McDonald County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within McDonald 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. Apr 28, 2026Hail$22.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail from nickels to hen eggs in size fell along a path from Pineville to Rocky Comfort as a developing and intensifying left moving supercell move to the northeast across the County. Along the storms path numerous homes, vehicles, businesses, equipment, crops, livestock and other structures were damaged by hail.

2. Dec 27, 2015Flood$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   At least 10 homes were flooded and there were numerous water rescues conducted. Several homes and business sustained flood damage. Numerous roads also suffered flood damage throughout the county. This storm report will contain the damage estimates for the entire county for this event.

3. Apr 4, 2017Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-2 tornado hit the town of Goodman in McDonald County and continued northeastward into southern Newton County southeast of Neosho. Numerous homes and buildings were damaged. The school in Goodman was destroyed. The tornado started southwest of Goodman and ended on the southwest side of Granby.

4. May 22, 2011Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A storm survey concluded that an EF-3 tornado crossed into McDonald County from adjacent Delaware County, Oklahoma. The tornado crossed Stateline Road 2.8 miles north of Southwest City, Missouri at 7:26 pm and destroyed a single family resident and vehicles near the residence. The vehicles rolled up to 200 yards away from the house. Several trees were uprooted along the path of the tornado as it tracked southeast towards chicken houses near the intersection of Highway 43 and Farm Road 4385. The tornado lifted right before reaching Highway 43 about 2.2 miles north northeast of Southwest City. Maximum wind speeds were estimated between 150 and 160 mph. The maximum width of the path…

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

   Emergency manager reported Highway W and Highway H just north of Pineville was closed due to high water.||The total cost estimate for flooding damages for McDonald County for this entire episode has been included. This includes roads, bridges, and structures which were affected.

6. Jun 23, 2019Flash Flood$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Excessive heavy rainfall caused rapid rises to occur on the Beaver Branch and Indian Creek. A home along Beaver Branch was swept off its foundation and washed downstream. An elderly woman in the home was unable to escape and perished in the flood waters. A bridge on Main Street received significant damage from rapidly moving high water where Beaver Branch flows through the middle of town. Significant damage occurred to a building in the vicinity of the bridge. Numerous evacuations were performed by emergency crews from homes, apartments and businesses. Around 80 homes and businesses received water damage as water several inches deep entered the structures. Some structures had as…

7. Apr 30, 2017Flash Flood$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several homes and business sustained flood damage across the county. Numerous roads and bridges were severely damaged or washed away across the county. This report will contain the total dollar estimate for flood damage to infrastructure, businesses, and homes across McDonald County.

8. Jun 3, 2001Flash Flood$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall amounts of three to eight inches fell over a large portion of McDonald County during a three hour period, which caused extensive damage to homes, cars, roadways, and businesses. Some of the Kansas City Southern railroad beds were washed out, but the tracks remained intact. Major routes throughout McDonald County were washed out and closed for several hours during the height of the storm. Although nobody was injured, numerous cars were stranded or washed off the road into drainage ditches where people had to be rescued.

9. Jan 7, 2008Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Training supercell thunderstorms caused major flash flooding in countless locations of McDonald County. Numerous roads and low water crossings were washed away. A picket fence two miles south of Noel along Higwhay 59 was completely washed away and destroyed.

10. Aug 8, 2013Flash Flood$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    This storm report will contain the total estimated damages and cost for the flooding event including one fatality for the county. A vehicle was washed off the road on Highway 90 at Brush Creek just west of Jane. She was driving eastbound at 4:50 am when her car was swept into the stream, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Multiple people had to be rescued at campgrounds along the Elk River near Noel. Several roads and low water crossings were severely damaged due to flooding. Several homes were flooded.

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

114°F2 times, most recently Aug 3, 2011

All-time low

−29°FFeb 13, 1905

Warmest night

86°FAug 13, 1932

Coldest day

0°FFeb 12, 1899

Wettest day

8.42 inOct 6, 2019

Snowiest day

17.0 inFeb 9, 2011

Hottest year

2012mean 63.4°F

Coldest year

1912mean 55.6°F

Wettest year

201984.86 in

Driest year

196322.28 in

Snowiest season

33.0 in1978-79

Station Gravette (USC00032930), 1,260 ft elevation, 13.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1898 to September 29, 2026; 97.6% 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 USC00032930.
• 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.