- All-time low
- −31°FDec 22, 1990
- Warmest night
- 62°F3 times, most recently Jul 21, 2026
- Coldest day
- −9°FDec 22, 1990
- Wettest day
- 3.10 inOct 24, 2010
- Hottest year
- 2021mean 45.4°F
- Coldest year
- 2011mean 41.0°F
- Wettest year
- 199638.70 in
- Driest year
- 201313.40 in
Station Soldier R.s. (USS0014F11S), 5,740 ft elevation, 9.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1986 to October 26, 2026; 93.8% 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.
Federal disaster declarations
8 since 1953. The most recent: Covid-19 Pandemic, April 9, 2020.
| Apr 9, 2020 | Biological | DR-4534-ID |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | EM-3467-ID |
| Aug 27, 2017 | Flood | DR-4333-ID |
| Aug 15, 2013 | Fire | FM-5045-ID |
| Sep 13, 2005 | Hurricane | EM-3244-ID |
| Jan 4, 1997 | Severe Storm | DR-1154-ID |
| May 5, 1977 | Drought | EM-3040-ID |
| Dec 31, 1964 | Flood | DR-186-ID |
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.
How this compares
Where Camas County stands among 44 counties in Idaho and 3,143 in the United States.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 4 | 20 / 44 |
| Tornadoes rated F3/EF3 or stronger | 0 | — |
| Tropical cyclones within 50 mi | 0 | — |
| Hurricane-strength passes within 50 mi | 0 | — |
| Wildfire acres since 1984 | 142,304 | 24 / 44 |
| Flood insurance claims | 0 | — |
| Flood insurance paid | $0 | — |
| Disaster declarations | 8 | 16 / 44 |
| Flood events since 1996 | 8 | 38 / 44 |
| Hail and wind events since 1996 | 23 | 43 / 44 |
| Winter storm events since 1996 | 188 | 21 / 44 |
| Reported damage since 1996 | $10,000 | 44 / 44 |
| River crests at major flood stage | 0 | — |
| High tide flooding days a year, last 10 years | 0.0 | — |
| Months in severe drought since 1895 | 145 | 36 / 44 |
| Medium or heavy smoke days a year, last 10 years | 24.4 | 24 / 44 |
| Earthquakes M4+ within 50 mi since 1900 | 74 | 15 / 44 |
| Earthquakes M2.5+ in the county since 1973 | 1 | 29 / 44 |
Neighbouring counties
| Blaine County | 7 | 0 |
| Elmore County | 5 | 0 |
| Gooding County | 6 | 0 |
| Lincoln County | 4 | 0 |
Sources and vintage
Every number on this page comes from these public records.
- 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 USS0014F11S.
- 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.