Cedar County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Cedar County: 5.
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.

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.

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. May 4, 2003Tornado$40.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large tornado laid out a path of destruction across the entire county. During this time, it took a path through the center of Stockton, which is the most populated community in the county. 350 homes, businesses, and outbuildings were destroyed while 650 received major damage. 37 local residents sustained injuries as three individuals lost their lives. The tornado continued on the ground into northern Polk County.Rob Hewitt age 40, was taking cover in his frame home while the tornado completely destroyed the structure. He was deceased from flying debris.Mark Wilcox age 34, was leaving his home to help a neighbor when the tornado approached. He was caught outdoors and deceased…

2. Apr 26, 2026Hail$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail from golf balls to baseballs in size fell for over 5 minutes across rural areas west of El Dorado Springs and into the western portions of El Dorado City limits. Damage was reported to multiple vehicles, roofs, siding, outbuildings, businesses and equipment. Several windshields were reported with significant damage and holes into the interior of the vehicle.

3. May 8, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fifty to 80 mph winds caused damage to trees, boat docks, and boats across southern and central Cedar County. The most significant damage occurred on Stockton Lake, where the State Park Marina, Orleans Trail Marina, and Mutton Creek Marina had expensive damage to docks and boats. The State Park Marina estimates that 1.2 million dollars of damage occurred to the wave wall proctector. One boat broke away from a dock and became wedged underneath the dock. In the campgrounds, numerous trees were knocked over and one of the bath houses was destroyed. Several other outbuildings and numerous trees were damaged across the southern portion of the county.

4. Nov 1, 2022Drought, Cedar$1.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Drought conditions improved across Cedar County by the end of November. The US Drought Monitor indicated that moderate (D1) drought conditions remained at the end of the month after several rainfall events helped ease drought conditions below severe (D2) drought levels. Impacts across the region were primarily felt in larger scale agriculture with farm and stock ponds low but improved. Dry conditions caused grasses to dry and significantly impact hay production causing losses in hay cutting. Many farmers saw impacts to row crops such as soy beans, corn and other specialty crops.

5. Apr 26, 2026Hail$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail to baseballs in size was reported with multiple homes and vehicles in town damaged.

6. Mar 12, 2006Tornado$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado is a continuation of the Vernon County tornado. The tornado increased in intensity as it tracked across Cedar County. 47 structures were damaged and 26 were destroyed including homes and businesses. Five injuries and one fatality resulted. A 77 year old man died six days later in the hospital from blunt trauma injuries he sustained from flying debris. He apparently was attempting to move into his basement as the tornado struck his frame home near Virgil City. The tornado exited Cedar County east of Cedar Springs and continued into St. Clair County.

7. Jun 9, 2024Flash Flood$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A significant flooding event occurred during the early morning hours of June 9th. Between 4-6 inches of rainfall fell across Cedar County which caused Cedar Creek, Bear Creek, Horse Creek, Turnback Creek and its tributaries to flood. There were damages to bridges and roads which were estimated to be around 800,000 dollars.

8. Dec 9, 2007Ice Storm, Cedar$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ice accumulations up to one and a half inches were observed across much of Cedar County. The city of Stockton was hit the hardest, and widespread power outages occurred for several days. Major tree and power line damage resulted countywide.

9. Dec 9, 2007Ice Storm, Cedar$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ice accumulations up to one and a half inches were observed across much of Cedar County. The city of Stockton was hit the hardest, and widespread power outages occurred for several days. Major tree and power line damage resulted countywide.

10. Dec 1, 2025Drought, Cedar$625,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Despite well below the monthly average rainfall little changed with drought conditions through the month leaving Severe (D2) drought conditions in the county by the end of the month. Impacts across the region were largely limited to larger scale agriculture. However, farm and stock ponds saw impacts with ground water levels also falling. Some limited monetary losses were noted in areas where the drought lingered through the end of the year. Losses were determined through the end of 2025 with figures primarily focused on agricultural losses.

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

109°FAug 21, 2023

All-time low

−18°F2 times, most recently Dec 23, 1989

Warmest night

84°FJul 8, 2022

Coldest day

1°F3 times, most recently Jan 15, 2024

Wettest day

5.98 inOct 5, 1998

Snowiest day

14.0 inFeb 8, 1980

Hottest year

2012mean 62.1°F

Coldest year

1979mean 53.6°F

Wettest year

199257.02 in

Driest year

198023.37 in

Snowiest season

29.6 in1974-75

Station Stockton Dam (USC00238082), 922 ft elevation, 8.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1970 to October 23, 2026; 93.8% 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 USC00238082.
• 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.