Caldwell County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jan 30, 2002Winter Storm, Caldwell$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A long-lived major ice and snow storm blasted much of northwest, northern and central Missouri from late Tuesday, January 29th, until Thursday, January 31st. Ice accumulations of over an inch were observed from the Kansas City metropolitan area, east and north through Moberly Missouri. At one point 409,504 total customers were without electrical power in the CWA, with some residents without power up to two weeks. For the Kansas City area, the ice storm was ranked as the worst ever. Further north across northern Missouri, heavy snow fell generally along and north of a line, from St. Joseph to Trenton to Kirksville. Snow accumulations ranged from 8 to 14 inches.

2. Jun 14, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A storm survey team from the National Weather Service Office in Pleasant Hill, MO reported straight line wind damage in Polo and Braymer. Several sheds were damaged in Polo. On County Road KK along the southeast side of Braymer, a doublewide mobile home was destroyed. Diagonally across the street from the destroyed mobile home, a barn, a chicken house and a grain bin were destroyed on a farmsted. A horse on this property was killed by flying debris.

3. May 24, 2004Hail$25,000
4. Oct 4, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several outbuildings damaged and trees downed. wind speed estimated.

5. Aug 18, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
6. Sep 22, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$15,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Law enforcement officials reported trees and power lines down, and minor damage to a building.

7. May 8, 2021Thunderstorm Wind$15,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Property owner near Cowgill reported a few 1 to 2 foot diameter trees down, along with some shingle damage to the roof of the home and a metal roof peeled back on the barn.

8. Oct 24, 2021Tornado$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed just east of Interstate 35 in Clinton County, MO. It quickly crossed into Caldwell County, MO where it damaged several trees and a few buildings. The tornado dissipated just east of Goose Creek and State Route D.

9. Sep 7, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Building blown down next to grain silo. Numerous trees and power lines down. A propane tank was blown over. An ambulance was blown of the road.

10. Jun 20, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A large tree was reported down on a vehicle parked at a residence in Hamilton, Missouri.

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

110°FJul 8, 2012

All-time low

−26°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

81°F2 times, most recently Jul 24, 2010

Coldest day

−9°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

7.16 inAug 17, 2009

Snowiest day

11.0 inApr 2, 1926

Hottest year

2012mean 57.6°F

Coldest year

2014mean 50.4°F

Wettest year

199860.12 in

Driest year

195320.07 in

Snowiest season

51.8 in1961-62

Station Chillicothe 2S (USC00231580), 780 ft elevation, 25.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1980 to October 27, 2026; 98.6% 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 USC00231580.
• 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.