Esmeralda County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (26), USGS Conterminous (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. Jul 18, 2023Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding in Fish Lake Valley impacted Dyer Elementary School, the Community Center, and severely impacted agriculture. Portions of Highway 264 through Dyer were flooded.

2. Aug 1, 2022Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Highway 266 was closed from Highway 168 to Highway 95. Rocks, debris, and mud four to six feet deep blocked a 30 mile stretch of the highway.

3. Jul 13, 2012Lightning$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong push of monsoon moisture fueled a five-day outbreak of thunderstorms over the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin. Numerous storms produced flash flooding and/or severe weather.

4. Aug 22, 2012Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A four mile section of Highway 266 near Lida Summit was washed out.

5. Jul 23, 1998Flash Flood$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong thunderstorms with very heavy rain produced significant flooding which washed out several roads including Highway 266, between Lida and Palmetto, and Highway 264 in the Fish Lake Valley. Twelve people were rescued from stranded vehicles and at least three cars were swept away by flood waters.

6. Apr 20, 2010Lightning$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a transmission line, causing power outages.

7. Jul 29, 2011Lightning$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck and set fire to a power pole along a dirt road near Silver Peak.

8. Jul 22, 2013Flash Flood$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large push of monsoon moisture triggered an extended period of thunderstorms across the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin. Many storms produced flash flooding and severe weather.

9. Aug 1, 2015Flash Flood$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Highway 264 was washed out in several places. The Dyer co-op observer measured 3.07 inches of rain between 4 PM and 9 PM, which set a 24-hour rainfall record for the station.

10. Jul 22, 2013Flash Flood$10,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A large push of monsoon moisture triggered an extended period of thunderstorms across the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin. Many storms produced flash flooding and severe weather.

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.

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.
• 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.