St. Clair County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Nov 1, 2025Drought, St. Clair$2.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Though below the monthly average, timely rain fell across the region through the month. This allowed for drought improvements to Moderate (D1) drought by the end of the month. Impacts across the region were largely limited to larger scale agriculture. However, farm and stock ponds saw impacts with ground water levels also falling. Crop loss estimates notated are for fall harvest loses from the summer into the fall.

2. Nov 1, 2022Drought, St. Clair$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Drought conditions improved across St. Clair 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.

3. Nov 30, 2006Winter Storm, St. Clair$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major winter storm caused a combination of freezing rain, sleet, and heavy snow to fall over sections of southwest and central Missouri. The frozen precipitation began on the 30th, the precipitation type was freezing rain and sleet, with ice accumulations up to four inches in some areas. The second wave of precipitation occurred overnight causing large amount of snow to accumulate over the ice. Storm total accumulations ranging from 13 to 17 inches occurred from the Lake of the Ozarks Region, over to Vernon and Cedar counties. Meanwhile other areas north of the Interstate 44 corridor experienced storm totals ranging from seven to 12 inches.|The combination of the ice and snow…

4. May 26, 2004Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F-2 tornado touched down seven miles west of Roscoe...eventually tracking through the middle of this small community. Numerous homes and building were heavily damaged or destroyed. Minutes later the tornado dissipated south of Osceola. One injury occurred from flying debris.

5. May 24, 2015Tornado$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A NWS storm survey found that an EF-1 tornado touched down about 3 miles south of Lowry City and crosses Highway 13. The tornado tracked northeast and lifted near NE 1000 Road just east of Highway NN. The tornado severely damaged two homes and several outbuildings were destroyed. The tornado uprooted and damaged numerous trees along the path. The maximum estimated winds were up to 100 mph with a path length of about 5 miles and path width of about 200 yards.

6. Apr 26, 2026Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to 3 inches in size was reported in a mainly rural area. A few homes and vehicles suffered some damage from the hail.

7. Aug 1, 2012Drought, St. Clair$215,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The U.S Drought Monitor continued to report Extreme Drought (D3) to Exceptional Drought (D4) throughout the month of August. The region started seeing some rainfall by the end of the month. The COOP station near Appleton City reported 2.95 of rainfall for the month of August. The COOP station near Osceola reported 4.01 of rainfall for the month of August. This is a continuation of the drought that began across the region in June. Across the Missouri Ozarks and southwestern Missouri between 50 and 75 percent of the combined corn, soybeans and hay acreage was reported as a loss due to the drought. Monetary crop loss figures are estimates using information from the National…

8. Jan 30, 2002Ice Storm, St. Clair$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large scale ice storm event developed over southeast Kansas and west central Missouri during the early morning hours of January 30, 2002. Synoptically, a shallow arctic air mass moved through the region dropping surface temperatures in the upper 20s. Strong jet stream winds from the southwest provided the influx of sub-tropical type regime. In addition, deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico surged northward above this shallow arctic air mass to set the stage for a prolonged ice storm.Light to moderate rainfall, fell over the sub-freezing surface temperatures for nearly 36 hours. Ice begun accumulating on trees and power lines from southeast Kansas, and into west central Missouri…

9. Jan 29, 2013Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A NWS survey indicated that an EF-1 tornado touched down in St. Clair County about two miles northwest of Gerster and continued on the ground for about eight and a half miles into western Hickory County. The tornado lifted about a mile north of Quincy. The width was estimated at about 400 yards with an estimated maximum wind speed of 90 to 100 mph. This tornado destroyed at least four barns and outbuildings. The tornado tore half the roof off another barn. Several homes received minor roof damage and numerous trees were uprooted or snapped.

10. Jun 14, 2001Flash Flood$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Over six inches of rain fell in southeastern St. Clair County washing out roads and flooding local landscape. Whole sections of roadways were eroded away by the rain which overflowed river and creek banks throughout the county. In Collins, the water washed three inches of dirt and gravel from the downtown area. Highway T near Collins was closed for an hour because the Weaubleau Creek flooded and deposited logs and debris across the road.

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

110°F2 times, most recently Aug 2, 2011

All-time low

−25°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

85°F2 times, most recently Aug 1, 2011

Coldest day

−5°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

8.31 inJul 31, 2020

Snowiest day

15.5 inDec 1, 2006

Hottest year

2006mean 60.7°F

Coldest year

1979mean 53.8°F

Wettest year

200158.85 in

Driest year

198022.60 in

Station Osceola (USC00236402), 744 ft elevation, 3.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1955 to October 27, 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 USC00236402.
• 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.