Garfield County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Garfield 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 16, 2003Wildfire$2.9 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Missouri Breaks Complex Fires started on July 16th due to lightning strikes. The complex of fires included four fires in Eastern Garfield County. The four fires included the Germain, Ghost Coulee, Big Coulee and Indian fires and was classified as a type two incident. The complex was approximately 35 miles west of Jordan in Garfield County. The fires threatened 50 residences and 150 outbuildings. The complex was difficult to contain due to the terrain in coulees and tree filled gorges that made fire fighting and fire suppression both dangerous and difficult. The fire made it's largest run on the 19th due to a combination of high temperatures and low relative humidity. The Curry…

2. Apr 9, 2005High Wind, Garfield$499,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong area of low pressure across the extreme northeast corner of Montana produced a period of strong wind along the backside of the low. Sustained winds of 40 to 50 mph were common with wind gusts as high as 85 mph at the Zortman Mine Raws site. A total of 348 power poles were snapped by a combination of wet snow and sleet that stuck to the poles and the strong wind across Phillips, McCone, Garfield, and Prairie Counties. One of the harder hit area was in the Little Rockies where shingles blew off of several houses in the town of Zortman. The Gulch Campground in the Little Rockies was severely impacted by the storm as an estimated 170 trees of varying sizes were either totally…

3. May 10, 2016Blizzard, Garfield$240,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   NWS Employees driving along US Highway 200 through western Garfield County reported whiteout conditions with blowing and drifting snow during the evening hours on May 10th. County emergency officials later reported 24 to 36 inches of snow and 60 power poles snapped. Event times are estimated.

4. Aug 14, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A bow echo thunderstorm raked through the area destroying sheds, wiping out crops and hay fields, and causing significant loss of property. The bow echo started producing severe wind gusts and at least 1/2 hail about 25 miles northwest of Jordan in the Brussett area and tracked east-northeast through the county. Golf ball sized hail was reported with the winds south of the Hell Creek area. Twenty-six families were impacted with damage to their structures, livestock and crops. A total of 213,440 acres of rangeland, wheat and hay fields were damaged partially to totally wiped out. Six horses and a cow had to be put down due to injuries they received during the storm. Damage…

5. Jun 22, 2002Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   3 to 9 inches of rain fell over eastern Garfield County in less than 5 hours. Flooding closed Highway 200 from Jordan to the junction of Highway 24 for most of the night and caused some damage along bridges on Highway 200.

6. Jul 8, 2000Hail$100,000
7. Sep 6, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Public reported multiple types of wind damage, including large hay bales moved, a truck hood blown off, a combine roof blown off, and a machine shed destroyed. Damaging winds persisted for up to 10 minutes.

8. Jun 23, 2002Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall from the night of June 22, 2002 contributed to the failure of the Ross Dam #2 stock dam. Rainfall amounts up to 9 inches were reported in the drainage basin that flow into the dam. The dam was nearly empty prior to the heavy rain event, and then filled up three-quarters of the way to a series of holes which had been dug by animals. The water pushed through the holes, and caused the dam to then collapse. The subsequent deluge downstream flooded out the basement of a home, lifted several older vehicles and transported them downstream, and caused considerable damage to a culvert. The damage to the culvert lead to the U-ALL Road being washed out.

9. May 27, 2010Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain during the evening brought the failure of a local dam. The dam's name was 7-Tree and the gash or hole made was 50-60 feet wide by 40-50 feet deep.

10. Jul 20, 2001Hail$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Large hail broke out windows of homes at Rock Creek Recreation area. Several vehicles also had hail damage.

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°FJun 15, 2021

All-time low

−43°FJan 14, 2024

Warmest night

73°FJul 25, 2024

Coldest day

−17°FJan 13, 2024

Wettest day

3.44 inAug 23, 2014

Hottest year

2024mean 47.4°F

Coldest year

2010mean 41.6°F

Wettest year

201919.21 in

Driest year

20046.36 in

Station Jordan Airport (USW00094051), 2,628 ft elevation, 1.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1997 to October 26, 2026; 96.4% 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 USW00094051.
• 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.