Pettis County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Pettis County: 3.
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.

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. May 25, 2011Tornado$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   At 1122CST an EF2 tornado touched down 2.7 miles south southeast of Sedalia. The tornado traveled north, and lifted 0.7 miles southeast of Sedalia at 1128CST. Heavy damage to several businesses, was observed along highway 65, with 70 mobile homes in two different mobile home parks, destroyed or heavily damaged. Several homes were also damaged or destroyed. A tanker truck was overturned. Power poles were snapped off. Twenty people suffered minor injuries.

2. Mar 12, 2006Tornado$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   F2 tornado touched down 6.5 miles east of Green Ridge at 1612 CST and moved northeast. The tornado caused the death of one woman...when the trailer she was fleeing was blown on top of her. Another 6 people were injured as well. Numerous homes suffered varying degrees of damage. The tornado lifted one mile southwest of Smithton at 1625 CST.

3. Mar 12, 2006Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive hail damage noted in Sedalia, where golfball hail piled up into 2 feet drifts. Many roofs in town had to be replaced.

4. Mar 30, 2006Tornado$450,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado touched down at 2028 CST 2 miles northwest of green Ridge producing damage to trees. The tornado traveled northeast and crossed Highway 50 just west of Sedalia. It produced high end F0 damage to a Morton Building and to a farmstead. Low end F1 damage was noted to a home 3 miles north of Sedalia...just west of Highway 65...where a modular home lost its roof and a large calenabra on a broadcast tower was bent. The tornado damaged a total of 57 homes, with one being completely destroyed. The tornado lifted after this at 2042 CST. A 66 year old man injured in the tornado, died from his injuries on June 15th.

5. Oct 29, 2004Tornado$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado crossed into Pettis county near the intersection of F/BB/NN Highways. Two homes were damaged along Blackwater Chapel Road. Trees and power lines also down. Tornado then tracked northeast to Highway 127 just south of NN...where a shed was destroyed and grain bins damaged. Tornado proceeded to enter Saline county just west of K Highway.

6. Mar 8, 2000High Wind, Pettis$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong southwest winds, associated with a low pressure system tracking across Nebraska and Iowa, buffeted northern and western Missouri on the afternoon of March 8. The strongest recorded gusts of the day were 58 mph at Kansas City International Airport and Kirksville Regional Airport. Several other locations in northern and western Missouri recorded gusts over 50 mph, and some property damage was reported. Windows were blown out in downtown Sedalia, a storefront was damaged in Independence, and a billboard was blown down near Belton.

7. Jan 30, 2002Ice Storm, Pettis$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A long-lived major ice and snow storm blasted much of northwest, northern and central Missouri from late Tuesday, January 29th, until Thursday, January 31st. Ice accumulations of over an inch were observed from the Kansas City metropolitan area, east and north through Moberly Missouri. At one point 409,504 total customers were without electrical power in the CWA, with some residents without power up to two weeks. For the Kansas City area, the ice storm was ranked as the worst ever. Further north across northern Missouri, heavy snow fell generally along and north of a line, from St. Joseph to Trenton to Kirksville. Snow accumulations ranged from 8 to 14 inches.

8. Nov 22, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds estimated at up to 80 mph tore across northwest Pettis County. A railroad crossing arm was snapped 1 mile north of LaMonte. Two miles east of Houstonia, a hog barn was destroyed, and a trailer home and a 2-story house sustained extensive damage.

9. Apr 8, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds knocked down a pole barn and several large signs; 7 vehicles were damaged

10. Apr 10, 2001Tornado$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Tornado on the ground for 11 minutes, moving east. Two barns were destroyed, along with a chicken coop and vacant house. There were also several power poles downed.

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

116°FJul 14, 1954

All-time low

−30°FFeb 12, 1899

Warmest night

82°F3 times, most recently Jul 19, 1954

Coldest day

−8°FDec 25, 1983

Wettest day

6.50 inJul 21, 1996

Snowiest day

21.3 inFeb 2, 2011

Hottest year

1939mean 59.4°F

Coldest year

1979mean 51.0°F

Wettest year

199864.73 in

Driest year

195622.14 in

Snowiest season

42.0 in1959-60

Station Sedalia Water Plant (USC00237632), 780 ft elevation, 2.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 98.1% 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 USC00237632.
• 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.