Deer Lodge County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 15, 2017Flash Flood$685,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   There were several reports of very heavy rainfall including one that came from the NWS COOP observer at the golf course: 0.75 of rain in 20 to 25 minutes. Multiple homes experienced flooded basements, man hole covers were lifted off and floated down roads, and Westhill Park road was flooded with a depth of up to 4 feet. The Old Works Golf Course in Anaconda reported the cost to repair flood damage to be $660,000.

2. Dec 29, 2004Heavy Snow, Butte / Pintlar Region$85,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy snow event across southwest Montana brought snow amounts ranging from 5 to 8 inches in the valleys to a foot over higher mountains. The city of Anaconda received a record breaking 5.9 inches for December 30th. The previous record was 5 inches set in 1977. The Montana Highway Patrol reported several severe accidents while at least 20 cars slid off roads from snow packed and icy roads. A truck driver totaled his $85,000 truck when he struck a vehicle in front of him who lost control and slowed down. His truck skidded sideways and rolled into a ditch.

3. Jul 17, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$18,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   On July 17, 2013, a multicellular thunderstorm developed a gustnado causing a roof to be torn off of a closed garage and thrown into a power pole. The power pole broke off leaving live wires on the ground. Another shed immediately downstream was torn apart and thrown across the yard. The path of the damage was about 200 yards long and 50 to 100 feet wide. A neighbor watching the event occur from a few feet away, reported swirling debris for at least 10 to 15 seconds.

4. Jun 29, 2015Heavy Rain$15,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A cluster of thunderstorms brought heavy rain just west of Anaconda. Edward from Anaconda reported 0.59 inches of rain and his friend who lives to the west recorded 1.13 inches of precipitation. The intense rain caused mud run off into a basement.

5. May 31, 2009Flood$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Basement flooding was reported by the DES Coordinator in two homes along Fifer Creek on Hemlock Street in Anaconda.

6. Jul 23, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm moved through the region, producing an observed wind gust of fifty-one knots at the Anaconda AWOS. The storm resulted in scattered power outages, with fifty-eight customers losing power according to Vigilante Electric Cooperative.

7. Jul 26, 2009Lightning$1,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning from a thunderstorm that rolled through Anaconda started a roof on fire that was put out by the fire department before extensive damage occurred. The fire burned though the exterior of the roof and down into the insulation, about 20 square feet of the roof.

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

100°FJul 22, 1931

All-time low

−52°F2 times, most recently Dec 23, 1983

Warmest night

75°FJul 12, 1897

Coldest day

−25°FJan 21, 1962

Wettest day

3.00 in2 times, most recently Jun 9, 1913

Snowiest day

30.0 inOct 10, 1911

Hottest year

1925mean 44.9°F

Coldest year

1975mean 34.1°F

Wettest year

190920.55 in

Driest year

20216.49 in

Station Butte Bert Mooney Airport (USW00024135), 5,505 ft elevation, 24.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1894 to October 26, 2026; 96.5% 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 USW00024135.
• 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.