Chautauqua County

Every recorded tornado

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

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jan 1, 1999Winter Storm, Chautauqua$300,000
2. Jan 26, 2009Winter Storm, Chautauqua$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   One-quarter inch of ice and sleet accumulated across the county due to periodic freezing drizzle, freezing rain and sleet. Additionally, a trace to one inch of light snow accumulated on top of the ice, making for extremely slick road conditions. Numerous automobile accidents occurred countywide, but no injuries were reported.

3. May 31, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Estimated winds up to 85 mph caused a swath of damage from Cedar Vale to 9 miles northwest of Sedan. Numerous trees, power lines, and limbs were reported down. The swath was estimated to be 2 to 3 miles wide. An estimated 9 power poles were laying across highway 99.

4. Jun 11, 2007Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The CO-OP observer in Cedar Vale measured 7.2 inches of rain which lead to flooding of his residence. 6 inches of rain was also measured in the town of Chautauqua. Flash flooding was also reported in Sedan where numerous city streets were inundated.

5. Jul 1, 2007Flash Flood$48,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extremely heavy rainfall from the end of June into early July caused flash flooding throughout Chautauqua County. This resulted in roughly 48 thousand dollars in damage.

6. Mar 27, 2009Winter Storm, Chautauqua$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A periodic wintry mix of rain, sleet and freezing rain affected the county from the early to mid morning hours on the 27th through the early morning hours on the 28th. The wintry mix eventually changed over to light snow from west to east for a relatively brief period during the morning and afternoon hours on the 28th. Widespread ice accumulations ranged from one-quarter to three quarters of an inch, especially over western portions of the county. Total sleet and snow accumulations on top of the ice ranged from a trace to 2 inches, highest over western portions of the county.

7. Apr 23, 2004Flash Flood$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Highway 99 underwater. Unspecified number of towns without power.

8. Jun 16, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The estimated winds of 80 mph blew about 50 percent of a roof off of a home.

9. Apr 4, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Power lines were reported down across US highway 99 and 6 to 8 inch tree limbs were down all across town.

10. Aug 25, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A barn was completely destroyed, and two large cedar trees were uprooted.

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

118°F2 times, most recently Jul 18, 1936

All-time low

−27°FJan 30, 1949

Warmest night

91°FSep 3, 1947

Coldest day

1°F2 times, most recently Dec 23, 2022

Wettest day

8.74 inOct 3, 1986

Snowiest day

14.0 inDec 17, 1904

Hottest year

1954mean 62.1°F

Coldest year

1993mean 54.4°F

Wettest year

198664.58 in

Driest year

191017.77 in

Snowiest season

33.8 in1923-24

Station Sedan (USC00147305), 902 ft elevation, 2.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 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 USC00147305.
• 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.