Morgan County

Every recorded tornado

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

Mapped landslides

Mapped by MO DNR (1).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 26, 1998Flood, Morgan$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A series of thunderstorm complexes over central and south central Missouri produced widespread flooding. Cooperative weather stations reported over 8 inches of rain at Versailles (Morgan County), Rolla (Phelps County, and Salem (Dent County). Flooding caused widespread damage to roads and low water crossings and bridges. The Missouri Governor declared a state of emergency for several counties in central Missouri including Benton, Dent, Maries, Miller, Morgan, Phelps, and Shannon. In Miller County, flooding caused widespread damage to roads and low water bridges. Significant damage occurred to corn (50% damaged), soybean (50% damaged), hay (35% damaged) crops. Cattle (300 head) and…

2. Mar 12, 2006Tornado$850,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado initially touched down southwest of Gravois Mills and tracked through the city. 20 homes were destroyed while another 10 were damaged. This tornado was spawned from the same cyclic supercell that produced tornadoes back in Hickory, Polk, Dade, and Barton counties.

3. Oct 1, 2022Drought, Morgan$580,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Drought conditions improved across Morgan County by the end of October. 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.

4. Dec 27, 2015Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several low water crossings were flooded and several rural roads had damage due to flood waters. This storm report will contain the damage estimates for the entire county for this event.

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

   Hail up to tennis balls in size was reported in downtown Stover. Vehicles and roof damage occurred.

6. Apr 27, 2026Hail$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to 3 inches in diameter was reported in a mainly rural area. A home and several barns had roof damage and a few vehicles were damaged.

7. May 19, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$130,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple trees and power lines were reported to be down. Additionally, a lightning strike caused a house fire, and a nearby machine shop suffered heavy damage.

8. Apr 30, 2017Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several roads sustained flood damage across the county. This report will contain the total dollar estimate for flood damage to infrastructure, businesses, and homes across Morgan County.

9. Mar 6, 2017Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-0 tornado damaged some outbuildings and docks south of Rocky Mount in Morgan County. Maximum wind speed was estimated 75 to 85 mph.

10. Jun 3, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorm wind gusts of at least 70 mph downed numerous trees in the Gravois Mills and Laurie areas. Some trees landed on homes.

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

115°FJul 14, 1954

All-time low

−28°F3 times, most recently Jan 11, 1982

Warmest night

88°FAug 30, 1898

Coldest day

−4°F5 times, most recently Jan 15, 2024

Wettest day

6.50 inJul 26, 1998

Snowiest day

13.0 inJan 23, 1937

Hottest year

2012mean 60.2°F

Coldest year

1917mean 52.1°F

Wettest year

199861.63 in

Driest year

190122.49 in

Station Eldon (USC00232503), 924 ft elevation, 14.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1896 to October 25, 2026; 92.0% 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 USC00232503.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.