Piscataquis County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Piscataquis 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 storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 to 2025.

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.

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by ME GS (138).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jan 5, 1998Ice Storm, Southern Piscataquis$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe ICE STORM hit sections of central and southern Maine from January 5 through January 9. One of the hardest hit areas stretched from Bridgton to Lewiston to Augusta to Waterville where ice accreted several inches thick on trees, power lines, and other exposed surfaces causing almost everyone in those areas to lose electrical service. Statewide, the storm knocked out power to about 365,000 customers, an estimated 840,000 people or about 70 percent of the state's population of 1.2 million people. About one third of those that lost power were without electricity for more than a week. For some, the electricity was off for up to 3 weeks. During this time, residents and those…

2. Jun 23, 2012Flash Flood$435,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A nearly stationary thunderstorm produced 6.00 to 8.00 inches of rain in less than 4 hours in Brownville. These very heavy rains produced severe flash flooding from Brownville to Milo. Numerous roads in the Brownville and Milo areas were heavily damaged or completely washed away along with several bridges resulting in road closures. Roads heavily damaged or washed out in spots around Brownville included Route 11...Church Street...High Street...Main Road...Pleasant River Road...Quarry Road...Barnard Road...Stickney Hill Road and Lakeview Road. Gullies on some roads were 5 to 10 feet deep and 20 to 30 feet wide. A nearly 200 yard stretch of Stickney Hill was washed on to Stickney…

3. May 1, 2008Flood$192,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A combination of 3.00 to 4.00 inches of rain which fell in late April and the melting of a near record snowpack across northern portions of the county led to extensive flooding across all of Piscataquis county. Many rivers and streams overflowed their banks...producing varying degrees of flooding across the county. The flooding affected many towns...with many roads also flooded. Significant damage to public infrastructure was reported across the entire county.|Flooding was reported on the Piscataquis River at Dover-Foxcroft and on the Pleasant River at Brownville Junction. The flooding affected mostly lowland areas bordering the rivers. Other smaller rivers...streams and brooks…

4. Apr 29, 2008Flood$192,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A combination of 3.00 to 4.00 inches of rain and the melting of a near record snowpack across northern portions of the county led to extensive flooding across all of Piscataquis county. Many rivers and streams overflowed their banks...producing various degrees of flooding across the county. The flooding affected many towns...with many roads also flooded. Significant damage to public infrastructure was reported across the entire county.|Flooding was reported on the Piscataquis River at Dover-Foxcroft and on the Pleasant River at Brownville Junction. The flooding affected mostly lowland areas bordering the rivers. Other smaller rivers and streams also overflowed. Several roads were…

5. May 1, 2008Flood$192,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A combination of 3.00 to 4.00 inches of rain which fell in late April and snowmelt in headwater areas led to flooding of the Piscataquis River at Medford. The river crested less than a half foot above flood stage. The flooding affected mostly lowland areas bordering the river. This was a continuation of flooding which began in late April. The monetary value represents the total damage to public infrastructure across all of Piscataquis county from the late April and early May flooding.

6. Apr 29, 2008Flood$192,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The combination of 3.00 to 4.00 inches of rain and snowmelt in headwater areas led to flooding of the Piscataquis River at Dover-Foxcroft. The river crested about 2.5 feet above flood stage. The flooding affected mostly lowland areas bordering the river. The monetary value represents the total damage to public infrastructure across all of Piscataquis county.

7. Apr 30, 2008Flood$192,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A combination of 3.00 to 4.00 inches of rain and snowmelt in headwater areas led to flooding of the Piscataquis River in the vicinity of Medford. The river crested less than a half foot above flood stage. The flooding affected mostly lowland areas bordering the river. The flooding continued into May. The monetary value represents the total damage to public infrastructure across all of Piscataquis county.

8. Dec 13, 2010Flood$123,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The combination of 2.00 to 4.00 inches of rain and record warmth which melted 1 to 2 feet of snow led to the flooding of many small rivers and streams across the region. Flooding closed several roads...with some roads remaining closed after the flooding subsided due to damage. Unpaved and dirt roads received particularly heavy damage due to washouts and collapses. The monetary damage estimate represents a total for the entire county for the entire event.

9. Jul 6, 2009Flash Flood$64,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms containing rainfall rates of 1.0 to 1.5 inches per hour caused flash flooding. The flash flooding washed out nearly 0.7 of a mile of Blanchard Mountain Road.

10. Jan 27, 1996Flood, Central Piscataquis$33,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Flooding was produced over sections of Maine when the last and most intense storm in a series of three low pressure centers moved northeastward from the Great Lakes. South to southeast winds brought warm temperatures and heavy rainfall to the area. Rainfall from the storm exceeded 4 inches in the western Maine mountains, with 2 to 3 inches common over much of central Maine. High runoff and ice jams caused flooding on many rivers and streams from the western mountains to the northeastern corner of the state. The Kennebec, Androscoggin, Piscataquis, and Penobscot were among the major rivers flooding. About 150 people had to be evacuated from a trailer park in Milford after an ice…

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

98°FJul 6, 1982

All-time low

−31°F3 times, most recently Jan 17, 2009

Warmest night

71°F4 times, most recently Jul 25, 2018

Coldest day

−14°FDec 26, 1980

Wettest day

4.00 inJan 21, 2012

Snowiest day

24.0 inFeb 23, 2009

Hottest year

2024mean 46.0°F

Coldest year

1985mean 39.3°F

Wettest year

202358.67 in

Driest year

200124.51 in

Snowiest season

157.6 in1981-82

Station Dover-foxcroft Wwtp (USC00171975), 370 ft elevation, 5.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1973 to October 27, 2026; 95.7% 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 USC00171975.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.