Nye County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Tsunamis

1. Places where NOAA's Global Historical Tsunami Database records a tsunami's water arriving, with the greatest height it reached above sea level at the time. Only tsunamis NOAA rates probable or definite are counted. Heights from eyewitness accounts and tide gauges are mixed, and older events are less completely recorded.

NOAA NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database, 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 (97), USGS Conterminous (1).

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. Sep 3, 1997Flash Flood$2.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A second day of heavy rain producing thunderstorms lead to more flash flooding in the Pahrump Valley. At 11:35 am PST, the Nevada Highway Patrol reported a wall of water crossing State Route 160 near mile marker four. The road remain closed for several hours. At 12:32 pm PST, the Pahrump Fire Department reported a number of roads flooded and barricaded in and around Pahrump. By 1:40 pm PST, a state of emergency had been declared for Pahrump due to numerous road closures and damage caused by the flooding.

2. Jul 17, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency Manager reports minor wind damage to a patio and a trampoline over power lines.

3. Jul 1, 2013Wildfire, Spring Mountains$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning sparked the Carpenter One Wildfire in the Spring Mountains on July 1st. The fire burned a total of 27,881 acres and six structures, and burned well into August before finally being 100% contained.

4. Dec 22, 2010Flash Flood$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads were flooded. There was significant damage to one road and portions of the sewer system.

5. Aug 21, 2023Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   SR-376 was washed out at mile marker 62 north of the city of Cavers, NV. Anywhere from 1-4 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Hilary fell across Nye County. Quima Peak Raws, located just 35 miles south of the washout, measured 3.96 inches of rain from the event. SR-376 from Cavers to US-50 has been closed as a result and remains closed indefinitely.

6. Dec 19, 2010Heavy Snow, Spring Mountains$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort (8800') measured a total of 96 inches of snow. The co-op observer at the Mount Charleston Fire Department (7600') measured 41 inches. Countless trees were knocked down, along with several power lines and poles. Some residents were without power for three days or more.

7. Feb 3, 1998High Wind, Northern Nye$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong gradient winds, enhanced by local terrain, produced damaging winds in northwest Nye County in the small town of Gabbs. One resident with a home weather station recorded sustained winds of 65 mph before his equipment was blown away. Wind gusts were estimated at 80 to 100 mph during the peak of the event, between 4:00 am and 10:00 am. The relentless winds destroyed seven mobile homes, damaged many roofs and small buildings, downed numerous trees and knocked out power for almost the entire day. Nye County commissioners declared Gabbs a disaster area the following day.

8. Jul 19, 2003Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding was observed in and around the town of Pahrump. Water was running over SR 160 from SR 372 to Dandelion. In the town of Pahrump, roads looked like rivers with a dumpster floating in the road blocking traffic. Mud was going through the Post Office and a trailer park. Basin Ave. and State Route 160 under one foot of water. Flooding extended half mile on Basin Ave. toward the west. Gas station, city park, and a shopping center parking lot were completely flooded.

9. Jul 25, 2021Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Roofs were blown off multiple structures, trees three to four feet in diameter were snapped, and car windows were broken.

10. Jun 3, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous power poles, knocking out power to Amargosa Valley and Death Valley.

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

114°F3 times, most recently Jul 7, 2024

All-time low

6°FDec 22, 1990

Warmest night

89°F2 times, most recently Jul 13, 2020

Coldest day

28°FDec 22, 1990

Wettest day

3.52 inAug 18, 1983

Snowiest day

7.0 inJan 25, 2021

Hottest year

2025mean 65.8°F

Coldest year

1982mean 60.2°F

Wettest year

198312.05 in

Driest year

19891.25 in

Snowiest season

8.6 in1984-85

Station Desert Rock Airport (USW00003160), 3,230 ft elevation, 15.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1978 to October 26, 2026; 99.5% 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 USW00003160.
• 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.
• Tsunamis NOAA NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database.
• 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.