Beaverhead County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Volcanoes within 100 miles

1. U.S. volcanoes within 100 miles, from the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. The threat category is the USGS 2018 National Volcanic Threat Assessment, which ranks volcanoes by how hazardous their past eruptions were and how many people and how much infrastructure lie near them. It is not a forecast of eruption.

USGS Volcano Hazards Program, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by USGS Conterminous (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. Mar 14, 2023Winter Storm, Gallatin And Madison County Mountains And Centennial Mountains$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous traffic wrecks across the area due to winter weather conditions. US 191 between Big Sky and Gallatin Gateway was completely shutdown at times due to accidents. 16 accidents occurred in the Big Sky area due to weather. One included six vehicles and one semi. No injuries were reported. SNOTEL sites received snow amounts ranging from 8 to 10 inches.

2. Apr 10, 2023Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Meagher County Sheriff's office stated rockslides were occurring in the Deep Creek Canyon area, affecting Highway 12, due to snowmelt and flooding.

3. Jan 16, 2024Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Reported ice jam along the Beaverhead River northeast of Dillon, resulting in flooding along Laknar Lane, Pond Drive, and Park Street in North Dillon. Mitigation using hay bales prevented the flooding waters to move into another flood basin; however, some homes were still flooded in this area.

4. Mar 14, 2023Winter Storm, Ruby Mountains And Southern Beaverhead Mountains$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Sheriff's office reported a 72-car train hit a large snowdrift near the intersection of S Monida Rd and S Valley Rd. The lead engine derailed. Portions of I-15 were closed due to severe driving conditions.

5. Sep 1, 2000Wildfire$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Mussigbrod Complex fire - only partly in Beaverhead County, 84939 acres burned, lightning caused, continued from August.

6. Jul 31, 2000Wildfire$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Mussingbrod Complex fire - only partly in Beaverhead County, 84939 acres burned, lightning caused, continued past July 31.

7. Aug 1, 2000Wildfire$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Mussigbrod Complex fire - only partly in Beaverhead County, 84939 acres burned, lightning caused, continued past August 31.

8. Feb 12, 1996Flood, Beaverhead$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Melting snow and ice jams lead to rising waters on the Yellowstone River. Flooding along the shores of the river occurred around Sidney and Savage.

9. Apr 24, 1996High Wind, Beaverhead$1,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A STRONG PACIFIC FRONTAL SYSTEM MOVED RAPIDLY ACROSS NORTHEAST MONTANA. IN ITS WAKE STRONG WEST TO NORTHWEST WIND DEVELOPED. SUSTAINED WINDS OF 40 TO 50 MILES AN HOUR OCCURRED AND GUSTS TO 70 MILES AN HOUR WERE COMMON. A PEAK GUST OF 86 MILES AN HOUR WEST REPORTED SOUTHWEST OF VANDALIA.

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

102°F2 times, most recently Jul 12, 2002

All-time low

−41°FJan 13, 2024

Warmest night

66°F2 times, most recently Aug 12, 2003

Coldest day

−21°FFeb 2, 1989

Wettest day

1.97 inJun 24, 1958

Snowiest day

10.0 in2 times, most recently Apr 19, 1987

Hottest year

2015mean 46.1°F

Coldest year

2019mean 39.7°F

Wettest year

198714.60 in

Driest year

20213.11 in

Station Dillon Airport (USW00024138), 5,199 ft elevation, 7.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1940 to October 26, 2026; 97.5% 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 USW00024138.
• 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.
• Volcanoes USGS Volcano Hazards Program, U.S. volcanoes and 2018 threat assessment.
• 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.