Yellowstone County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 NASA (4).

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. Jun 20, 2010Tornado$30.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Based on the observed damage, the tornado was classified as an EF-2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Wind speeds within an EF-2 tornado range from 111-135 mph, and the associated damage observed at the Billings MetraPark and nearby businesses was consistent with this classification. The damage path was 120 yards wide with a length of about a half mile and on the ground an estimated 12 minutes.||The damage assessment and eyewitness accounts indicate that the tornado developed near the intersection of Lake Elmo Drive and Main Street in the Billings Heights at approximately 4:24 pm, with significant EF-2 damage to several nearby businesses. Damage included rooftops being blown off of…

2. Jul 31, 1998Hail$8.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous observations of large hail were reported by spotters, amateur radio operators and National Weather Service personnel. The hail damaged several vehicles in the Billings area, and also caused heavy damage to crops.

3. Jul 4, 1998Hail$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several reports of hail up to 1.75 inches in diameter were reported in and around Billings from spotters, amateur radio operators and law enforcement. The hail severely damaged several cars and roofs. The hail also caused heavy damage to crops in the Billings area.

4. Jun 20, 2010Flash Flood$2.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flood waters from a thunderstorm turned downtown streets into rivers, parking lots into lakes and basements into swamps. So much rain fell so fast on Billings that storm drains wide enough to hold a small car were filled for hours. Streets turned into rushing rivers, basements filled with muddy water and some residents went swimming with shovels and sticks to clear clogged storm drains. More than an inch of water seeped into the Billings Clinic hospital corridors and the basement near the buildings north entrances. Mud and water flooded the atrium area of Billings Clinic. In the hospital's north parking lot, storm water rose above the tires of passenger cars. Flooding was also…

5. Aug 11, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant damage was done to Shepherd schools. There was roof damage and extensive damage to the bus barn. In addition, all the west side windows were broken out from combined hail and wind.

6. Jul 4, 1998Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous reports of tennis ball sized hail causing numerous damages to vehicles and homes in and around Huntley.

7. Jun 2, 2023Flash Flood$1.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Many roads on the west side of Billings were flooded and closed. Gable Road was particularly hit hard. Birely Drain and Big Ditch overflowed their banks washing out a portion of Gable Road. The cost to repair Gable Road will be about 600K. Total flood damage costs to the city will be around $1M.

8. May 21, 2011Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread rainfall of 2 to 3 inches with locally higher amounts fell across the Yellowstone County area during a two day period. Billings had its all-time daily rainfall record broke on May 24th with 3.12 inches. This was just a part of a record setting precipitation month for Billings which totaled 9.54 inches. This rainfall on top of an already wet month resulted in some streams and creeks over Southern Yellowstone County to overflow their banks. Flooding occurred on Blue Creek in the Briarwood area. Several homes and structures were surrounded by water on Aviemore Court where some voluntary evacuations occurred. In addition, the Briarwood Golf Course was inundated with…

9. Sep 22, 2000Heavy Snow, Yellowstone$14,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong cold front moved through south central Montana. In addition, an area of low pressure formed in Central Wyoming and moved northeast into southeast Montana. The provided a large area of upslope across south central Montana. The combination of these two systems brought the first snow of the season to the area. Trees still had full foliage and as a result, many power outages occurred due to broken tree limbs over power lines.

10. Oct 2, 1998Lightning$10,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Lightning nearly struck a man East of Billings and knocked out power for several minutes in Billings Heights and in the South side of Billings.

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

−32°FDec 24, 1983

Warmest night

76°FAug 18, 2023

Coldest day

−21°FJan 26, 1972

Wettest day

3.12 inMay 24, 2011

Snowiest day

23.7 inApr 4, 1955

Hottest year

2012mean 51.1°F

Coldest year

1978mean 42.8°F

Wettest year

197826.81 in

Driest year

20127.13 in

Snowiest season

106.1 in2017-18

Station Billings International Airport (USW00024033), 3,590 ft elevation, 1.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00024033.
• 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.