Howard County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jan 30, 2002Ice Storm, Howard$1.0 million
   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. Mar 12, 2006Tornado$450,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado crossed from Saline county into Howard county...8 miles southwest of Glasgow at 2046 CST. F2 damage was noted to several farmsteads to the northwest of Fayette before the tornado dissipated at 2102 CST...2 miles east of Armstrong.

3. Jul 9, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Downtown portions of Fayette, reported moderate to severe damage to several buildings, including a church and city hall. Large trees and power lines were also knocked down.

4. May 31, 2019Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Howard County District #2 levee failed allowing the already flooding Missouri River to spill into low lying areas of southern Howard County. Most of this area consisted of farmland, but the cities of Franklin and New Franklin received several inches of running water. News articles from across the local region indicated that crops planted earlier in the growing season in the southern part of the county were lost. Monetary damages are unknown from this flood event. This flash flooding event carried into the first couple days of June.

5. Jun 1, 2019Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The breakdown of the Howard County District #2 levee caused at least two other levees to fail, which caused more running water to enter into the farmlands of southern Howard County, as well as the towns of Franklin and New Franklin. The overall value of the damage from this event is unknown.

6. Jun 1, 2019Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is a continuation of the flash flooding as a result of a levee failure near Petersburg, Missouri. Howard County District #2 levee failed the night before, allowing the already flooding Missouri River to spill into low lying areas of southern Howard County. Most of this area consisted of farmland, but the cities of Franklin and New Franklin received several inches of running water. News articles from across the local region indicated that crops planted earlier in the growing season in the southern part of the county were lost. Monetary damages are unknown from this flood event.

7. Aug 23, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds caused damage on several farms in northwestern Howard County. Several outbuildings were damaged, including a machine barn that was destroyed. A combine was damaged when part of the machine barn landed on it. Several large trees were downed, also damaging a house and a pickup truck.

8. Apr 18, 2006Hail$50,000
9. Jun 1, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
10. Dec 9, 2007Ice Storm, Howard$5,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Up to one half inch of ice was reported across the county. Several tree limbs and power lines were reported down.

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°FJul 30, 1980

All-time low

−24°FJan 12, 1974

Warmest night

84°FJul 10, 1980

Coldest day

−8°F3 times, most recently Dec 23, 1989

Wettest day

5.95 inJul 3, 2016

Snowiest day

16.0 inFeb 2, 2011

Hottest year

2012mean 57.6°F

Coldest year

1996mean 51.6°F

Wettest year

200856.82 in

Driest year

198022.67 in

Snowiest season

31.1 in2018-19

Station New Franklin 1W (USC00236012), 641 ft elevation, 9.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1956 to September 30, 2025; 88.4% 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 USC00236012.
• 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.