Hickory County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Nov 30, 2006Winter Storm, Hickory$15.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major winter storm caused a combination of freezing rain, sleet, and heavy snow to fall over sections of southwest and central Missouri. The frozen precipitation began on the 30th, the precipitation type was freezing rain and sleet, with ice accumulations up to four inches in some areas. The second wave of precipitation occurred overnight causing large amount of snow to accumulate over the ice. Storm total accumulations ranging from 13 to 17 inches occurred from the Lake of the Ozarks Region, over to Vernon and Cedar counties. Meanwhile other areas north of the Interstate 44 corridor experienced storm totals ranging from seven to 12 inches.|The combination of the ice and snow…

2. May 20, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service storm survey determined multiple swaths of straight line winds occurred across Hickory County. One swath that started as a downburst at the ball fields on the southwest side of Wheaton continued east damaging outbuildings and homes through Wheaton. Winds increased to 90 mph as the storm approached the Lucas Oil race track, damaging grandstands, overturning over 20 recreational vehicles, and snapping dozens of trees.

3. Mar 12, 2006Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large tornado touched down over rural southwest Hickory County and tracked near the Pomme De Terre lake damn. The tornado eventually tore through an intersection known as Carsons Corner causing signficant structural damage along with 19 injuries.

4. Jul 13, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large boat dock about 64 feet wide and 250 feet long was ripped up and blown on to another dock nearby. About 40 boats were damaged with half of that number totaled. Time was estimated.

5. Jul 17, 2023Hail$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to 3 inches in size was reported. Significant damage to multiple vehicles and roofs occurred across the town of Preston. Hail damaged trees and other outbuildings.

6. Feb 25, 2000Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F1 tornado, with an intermittent 100 yard wide damage path, touched down 3 miles southeast of Preston, MO. The tornado traveled rapidly northeast and lifted 4 miles northeast of Preston. The roof to the Skyline Elementary School was damaged. Most of the school's bus maintenance building either blew away or collapsed. Debris damaged three vehicles nearby. The bus maintenance communication tower was severely damaged. Two nearby homes were damaged and numerous outbuildings were destroyed.Even though school was in session when the tornado hit, there were no injuries reported. Advanced warning allowed the school to activate their emergency storm plan. Children and school officials…

7. Jan 12, 2007Ice Storm, Hickory$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The southeast half of Hickory County experienced ice accumulations up to one and a half inches, while the northwest half of the county experienced about three inches of sleet pack. Areas that received the freezing rain ice accumulations, catastrophic tree and power line damage occurred.

8. Nov 1, 2022Drought, Hickory$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Drought conditions improved across Morgan 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.

9. Jul 17, 2023Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to tennis balls in size was reported in a mostly rural location. However, roof damage to at least 7 homes and outbuildings or barns occurred along with a few damaged vehicles.

10. Dec 9, 2007Ice Storm, Hickory$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Ice accumulations ranging from one half inch to one inch occurred across all of Hickory County. Power outages were common while trees and power lines were damaged.

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

111°FJul 31, 1986

All-time low

−22°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

82°FJul 22, 2011

Coldest day

−6°FDec 25, 1983

Wettest day

5.90 inOct 16, 1965

Snowiest day

10.0 inMar 6, 1989

Hottest year

2012mean 58.8°F

Coldest year

1979mean 50.8°F

Wettest year

202055.78 in

Driest year

197619.92 in

Station Pomme De Terre Dam (USC00236777), 918 ft elevation, 0.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1961 to October 27, 2026; 92.4% 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 USC00236777.
• 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.