Morris County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Jun 3, 2005Flood, Morris$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding with 2 to 7 inches of rain. Some roads were under at least 3 feet of water. The Herington reservoir reached an all time high level according to local authorities. The reservoir began impounding water in 1982.

2. Nov 27, 2005Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado touched down 1 mile southwest of Delavan and moved north for 15 miles before exiting into Geary county 3 miles west of Skiddy. It produced primarily F0 damage along its path, however, F1 damage occurred on several farmsteads across northwest parts of the county, where several outbuildings were damaged or destroyed. Roofing material from one building was stuck in a fence a mile away to the north. The tornado remained on the ground across the border into southwest Geary county for 5 more miles, making the total path length 20 miles. The parent thunderstorm was a mini-supercell.

3. Jun 11, 2005Flood, Morris$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dunlap road closed due to flooding from Rock Creek.

4. Aug 26, 2005Flash Flood$70,000
5. Aug 26, 2005Flash Flood$70,000
6. Aug 25, 2005Flash Flood$50,000
7. May 6, 2007Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water reported over the road at K4 and McKenzie in White City. Road was considered impassable by sheriff's dept.

8. Aug 25, 2005Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fast flowing water over roads with small streams out of banks. Rainfall of five to seven inches produced flash flooding.

9. Aug 25, 2005Flash Flood$50,000
10. May 6, 2007Flash Flood$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Water reported flowing over sections of road between 500 block and 1200 block. Also on Main Street.

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

114°FJul 11, 1980

All-time low

−24°F2 times, most recently Dec 24, 1989

Warmest night

83°FJul 9, 1980

Coldest day

−9°FDec 25, 1983

Wettest day

5.29 inJun 1, 1996

Snowiest day

12.8 inFeb 5, 2014

Hottest year

2012mean 58.4°F

Coldest year

1979mean 51.2°F

Wettest year

197350.25 in

Driest year

196618.41 in

Snowiest season

37.0 in1978-79

Station Council Grove Lake (USC00141867), 1,315 ft elevation, 4.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1964 to October 26, 2026; 97.9% 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 USC00141867.
• 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.