Polk County

Every recorded tornado

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

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 1, 2024Hail$9.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail ranging from baseball to softball in size fell to the northwest, north and east of Bolivar. 200 homes at an average of $32,000 suffered damages to siding, roofs and windows, and 350 cars were damaged, many totaled.

2. Aug 20, 2007Flash Flood$9.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The remnants of Tropical Storm Erin caused serious flooding across southern and central Polk County. Numerous secondary roads were washed out along with many low water crossings. Specific locations that were flooded include a bridge on Highway W near its intersection with Highway 123, a section of Highway 215 west of Eudora where the Turkey Creek intersects the highway, a section Highway 123 south of Eudora, a few streets in the city of Bolivar, a section of Highway 13 near the Polk and Greene county Line experienced 5 feet of flash flood water, all roads leading in and out of Pleasant Hope became impassable, and areas of Pleasant Hope flooded with a few houses impacted.

3. May 8, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Seventy to 90 mph winds caused massive damage across much of Polk County. The central and southern sections of the county was impacted the greatest. Hundreds of outbuildings were either heavily damaged or destroyed. The communities of Bolivar and Pleasant Hope experienced damage to several hundred structures. At Southwest Baptist University, a large tree fell on a car that was occupied by a student. The student was injured and transported to the hospital. The Marion C. Early High School gymnasium experienced significant damage. In Tin Town, a farm experienced signficant damage to the home and all outbuildings.

4. Apr 21, 2022Hail$5.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Golf ball to tennis ball sized hail and 50 mph winds were reported in Bolivar. Approximately 150 homes suffered severe damage to roofs, siding and windows. An equal number of cars suffered significant damage, with most 2014 model year and older totaled by insurance companies. This damage figure accounts for all damage in Polk County, Missouri for this event.

5. May 4, 2003Tornado$3.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado is a continuation of the Cedar County tornado that produced F-3 damage in the city of Stockton. The tornado remained on the ground across rural sections of northern Polk County. The tornado destroyed 180 homes and outbuildings while damaging 70. The structural damage was estimated at 3.7 million dollars, with an additional one million dollars of agricultural loss. The tornado continued on the ground into extreme southeastern Hickory County.

6. Apr 15, 2023Hail$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Baseball sized hail was reported in town. Emergency management reported 170 houses suffered damaged along with numerous cars. This entry includes all damages reported in Polk County during this event.

7. Jun 9, 2024Flash Flood$2.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A widespread flood event occurred in Polk County during the early morning hours of June 9th. Between 4 and 6 inches of rainfall fell in Polk County which caused the Pomme De Terre River and its tributaries to rapidly increase. There was damage to over 450 miles of gravel roads in the county which caused 2.2 million dollars in damage. Several low water bridges were damaged and a new bridge was damaged which caused 720,000 dollars in damage.

8. Nov 1, 2022Drought, Polk$2.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

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

9. May 8, 2009Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that an EF-1 tornado touched down approximately two miles northwest of Brighton, and tracked north across southern Polk County. The tornado lifted approximately two miles east southeast of Bolivar. The tornado damaged or destroyed several outbuildings and barns, and caused moderate to severe damage to frame homes. In addtion, numerous trees were uprooted.

10. Jan 12, 2007Ice Storm, Polk$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Ice accumulations resulted in nearly one million dollars in damages across Polk County. Thousands of residents were without power while 200 residents were placed in public shelter.

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

−25°FJan 13, 1912

Warmest night

85°FSep 8, 1922

Coldest day

−2°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

9.22 inSep 15, 1914

Snowiest day

20.0 inFeb 21, 1912

Hottest year

1938mean 60.9°F

Coldest year

1917mean 52.3°F

Wettest year

201566.97 in

Driest year

198023.88 in

Snowiest season

24.7 in1939-40

Station Bolivar 1 Ne (USC00230789), 987 ft elevation, 1.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1905 to October 27, 2026; 98.2% 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 USC00230789.
• 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.