Scotland County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

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 (3).

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. May 8, 2003Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The first of 3 severe weather events occurred across Northeast Missouri, Eastern Iowa, and the Northern third of Illinois. Supercell thunderstorms developed in the late afternoon and evening north of a warm front that was associated with a powerful spring storm system. Favorable moisture and shear profiles allowed the storms to produce large hail and heavy rain. In Fort Madison, Iowa it was reported to be the most hail seen since 1993 with a car dealership reporting damage to about 400 cars on its lot along with numerous cars and buildings. In the Burlington, Iowa area, the most severe damage from the hail was on the south side of the city. Three schools and a golf course were…

2. May 8, 2003Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The first of 3 severe weather events occurred across Northeast Missouri, Eastern Iowa, and the Northern third of Illinois. Supercell thunderstorms developed in the late afternoon and evening north of a warm front that was associated with a powerful spring storm system. Favorable moisture and shear profiles allowed the storms to produce large hail and heavy rain. In Fort Madison, Iowa it was reported to be the most hail seen since 1993 with a car dealership reporting damage to about 400 cars on its lot along with numerous cars and buildings. In the Burlington, Iowa area, the most severe damage from the hail was on the south side of the city. Three schools and a golf course were…

3. May 10, 2003Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado developed northwest of Edina in Knox County (WFO LSX) and moved northeast, entering Scotland County 4.2 miles ESE of Rutledge at 1650 CST, traveled ENE and exited Scotland County into Clark County at 1657 CST. At 3.5 miles SE of South Gorin, the tornado turned slightly to the right and continued moving northeast, exiting Scotland County 4.3 miles ESE of South Gorin at 1657 CST and entered Clark County. Path length in Scotland County was 4.4 miles and rated F0.

4. May 8, 2003Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The first of 3 severe weather events occurred across Northeast Missouri, Eastern Iowa, and the Northern third of Illinois. Supercell thunderstorms developed in the late afternoon and evening north of a warm front that was associated with a powerful spring storm system. Favorable moisture and shear profiles allowed the storms to produce large hail and heavy rain. In Fort Madison, Iowa it was reported to be the most hail seen since 1993 with a car dealership reporting damage to about 400 cars on its lot along with numerous cars and buildings. In the Burlington, Iowa area, the most severe damage from the hail was on the south side of the city. Three schools and a golf course were…

5. May 8, 2003Hail$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The first of 3 severe weather events occurred across Northeast Missouri, Eastern Iowa, and the Northern third of Illinois. Supercell thunderstorms developed in the late afternoon and evening north of a warm front that was associated with a powerful spring storm system. Favorable moisture and shear profiles allowed the storms to produce large hail and heavy rain. In Fort Madison, Iowa it was reported to be the most hail seen since 1993 with a car dealership reporting damage to about 400 cars on its lot along with numerous cars and buildings. In the Burlington, Iowa area, the most severe damage from the hail was on the south side of the city. Three schools and a golf course were…

6. Jun 12, 2008Lightning$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A lightning strike is believed to have sparked a fire that destroyed the Harmony Grove Baptist Church in rural Scotland County during the late evening of June 12 or early morning of June 13. The fire was reported around 1:30 am, at which time it was in its later stages of burning.

7. May 14, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An upper level disturbance induced a surface low pressure on a boundary across Eastern Iowa that moved into Northwest Illinois and far Northeast Missouri. Subsequent thunderstorms that developed were prolific hail producers due to extremely cold air aloft. Additional outflow boundaries produced by the initial thunderstorms created new storms and brief funnel clouds that fortunately never touched down. Pea sized hail (0.25 inch) continued continuously for 20 minutes in Princeton, Illinois and covered the ground.

8. Apr 30, 2003Hail$100,000
9. Jun 12, 2010Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains resulted in flash flooding across parts of eastern Scotland County during the afternoon of June 12. Highway 15 just south of the state line was flooded as well as county roads in the vicinities of South Gorin and Arbela. Several streams and creeks were flooded out of their banks.

10. Apr 27, 2016Tornado$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A trained spotter reported a tornado north of Arbela. A barn and a cattle shed were destroyed along with several other outbuildings in the area. The tornado was on the ground for 0.2 miles and was around 30 yards wide. It was rated EF0 with a peak wind speed of 80 MPH.

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

106°F3 times, most recently Jul 24, 2012

All-time low

−24°FJan 5, 1999

Warmest night

80°F4 times, most recently Aug 7, 2007

Coldest day

−8°FJan 19, 1940

Wettest day

7.55 inJul 17, 1946

Snowiest day

17.0 inFeb 2, 2011

Hottest year

2024mean 54.4°F

Coldest year

2014mean 48.0°F

Wettest year

197061.87 in

Driest year

199418.94 in

Snowiest season

46.5 in1977-78

Station Memphis (USC00235492), 696 ft elevation, 1.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1938 to October 27, 2026; 88.8% 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 USC00235492.
• 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.