Lawrence County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Lawrence County: 9.
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.

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.

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. Apr 28, 2026Hail$118 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A hail swath from a mile to 3 miles wide began near southwest of Aurora and continued to the northeast across southeastern Lawrence County. Hail from quarters to softballs in size fell along a path from Aurora to Marionville as an intensifying 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 far western Christian County.

2. May 4, 2003Tornado$27.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado is a continuation of the Newton County tornado. A large tornado laid out a half mile wide path of destruction across southwest, central, and east central Lawrence County. Several communities was affected, however, the community of Pierce City was hardest hit as the historic downtown of 100 plus year old buildings were completely destroyed. Around 229 homes, buisnesses, and outbuildings were destroyed while 320 were damaged. The tornado also claimed the lives of five local residents and injured 33. The tornado continued on the ground into the Christian County panhandle. Dale Taunton age 52, was taking cover inside a National Guard armory tornado shelter, but was not in…

3. Nov 18, 2003Hail$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm tracked over the community of Aurora launching hail to the size of baseballs over the central and northern sections of the city. Numerous structures in the downtown area lost windows and sustained minor damage from the large hail. Two car lots were affected along with significant roof damage to homes.

4. Mar 12, 2006Tornado$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm that produced a tornado in Newton County, spawned a large tornado in Lawrence County approximately one mile north of Verona. The tornado damaged 46 structures and destroyed 21. One fatality occurred from flying debris striking an elderly man in his frame home north of Marionville. This tornado basically followed a similar path that another F-3 tornado tracked along during the 4 May 2003 tornado outbreak.

5. Jan 12, 2007Ice Storm, Lawrence$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two inches of ice accumulation impacted exposed objects across the entire county. Catastrophic tree and power line damage occurred leaving residents without power up to 15 days.

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

   Sixty to 85 mph winds caused widespread wind damage across much of Lawrence County. Damage consisted of trees, power poles, structures, and business signs. Winds destroyed a garage along with several outbuildings in Round Grove, and three homes experienced roof and window damage in an area of intense tree damage. A few businesses in Mount Vernon experienced roof and window damage. One home in Miller was destroyed from winds estimated at 85 mph. In Pierce City, most of the city experienced power loss from damaged power lines and poles. Large trees were downed and blocked nearly one half dozen roads, while a roof was completely torn off of an auto shop on Commercial Street.

7. Aug 20, 2007Flash Flood$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Volunteer observations near the community of Miller measured nearly 12 inches of rain during the early morning hours as the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin passed over the county. Very serious flash flooding resulted in numerous water rescues across northern sections of the county. Several roads and low water bridges were washed out.

8. Dec 1, 2025Drought, Lawrence$2.5 million
   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.

9. Dec 26, 2015Flash Flood$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A 37 year old male was swept off of Farm Road 1130 due to flash flooding. The flooding occurred along a small tributary of Browning Hollow which is a tributary of the Spring River. Nearly all low water crossings across the county were flooded. There was several rural and county roads which sustained damage from flooding. This storm report will contain the damage estimates for the entire county for this event.

10. Apr 28, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    A thunderstorm complex containing straight-line winds of 80 mph moved from west to east across the southern part of the county.The damage path was from 2 miles northeast of Monett to Aurora to Marionville. The hardest hit was the city of Aurora where 75 homes and 38 businesses were damaged. Most of the damage was confined to roofs being blown off and to trees and signs being blown down onto cars and homes. No injuries were reported.

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 Aug 2, 2011

All-time low

−20°FFeb 16, 2021

Warmest night

79°F2 times, most recently Aug 13, 2026

Coldest day

−5°FDec 25, 1983

Wettest day

7.46 inSep 25, 1993

Snowiest day

18.0 inMar 17, 1970

Hottest year

2012mean 59.8°F

Coldest year

1997mean 51.9°F

Wettest year

201572.46 in

Driest year

198024.23 in

Snowiest season

45.0 in2002-03

Station Billings 1SW (USC00230657), 1,310 ft elevation, 12.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1962 to October 26, 2026; 95.7% 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 USC00230657.
• 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.