Christian County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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. Mar 12, 2006Tornado$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado is a continuation of the Lawrence County tornado. Significant structural damage occurred across the Christian County panhandle in a rural area between Billings and Clever. This area was also heavily impacted by the 4 May 2003 tornado. A subdivision with solid well built homes northwest of Nixa was directly impacted by the tornadoes destruction. 138 structures were damaged while 127 structures were destroyed. The tornado weakened as it tracked into southern Greene County, impacting southern sections of the city of Springfield.

2. Apr 28, 2026Hail$29.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A hail swath from a mile to 2 miles wide continued from northeast of Marionville and continued to the northeast across far western Christian County. Hail from quarters to baseballs in size fell along a path from northeast of Marionville to north of Billings as a left moving supercell moved to the northeast across the County. Along the storms path, numerous homes, vehicles, businesses, equipment, crops, livestock and other structures were damaged by hail before the storm passed into southwestern Greene County.

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

   Sixty to 90 mph winds created widespread damage to trees, structures, and power poles across much of the county. Roof damage to homes and businesses was significant in and around the communities of Billings, Nixa, Highlandville, and Ozark. Two mobile homes were heavily damaged in Highlandville from large trees falling on them. Several power poles were knocked over in Nixa, causing damage to some of the mobile units of the school district.

4. Apr 30, 2019Tornado$6.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service Storm survey confirmed an EF-2 tornado, produced by a slow moving supercell, tracked from two miles north of Ozark, Missouri to five miles northwest of Rogersville, Missouri. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 20 minutes along its 10.3 mile total track with maximum wind speeds estimated at 134 mph. Along the tornadoes track, which started in Christian County and continued into Greene County, 235 homes and multiple out buildings were damaged. Twelve homes were reported as total losses. As many as 45 vehicles were damaged and three horses were killed when a barn was hit. Hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted and multiple power poles and…

5. May 4, 2003Tornado$5.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado is a continuation of the Lawrence County tornado that laid a half mile wide path of destruction across the Christian County panhandle. Populated areas between the communities of Billings and Clever were affected that resulted in one fatality and three injuries. 27 structures were destroyed while 150 were damaged that added up to around 5.1 million dollars of monetary losses. The tornado continued on the ground into southwestern Greene County.Ruth Little age 63, was taking cover in her frame home with her husband and daughter. As the tornado struck, she was thrown about 50 yards from her location and was deceased from injury. Her husband and daughter survived the event.

6. Mar 17, 2008Flash Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Major river flooding occurred along the James and Finley rivers. This flooding occurred in response to eight inches of rain the fell near the headwaters of these two rivers. Many homes and a few businesses experienced flood damage near the cities of Ozark and Nixa. All low areas that typically flood during periods of excessive rainfall were flooded.

7. Apr 28, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A thunderstorm complex containing straight-line winds of 80 mph affected the western part of the county. The main damage was in a path from Billings to Clever where over a total of 150 homes and businesses sustained damage. The hardest hit was the town of Clever where 100 homes and businesses were severely damaged, including the First Peoples Bank which had its roof blown off. Two people were injured in Clever when winds hit a mobile home park overturning trailers.

8. May 8, 2009Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado is an extension of the Taney County tornado. A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that an EF-1 tornado impacted extreme southeast Christian County. Wind speeds were estimated at 100 mph as the tornado damaged two homes, destroyed a few outbuildings, and downed numerous trees. The tornado eventually tracked into western Douglas County.

9. Jul 10, 2015Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Finley River flooded several businesses in the city of Ozark. Highway 14 and Highway 125 near Ozarks was flooded and closed. The fairgrounds were flooded and some equipment was washed away. The country fair was cancelled due to the flood water. This storm report will contain the overall flood damage estimates across Christian County for this storm event. There were several episodes and heavy rainfall events which led to a compound affect to the flooding damage. Numerous roads, bridges, and low water crossings were heavily damaged.

10. Apr 25, 2011Flash Flood$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Widespread flooding of low water crossings were reported. Fourteen rural county roads were closed due to flooding.||The total cost estimate for flooding damages for Christian County for this entire episode has been included. This includes roads, bridges, and structures which were affected.

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 14, 1954

All-time low

−17°FFeb 9, 1979

Warmest night

80°F2 times, most recently Aug 22, 2023

Coldest day

−1°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

6.27 inNov 24, 1987

Snowiest day

15.7 inMar 16, 1970

Hottest year

2024mean 59.7°F

Coldest year

1979mean 53.6°F

Wettest year

199063.19 in

Driest year

195325.21 in

Snowiest season

43.6 in1969-70

Station Springfield (USW00013995), 1,375 ft elevation, 16.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1940 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00013995.
• 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.