Moniteau County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Jul 26, 1998Flash Flood$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall up to 6 inches caused widespread flooding across the area. Besides flooding of small streams and creeks, the Osage, Maries, and Gasconade Rivers all surged over their banks. A construction crane being used to build a new bridge over the Osage River was ripped from its moorings and washed about 2 miles downstream. Countless gravel roads across the area suffered significant wash-out damage.

2. Jun 5, 2005Lightning$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A lightning strike is believed to have started a fire which destroyed the 103 year old Fortuna United Methodist Church.

3. Nov 29, 2006Winter Storm, Moniteau$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major winter storm hit Central, Northeast, East Central and parts of Southeast Missouri from November 30 through Dcember 1. Over a foot of snow fell across parts of Central Missouri while a major ice storm hit parts of East Central and Southeast Missouri, including the St. Louis area. Ice accumulations of 1 inch or more downed trees and power lines resulting in at least 300,000 electric customers losing service for up to a week. Downed limbs and trees damaged homes and automobiles across the area as well. Many rural schools were closed for several days due to slick roads and power outages. The National Guard was called out to several counties to assist with debris removal and…

4. Apr 27, 2024Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down along Alexander Road just east of intersection with Hays Road at 10:59 pm (northeast of Tipton, MO) snapping off several power poles. It tracked to the east snapping off several large trees, destroying an unoccupied mobile home, and causing minor roof damage to an outbuilding. Then the tornado veered, tracking to the northeast and causing damage to an open sided outbuilding after crossing over Cross Lane Road. The tornado soon lifted and dissipated just south of Old Twelve Highway. Overall, the tornado was rated EF1 with a path length of 1.70 miles and a max path width of 30 yards. No deaths or injuries were reported.

5. Jul 8, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds caused widespread wind damage across Tipton. Numerous trees and tree limbs, as well as power lines were blown down. Some of the fallen trees and tree limbs caused damage to vehicles and houses. Also, four utility poles were blown down.

6. Jul 4, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm brought a swath of strong winds across the southern half of Moniteau County. The storm pushed from southwest to northeast, with widespread wind damage to trees and roofs reported particularly near the town of California.

7. May 6, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Storm spotters reported a power pole and several trees down.

8. May 8, 2007Flood$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Missouri River flooded the northeast part of Moniteau County from Lupus to Jamestown. Some sandbagging was done in the Lupus area to protect a couple of homes. Otherwise the flooding was limited to farmland in the flood plain and roads close to the river.

9. Aug 26, 2021Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds blew down a power pole on the south side of town.

10. Apr 10, 2008Flash Flood$1,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Very heavy rain, between one and three inches of rain, fell over a short amount of time on already saturated soils. Over a foot of water was reported over Park Avenue in California and 6 inches of water was flowing over U.S. 50 on the west side of Tipton. Several secondary roads had water over them as well.

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 31, 1980

All-time low

−21°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

84°FJul 10, 1980

Coldest day

−1°F5 times, most recently Jan 15, 2024

Wettest day

7.23 inJul 7, 1993

Snowiest day

12.5 inDec 1, 2006

Hottest year

1987mean 59.0°F

Coldest year

2014mean 52.5°F

Wettest year

199361.37 in

Driest year

196315.80 in

Snowiest season

40.5 in1977-78

Station California (USC00231189), 879 ft elevation, 2.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1954 to October 27, 2026; 93.6% 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 USC00231189.
• 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.