Petroleum County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Aug 23, 2014Flood$515,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Over 5 to 10 inches of rainfall fell in a four day period. This caused massive flooding in area creeks and streams. The most significant damage was from Flatwillow Creek into the Musselshell River. Cooperative weather observers noted it was the highest they had ever seen the water on Flatwillow Creek, including the 2011 flood season. It was high enough that the USGS gage on Flatwillow Creek was washed out and is gone, and the Flatwillow Road bridge was also washed out. The County DES coordinator reported over 30 locations with damages to culverts, roads and bridges with damages of at least $515,000.

2. Jun 9, 2016Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Petroleum County Emergency Manager reported hen egg sized hail, wind gusts to 50 mph, trees downed, roofs and siding damaged, and power outages. Event also resulted in 1 injury: A man was blown off his horse and later transported with injuries to Billings, MT.

3. May 10, 2016Blizzard, Petroleum$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   NWS Employees driving along US Highway 200 reported whiteout conditions with blowing and drifting snow during the evening hours on May 10th. A semi-truck slid off the road, temporarily closing it due to the icy conditions and strong winds.

4. May 4, 2010High Wind, Petroleum$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damaging winds brought power outages to the area. Substantial damage occurred with an old building loosing a wall, a barn roof blown off, three windows on the second floor of the county courthouse blown out, and two grain bins being destroyed. Winnett was without power for several hours. About 18N Winnett a bull rack was blown off its storage blocks. At 722 MST Chain Buttes RAWS recorded a 58 mph wind gust and a gust to 59 mph at 822 MST. At 941 MST Dry Blood RAWS recorded a gust to 66 mph. At 945 MST the Winnett Handar recorded a gust to 72 mph.

5. Jul 24, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
6. Jul 4, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$200
   National Weather Service narrative

   Eight inch diameter tree limbs were found snapped off and scattered on a nearby 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

111°FJul 12, 2026

All-time low

−48°FDec 18, 1924

Warmest night

76°FAug 6, 1961

Coldest day

−23°FJan 28, 1916

Wettest day

4.54 inSep 18, 2024

Snowiest day

18.0 inApr 28, 1970

Hottest year

1988mean 49.6°F

Coldest year

1916mean 40.9°F

Wettest year

201822.88 in

Driest year

19314.85 in

Snowiest season

110.5 in2017-18

Station Flatwillow 4 Ene (USC00243013), 3,290 ft elevation, 13.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1913 to October 18, 2026; 94.0% 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 USC00243013.
• 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.