Montgomery County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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$81.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extremely heavy rainfall from the end of June into early July caused flash flooding throughout Montgomery County. The hardest hit areas were Independence and Coffeyville. The flash flooding combined with the ensuing record river flooding along the Verdigris River led to at least 500 homes being destroyed with another 55 sustaining major damages. Businesses in the county reported 23 million in losses and the cost to public infrastructure resulted in another 4 million in damages. Additionally, 43,000 acres of cropland were flooded. The Verdigris River also overtopped a levee protecting the refinery in Coffeyville resulting in an oily toxic mess that inundated areas downstream. The…

2. Feb 28, 2012Hail$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds estimated around 70 mph in conjunction with hail ranging from golfball to baseball size produced extensive damage across Cherryvale. The wind-driven hail produced widespread roof, siding, car and window damage across town. City and county officials indicated hundreds of structures sustained some type of damage across town, with property damage estimates between $4 million and $5 million dollars. The Montgomery County Chronicle contributed to this report.

3. Jun 8, 1998Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind-driven hail smashed windows and inflicted considerable damage to roofs and vehicles.

4. Mar 30, 2006Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado produced F2 damage 4 miles north of Wayside, and again 2 miles southwest of Sycamore. Several homes and mobile homes were damaged or destroyed along its 16 mile path. The most concentrated damage occurred roughly 2 to 3 miles southwest of Sycamore in the township of Radical, where several homes and mobile homes sustained damage, some of which was major. Additionally, numerous trailers were overturned at Elk City Lake, along with damage at Elk City Lake State Park. Unfortunately, one man was seriously injured (direct) 3 miles southwest of Sycamore, when his home was hit by the tornado. Average path width ranged from 75 to 125 yards.

5. Jun 8, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees blown over, inflicting damage to at least 3 houses. Nine utilitiy poles blown over, severing power to numerous residences.

6. Apr 26, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This was a delayed report of significant property damage to the residential and business district areas of Coffeyville. Numerous large trees were uprooted/damaged. Power lines and power poles were blown down and at the time of the report remained down. Some areas of Coffeyville were still without power. Details regarding damage are unknown, so the monetary losses are a rough estimate.

7. Jan 26, 2009Winter Storm, Montgomery$500,000
   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, light snow accumulations on top of the ice made for extremely slick road conditions. Numerous automobile accidents occurred countywide, one of which produced an injury. On the evening of the 26th, A Caney man was injured when he lost control of his vehicle on the icy road while driving southbound on Highway 169, north of County Road 3420 near Liberty. The vehicle went into the ditch and overturned. Information courtesy of the Independence Daily Reporter.

8. Apr 22, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two aircraft were blown over near Cessna plant.

9. May 7, 2007Flash Flood$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water rescue performed southwest of Independence. Flooding was reported across the county.

10. Aug 25, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Measured by ASOS equipment at the airport. Some damage was reported in and around the city of Coffeyville. The roof was blown off the historic 125-year-old Brown Furniture building, which suffered a near total loss of inventory. Some roof and canopy damage also occurred at Bordertown Convenience Store. Information courtesy of the Coffeyville Journal.

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

116°FAug 9, 1936

All-time low

−23°FFeb 13, 1905

Warmest night

86°FAug 1, 1934

Coldest day

1°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

8.37 inAug 15, 2018

Snowiest day

19.0 inMar 16, 1970

Hottest year

2012mean 61.7°F

Coldest year

1979mean 55.2°F

Wettest year

201961.84 in

Driest year

195218.27 in

Snowiest season

33.1 in1987-88

Station Independence (USC00143954), 805 ft elevation, 6.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 99.0% 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 USC00143954.
• 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.