Osage County

Every recorded tornado

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

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

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 (2).

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 8, 1999Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The supercell that produced the tornado in Cole County produced another tornado in Osage County. Emergency officials estimated the damage to be around $1 million. 79 homes sustained some type of damage, mostly to roofs and siding. Fortunately almost all homes were covered by insurance. One mobile home was destroyed near Linn and several businesses sustained major roof damage. Hundreds of trees were downed northeast of Linn as the tornado tracked through a forested area.

2. Jan 12, 2007Ice Storm, Osage$102,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An arctic boundary settled south of the area on the 12th and 13th of January bringing subfreezing temperatures to the northwestern half of the county warning area. Three rounds of precipitation occurred during this period, with the first being the most destructive of all. Significant tree and limb damage was reported as a result of this storm, together with widespread power outages. More than 100,000 homes and businesses lost power during this storm. About 1.5 inches of sleet fell and a 1/2 inch of ice accumulation hit parts of Central and Northeast Missouri. From 1/4 to 1/2 inch of ice accumulated from freezing rain across Eastern Missouri and parts of Southwest Illinois.…

3. Jul 4, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm exited Cole County moving to the ENE tracking across the northern half of Osage County. Very strong wind gusts were reported with this storm, with extensive damage to trees and some structures from Meta northeast to Frankenstein.

4. Feb 27, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$18,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds caused scattered damage throughout Osage county. In Westphalia, the roof of a gym on a school sustained major damage when a large portion of the roof was blown off. Further to the east on County Road 811, a large tree was blown down onto a mobile home cutting it into two. No injuries were reported at this location. On County Road 806, a horse barn was blown down. The horses were unhurt, but an RV stored in the barn was damaged. A shed across the street was destroyed as well. In Linn, the high winds damaged several pieces of equipment for track and field events at the high school and a rooftop A/C unit was blown on its side at the elementary school.

5. Aug 2, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$18,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds blew down several large trees, numerous tree limbs, and power lines. One tree was uprooted along County Road 602 just south of U.S. Highway 50. Also, the roof of a partially open sided machine shed was heavily damaged.

6. May 27, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees fell on power lines near Mokane and Mount Sterling. A tree was also reported down over a roadway in Chamois. Additional cities impacted include Aud and Mint Hill.

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

   The Missouri River flooded parts of the northern border of Osage County. Flooding was limited to farmland and roads along the river.

8. Dec 9, 2009Strong Wind, Osage$1,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense low pressure moved across the region into the Great Lakes. On December 9, very strong winds developed across Central and Eastern Missouri. Wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph were common across the area.

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

111°FJul 30, 1980

All-time low

−21°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

80°F2 times, most recently Jul 9, 1984

Coldest day

−8°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

6.92 inAug 11, 1993

Snowiest day

15.0 inFeb 27, 1984

Hottest year

1972mean 58.3°F

Coldest year

1996mean 50.8°F

Wettest year

199371.55 in

Driest year

198023.36 in

Snowiest season

26.0 in1988-89

Station Freedom (USC00233043), 805 ft elevation, 9.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1962 to October 26, 2026; 94.2% 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 USC00233043.
• 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.