Elko County

Every recorded tornado

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

Volcanoes within 100 miles

1. U.S. volcanoes within 100 miles, from the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. The threat category is the USGS 2018 National Volcanic Threat Assessment, which ranks volcanoes by how hazardous their past eruptions were and how many people and how much infrastructure lie near them. It is not a forecast of eruption.

USGS Volcano Hazards Program, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NV NBMG (149), UT GRC (7), NASA (2).

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. May 26, 2018Hail$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant accumulating hail caused multiple accidents on Interstate 80 near the Carlin Tunnels.

2. Mar 2, 2018High Wind, Southwestern Elko$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Power lines were damaged in Ryndon, leading to power outages. Strong wind gusts were also reported in Spring Creek, with small tree branches snapped and shingles blown off houses. A large tree fell and destroyed a storage shed, from strong winds in Starr Valley. Estimated winds were between 50 MPH and 60 MPH for these events.

3. Jul 21, 2018Thunderstorm Wind$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Scaffolding collapsed from gusty outflow winds between 50 to 55 mph. No injuries, but the roadway was blocked. Elko Airport also gusted to 51 mph and NWS Elko gusted to 49 mph. Blowing dust was also observed.

4. Feb 7, 2017Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rain on a much above normal snow pack combined with frozen ground caused extensive flooding. About 30 homes and a few businesses in both Montello and Wells were flooded along with some homes and outbuildings in rural areas. Many rural roads were damaged and had washouts. US highway 93 was closed both south and north of Wells for a time as flood waters submerged the road. Salmon Falls Creek overflowed US highway 93 and completely submerged the adjoining rest area. Extensive shoulder damage was reported along US Highway 93 mainly north of Wells. All the runoff caused the Humboldt River to rise above flood stage. This caused extensive flooding of homes and businesses along and near…

5. Apr 27, 2018Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A dry microburst produced a wind gust to 67 MPH at the NWS Elko WFO. Other minor damage in town consisted of displaced shingles and a damaged fence. Blowing dust was also observed, but did not cause any significant impacts.

6. Aug 1, 2021Flash Flood$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   At least 15 different debris flows were caused by previous thunderstorms/heavy rain during the afternoon. Multiple reports came from the US Forest Service, Elko County Road Department, and Nevada Department of Transportation. USFS 660 will be closed until further notice. The height of debris flows is estimated to be between 4 and 8 feet within a 4-mile length of road.

7. Jul 17, 2017Wildfire, Southwestern Elko$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Oil Well wildfire that started in the Kittridge Canyon area on the northeast side of Elko quickly spread eastward to the Osino area by gusty winds. The fire destroyed 7 homes, 5 outbuildings, and 16 vehicles. Smoke from the fire also closed down Interstate 80 for a couple of hours during the late afternoon hours of July 17 due to low visibility in smoke. The fire consumed a total of 7400 acres. Damages are estimated.

8. Jul 4, 2018Dust Devil$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong dust devil was observed picking up an anchored shed and tossing it over 50 yards. The shed was destroyed.

9. Feb 8, 2017Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rising waters behind Twenty One Mile Dam caused the dam to fail sending a 2 to 3 foot wall of water downstream. The flood waters washed out a section of State Route 233 and railroad tracks. The waters flooded buildings at the Gamble Ranch and washed out some county roads. Damages are estimated.

10. Apr 7, 2021Wildfire, South-Central Elko$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Lamoille fire burned 26 acres and damaged utility polls knocking out power to civilians for 3 days.

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

107°F3 times, most recently Jul 4, 1981

All-time low

−43°FJan 21, 1937

Warmest night

73°FJul 13, 1897

Coldest day

−12°FJan 8, 1890

Wettest day

4.13 inAug 27, 1970

Snowiest day

18.4 inJan 24, 1996

Hottest year

1981mean 50.8°F

Coldest year

1898mean 40.0°F

Wettest year

198318.34 in

Driest year

19194.35 in

Snowiest season

79.1 in1931-32

Station Elko Regional Airport (USW00024121), 5,054 ft elevation, 13.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1890 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 USW00024121.
• 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.
• Volcanoes USGS Volcano Hazards Program, U.S. volcanoes and 2018 threat assessment.
• 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.