Richland County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Claims by ZIP code

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.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Feb 1, 2011Ice Storm, Richland$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous weather observers across Richland County measured between one quarter and one half an inch of ice. The heavy glaze of ice downed tree branches, resulting in power outages across the county. In addition, icy road conditions led to several traffic accidents.

2. Nov 5, 2017Tornado$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down in an open field about 3.4 miles north of Noble at 5:24 pm CST. The tornado tracked to the east-northeast...damaging the roof of a house, destroying a garage, damaging a truck in the garage, and downing several trees before doing damage to the roof of a barn on Pleasant Ridge Lane at around 5:26 pm. The tornado continued to the east-northeast for another 7 minutes primarily damaging trees. The tornado dissipated at 5:33 pm CST, 3.2 miles north-northwest of Olney about one-half mile northwest of the Richland Country Club.

3. Apr 28, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Straight line winds blew numerous trees and power lines down from Noble eastward through Calhoun and Claremont between 4:10 PM CDT and 4:45 PM CDT.

4. May 7, 2008Lightning$62,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A lightning strike to a 60 foot tall brick chimney in downtown Olney resulted in damage to 16 autos and the roof of the building. Bricks were thrown as far as one block away. Three people were indirectly injured by falling bricks and debris. Ages and genders of the three people were not available. The three injuries were minor, and the people were treated and released at a local hospital.

5. Jul 23, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several trees and power lines were blown down across Olney.

6. Jun 15, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Roofing material was blown off a garage onto Route 130. In addition, numerous trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down around. One tree was blown onto a home and another tree was blown onto a garage.

7. Jul 12, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous tree branches and power lines were blown down in Olney.

8. Apr 8, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A barn was blown over northwest of Olney.

9. May 23, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous tree limbs and powerlines were blown down across Olney.

10. Jan 13, 2005Flash Flood$46,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Many roads along the Fox River had water flowing across them. In addition, numerous streets in Olney were flooded.

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

112°F2 times, most recently Jul 15, 1936

All-time low

−25°FFeb 2, 1951

Warmest night

83°FJun 29, 1952

Coldest day

−4°FJan 7, 2014

Wettest day

6.43 inSep 3, 1926

Snowiest day

12.0 inJan 15, 1918

Hottest year

1921mean 60.8°F

Coldest year

1917mean 50.9°F

Wettest year

201166.87 in

Driest year

193625.52 in

Snowiest season

37.0 in1917-18

Station Olney 2S (USC00116446), 459 ft elevation, 1.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1896 to July 7, 2026; 97.3% 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 USC00116446.
• 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.