Stafford County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Stafford County: 3.
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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 30, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   One trailer home was completely destroyed and the occupant received minor cuts and bruises, but lucky to be alive according to the Emergency Manager. Trees were down all over the place and several roofs received quite a bit of damage. Several pivot sprinklers overturned or damaged and a patrol car window pushed out. The same patrol car was blown into a ditch, after sitting idle with the driver pressing on the brake, powerless to the high wind.

2. Jul 30, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A microburst that lasted three minutes caused tremendous damage in the small community. Every building in the town had damage. 15 Homes had major structural damage. An ammonia tank was damaged causing a 2 to 3 block area to be evacuated.

3. Jun 18, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The winds blew a pivot irrigation sprinkler into a ditch.

4. May 26, 2008Tornado$65,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   EF1 damage was done to trees and a pivot irrigation sprinkler.

5. May 28, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees up to 2 feet in diameter were blown down and several irrigation sprinklers were rolled over. Also, hail up to 3/4 of an inch in diameter covered the ground.

6. Jun 11, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$53,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A pivot sprinkler was blown down along with 6 to 7 power poles.

7. May 16, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
8. Mar 8, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Pivot sprinkler was completely destroyed by the wind.

9. Aug 8, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$45,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms in the evening across south central counties produced hail and high wind.

10. May 8, 2008Flood$15,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    One house in town was flooded and two more had water up their porches.

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

113°FJul 27, 2011

All-time low

−20°FFeb 1, 1951

Warmest night

84°F2 times, most recently Jul 4, 1994

Coldest day

−3°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

7.77 inSep 26, 1973

Snowiest day

15.5 inFeb 21, 2013

Hottest year

2006mean 59.7°F

Coldest year

1979mean 54.1°F

Wettest year

200742.38 in

Driest year

193614.17 in

Snowiest season

51.5 in1992-93

Station Hudson (USC00143847), 1,867 ft elevation, 8.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1951 to September 29, 2026; 95.4% 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 USC00143847.
• 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.