Dallas County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Dallas County: 3.
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.

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. Jan 12, 2007Ice Storm, Dallas$100 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Catastrophic tree and power line damage resulted from two inches of freezing rain ice accumulation.

2. Dec 9, 2007Ice Storm, Dallas$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ice accumulations of up to an inch were observed across sections of Dallas County. Power outages were common as significant tree and power line damage occurred.

3. May 4, 2003Tornado$3.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is a continuation of the Polk County tornado that entered the northwestern portion of Dallas County near the Polk-Hickory-Dallas County lines. The tornado then tracked through rural areas and small communities of northern Dallas County where it destroyed approximately 48 homes and outbuildings and claimed the lives of two local residents.Bob and Robin Moroni ages 49 and 47, were sleeping in their modular home when the tornado struck. They were both deceased from being thrown several yards from their location.

4. May 8, 2002Flood, Dallas$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The flash flooding event on the 7th and early 8th, became a major flooding event across all of southern and central Missouri through the early afternoon of May 9th. In addition to the numerous road closures, bridges blocked by debris, evacuations of towns, campgrounds, parks, and moderate river flooding, many communities had their worst flooding in more than 10 years. The American Red Cross set up shelters in Branson and Cassville due to evacuations. Flooded roadways forced several school districts across southwest Missouri to close for a few days. Several areas of west central Missouri also had crop damage.Specifically, the worst damage occurred in the following counties; In…

5. May 8, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous oubuildings, trees, and power poles were damaged from 60 to 85 mph wind gusts. The greatest impact of these winds occurred over southern Dallas County. One newspaper stated that not a single hay barn across areas of southern Dallas County was fully intact. An Alltel tower was blown down approximately three miles south of Buffalo.

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

   A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that an EF-2 tornado touched down two miles west of Charity and tracked northeast over an intermittent path. The tornado destroyed three frame homes and numerous outbuildings. One indirect fatality and another injury resulted from this tornado. A man and his wife were both injured when their house was destroyed. He later died from a heart attack while being transported to the hospital.

7. Mar 31, 2008Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that an EF-2 tornado impacted a section of Dallas County, including the city of Buffalo. Approximately 40 homes were heavily damaged or destroyed, and three people were injured. The path of destruction extended over an industrial plant and flipped airplanes at the Buffalo Airport. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 120 mph.

8. Feb 28, 2012Tornado$650,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is a continuation of the EF-2 rated tornado that touched down in Polk County at 23:58 and moved into Dallas County from one mile north northwest of Foose to two miles east of Buffalo. In Dallas County, two frame home and six mobile homes were damaged or destroyed, three turkey barns were damaged along Wildlife Road and numerous power poles and trees were downed. One fatality occurred in a mobile home.

9. Dec 26, 2015Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   There was six to nine inches of standing water the west bound lanes of Interstate 44 at mile marker 118. Several roads, low water crossings, and bridges suffered damage from flood water. This storm report will contain the damage estimates for the entire county for this event.

10. Nov 1, 2022Drought, Dallas$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Drought conditions improved across Morgan County by the end of November. The US Drought Monitor indicated that Abnormally Dry (D0) 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.

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°F2 times, most recently Jul 30, 1980

All-time low

−30°FFeb 16, 2021

Warmest night

82°FJul 26, 2012

Coldest day

−4°FJan 15, 2024

Wettest day

6.05 inAug 13, 1946

Snowiest day

16.0 inFeb 5, 2011

Hottest year

1932mean 60.2°F

Coldest year

1993mean 52.1°F

Wettest year

199064.14 in

Driest year

195326.35 in

Snowiest season

36.5 in1969-70

Station Buffalo 2N (USC00231087), 1,071 ft elevation, 2.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1931 to September 30, 2026; 85.2% 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 USC00231087.
• 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.