Washington County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Washington 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. Nov 16, 2009Heavy Snow, Washington$1.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Eight inches of heavy wet snow measured. Power outages have been reported around the county. Emergency Management reported that numerous power lines have been taken down due to tree branches falling on power lines. This in turn damaged power poles which totaled around 1.6 million dollars in damage between Washington and Marshall Counties.

2. Nov 16, 2009Heavy Snow, Washington$1.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy wet snow measured at 12 inches four miles southeast of Morrowville in Washington County. Residents are without power and one mile of power poles are reported to be snapped from the weight of snow on lines. Damage estimate of 1.6 million is for combined county total including Washington, Marshall, Republic and Cloud counties.

3. Apr 6, 2006Tornado$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado touched down at 420pm cst 5 miles north of Barnes and was on the ground for 17 miles before crossing the state line into Gage County, Nebraska 3.5 miles east-northeast of Hollenberg, Kansas...or about 3 miles south and 0.5 miles west of Odell, Nebraska. It was caused by a supercell thunderstorm and was sighted by many storm chasers and storm spotters. Most of the damage with this tornado was rated as F0 or F1. However, strong F2 damage was noted near the intersection of Highways 36 and 148, where one brick home had the roof torn off and some of the exterior walls knocked down. The occupants of the home were in the basement and had to be helped from the damaged home by…

4. May 7, 2007Flood$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Moderate or greater flooding on Mill Creek immediate reach of gage vicinity of Washington. Flood damage to county and township roads, bridges, culverts, solid waste department and rural water district.

5. May 9, 1996Tornado$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado hit along the Clay-Washington county line moving east through mainly the city of Vining, beginning about 1.5 West of town and ending about 1/2 mile eastnortheast. Some damage was also noted in Clifton. There were about 25 buildings damaged in Vining including a large grain elevator complex with many trees downed or uprooted. A few buildings had their roofs torn completely off. Wind damage also occurred just north of Vining on a couple of farm homes and buildings. There were no injuries.

6. May 5, 2002Tornado$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down in Mahaska and produced considerable damage to homes and buildings.

7. Jun 27, 1998Tornado$55,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado moved through the town of Hollenberg, touching down at several locations. The tornado in combination with strong straight line winds destroyed a small car garage, damaged the shingles, siding, or windows on at least 6 houses, damaged a grain bin, and damaged a shed. The storm also downed power lines and telephones lines as well as numerous large tree limbs.

8. Jun 9, 2005Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   At least 6 inches of fast flowing water across roads around Washington.

9. Aug 7, 1996Lightning$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a house northeast of Washington and started a fire which damaged most of the house.

10. Jul 31, 2007Flash Flood$20,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Six-inch deep water reported to be flowing across Hwy 9.

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

112°FJul 12, 1954

All-time low

−29°F2 times, most recently Feb 16, 2021

Warmest night

82°F3 times, most recently Aug 4, 1982

Coldest day

−7°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

6.42 inApr 13, 1991

Snowiest day

14.5 inJan 6, 2025

Hottest year

1974mean 58.0°F

Coldest year

1985mean 51.4°F

Wettest year

199353.24 in

Driest year

200215.59 in

Snowiest season

65.4 in1959-60

Station Washington (USC00148578), 1,305 ft elevation, 2.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 96.7% 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 USC00148578.
• 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.