Elk County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Elk County: 2.
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. Jul 1, 2007Flash Flood$27.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extremely heavy rainfall from the end of June into early July caused flash flooding throughout Elk County. The flooding damaged or destroyed around 400 houses. This led 12 to 42 million dollars in damage. An awesome 21.49 inches of rain fell during the month of June. Much of this fell during the last few days of the month.

2. Jan 1, 1999Winter Storm, Elk$300,000
3. May 8, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$180,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An estimated 80 mph winds knocked down 6 barns, and broke several trees.

4. Jan 26, 2009Winter Storm, Elk$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

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

5. Jun 14, 2001Lightning$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The northwest roof of Elk County Courthouse was struck, inflicting damage to the roof tile, the elevator, and several computers. A second lightning strike set fire to a hay barn. The barn was a total loss.

6. Apr 3, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damage was reported to buildings and homes, including windows blown out. One mobile home was also damaged.

7. Aug 5, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees were knocked down across town.

8. Apr 2, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A pole barn with dimensions of 40 feet by 60 feet was completely destroyed. Additionally, some minor shed and house damage occurred. Ten inch tree limbs were blown down as well.

9. Mar 27, 2009Winter Storm, Elk$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wintry mix of 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 all snow from west to east during the morning hours on the 28th, and persisted into the afternoon hours. Widespread ice accumulations ranged from one-quarter to three quarters of an inch, with isolated 1 inch amounts. Total sleet and snow accumulations on top of the ice ranged from 1 to 2 inches. The weight of the ice in concert with the stout winds downed some power poles, power lines and tree limbs across the county, which resulted in numerous power outages. The Independence Daily…

10. Jun 3, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$27,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A supercell thunderstorm developed during the afternoon in the Oklahoma panhandle. The storm evolved into bow echo and raced across South Central into Southeast Kansas causing widespread severe winds and damage. After the bow echo moved through Southeast Kansas, another severe thunderstorm developed over South Central Kansas producing golf ball sized hail.

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, 20.4 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.