Lincoln County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Feb 5, 2017Flood$2.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A significant warmup caused massive sheet flooding in Lincoln County beginning early in the month and continuing through the end. Significant damage occurred to private homes and especially roadways. The state declared Lincoln county a disaster area. Many roads were closed by the 11th with water over roadways from east of Shoshone to the Minidoka County line. The town of Kimana had significant flooding as well. Some of the road closures were 200 East Highway 24, 270 South between 650-750 East, 330S between 750 and 850, 70 South, 600 North and 1200 North.

2. Aug 10, 2000Wildfire$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning triggered the High Point fire, which quickly burned 20,300 total acres. Several silos and nearly 2000 acres of wheat, barley and pasture were destroyed. Caught and killed in the fast moving conflagration on the pasture were some 200 cattle.

3. Mar 1, 2017Flood$277,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Snow melt sheet flooding continued into March in the region with continued road and property damage due to the waters. The last two days of the month release from the Magic Reservoir into the Big Wood River caused some flooding 5 miles north of Shoshone and trapped a many in his home for a couple of days. It washed over the bridge in front of his home blocking his way out.

4. Jan 21, 2012Flood$38,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several thousand dollars worth of damage due to flooding from extensive rainfall during the week. In Lincoln County two rural houses flooded along with several road washouts. Much of 420N washed out along with 720N 825 E and several BLM roads. Several roads damaged in the city of Shoshone.

5. Aug 7, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$8,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds uprooted 25 foot tall tree 8 inches in diameter and it fell on private residence damaging home.

6. Dec 17, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$8,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A powerful cold front ripped through eastern Idaho on the 17th and included severe thunderstorms along the front and extremely high non thunderstorm winds in the cold sector post cold frontal passage throughout the day. Extensive damage was reported throughout the region.

7. Jul 4, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple trees downed in Shoshone with power outages reported. 5000 dollars worth of damage reported from tree limbs falling onto a house.

8. Aug 26, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   At mile post 169 on highway 26 four trees and 2 power lines were downed by thunderstorm winds. Power lines fell on the highway and only one lane was open for several hours.

9. Aug 22, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind damage in Shoshone with trees blown down. A storage bin blown over and road signs blown over.

10. Aug 15, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$4,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Tree blown down on top of car and power lines blown down.

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

109°F2 times, most recently Jul 10, 1973

All-time low

−36°FJan 21, 1937

Warmest night

81°FJul 11, 1940

Coldest day

−10°FJan 21, 1937

Wettest day

2.30 inAug 3, 1922

Snowiest day

17.5 inJan 28, 1925

Hottest year

2025mean 54.9°F

Coldest year

1937mean 43.7°F

Wettest year

199517.29 in

Driest year

19664.11 in

Snowiest season

87.8 in1935-36

Station Shoshone 1 Wnw (USC00108380), 3,950 ft elevation, 4.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1908 to October 25, 2026; 87.6% 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 USC00108380.
• 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.
• 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.