Barber County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Mar 22, 2016Wildfire, Barber$30.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The damage values were shared between Comanche and Barber counties.

2. May 24, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rear Flank Downdraft caused extensive damage to roofs, trees, power lines and sheds.

3. Jun 3, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$360,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees were reported in town. The school gym was torn off and there was also damage to the local COOP. Damage extended out into the county.

4. Sep 27, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Microburst caused extensive damage to the Lake Arrowhead resort area. Several boat docks were destroyed. Part of a roof was taken off a cabin/house. A Garage under construction was completely destroyed. Damage was about 3 miles wide long starting near the resort and extending south and southwest. The length of the damage area was unknown due to range land extending beyond the resort. There were also six, very large-mature cottonwood trees uprooted with heavy damage to the remainder of the trees in the area.

5. May 25, 2019Lightning$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A home was struck by lightning causing a fire. The resident received smoke inhalation was expired so this is an indirect death.

6. May 31, 1999Lightning$20,000
7. May 31, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
8. Sep 27, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$15,000
9. Sep 12, 2009Flood$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A county road near Sun City was closed due to flooding.

10. May 12, 2004Tornado$10,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    This tornado moved extremely slowly churning up red-plowed fields. One barn was destroyed.

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

115°F2 times, most recently Aug 12, 1936

All-time low

−20°FFeb 12, 1899

Warmest night

87°FJul 3, 1983

Coldest day

1°FJan 17, 1930

Wettest day

7.49 inMay 5, 1987

Snowiest day

13.0 inFeb 17, 1975

Hottest year

1933mean 62.0°F

Coldest year

1917mean 55.2°F

Wettest year

191547.48 in

Driest year

196611.71 in

Snowiest season

39.7 in1911-12

Station Anthony (USW00013980), 1,340 ft elevation, 29.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1897 to October 28, 2026; 99.4% 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 USW00013980.
• 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.