Fergus County

Every recorded tornado

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

Mapped landslides

Mapped by USGS Conterminous (1).

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Aug 14, 1999Tornado$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   NUMEROUS HAIL REPORTS 1 TO 2 INCHES...ONE WIND ESTIMATE AHEAD OF TORNADO 87KT

2. May 7, 2024Winter Weather, Fergus County Below 4500Ft$224,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fergus Electric COOP posted several photos on Facebook showing numerous power poles knocked over due to a combination of strong winds and ice building up on the lines. Areas hit hardest were in Judith Basin and Fergus counties. No snow observation reports were received for the lower elevations of Fergus county. $224,000 in damages were done to utilities.

3. Jun 7, 2023Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fergus County Sheriff's Office and Emergency Management reported portions of Casino Creek Road washed out from heavy rain and flooding of the creek. The road was washed out completely in at least two locations, per a later NWS survey. Many cattle fields along the creek were also flooded.

4. May 7, 2024Winter Weather, Judith Basin County And Judith Gap$164,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fergus Electric COOP posted several photos on Facebook showing numerous power poles knocked over due to a combination of strong winds and ice building up on the lines. Areas hit hardest were in Judith Basin and Fergus counties. 164,000 in damages were done to utilities.

5. May 19, 2011Flood$125,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wild Rose Road washed out.|Faron Hill Road washed out.|Middle Fork Road washed out.|Giltedge Road washed out.|Highway 87S from mile marker 31 to 32 a dam was breached.|Highway 191N between Roy and Lewistown road damaged due to a sink hole.|Many homes affected and a shelter was set up in Lewistown for flood victims.

6. Jul 8, 2002Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm moved across the northern half of Fergus County during the late afternoon hours on the 8th. This storm produced a widespread area of one to two inch hail from Brooks to Roy, with wind gusts over 70 mph. When the storm was just north of Brooks, a tornado developed. This tornado was on the ground for several miles, but remained over rural areas of Fergus County. However, this tornado did hit three residences, causing damage to houses and several barns. A few mobile homes were also damaged and one grain elevator near Moulton was toppled.

7. Aug 23, 1998Tornado$35,000
8. Jun 25, 1996Tornado$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down for about 20 minutes, damaging several buildings on a ranch 8 miles northeast of Denton.

9. Jun 7, 2023Flash Flood$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fergus County Sheriff's Office reported portions of Cottonwood Creek Road washed out from flooding.

10. Jul 8, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$10,000

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

105°F2 times, most recently Jul 31, 1900

All-time low

−46°FJan 28, 1929

Warmest night

71°FJul 17, 1925

Coldest day

−28°FJan 29, 1916

Wettest day

4.35 inSep 18, 2024

Snowiest day

21.1 inMay 29, 1982

Hottest year

1934mean 46.8°F

Coldest year

1951mean 37.8°F

Wettest year

195328.61 in

Driest year

202110.91 in

Station Lewistown Airport (USW00024036), 4,125 ft elevation, 3.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1896 to October 25, 2026; 99.2% 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 USW00024036.
• 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.