White Pine County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (40).

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. Jan 4, 2008High Wind, White Pine$27,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A weather spotter in Baker reported a wind gust to 82 mph and the Ely ASOS |reported a wind gust to 74 mph. The high winds partially blew off a roof from the Baker Elementary School and caused a power outage in the town of Baker.

2. Oct 1, 2002Heavy Snow, White Pine$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An unusually strong early season storm brought heavy snowfall to White Pine county and portions of Elko county. The Ely airport received 9 inches of snow which set a new record for October 1st. Some surrounding areas received even higher snow amounts. Both Ruth and McGill received 12 inches of snow. Some of the benches above Ely received up to 20 inches of snow and the mountains up to 2 feet. Since the trees still had their leaves the heavy snowfall accumulating on the trees caused many broken tree limbs. It took cleanup crews about a week to clean up all the broken tree limbs and approximately 1400 truckloads of broken branches were taken to the Ely landfill. In addition many…

3. May 15, 2011High Wind, White Pine$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds gusting up to 63 mph were recorded. A power pole in Ruth was blown down.

4. Aug 12, 2015Flash Flood$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Nevada Department of Wildlife Spring Creek rearing station reported a loss of 1500 head of fish at the hatchery from flash flooding runoff of Snake Creek due to heavy rain. Recorded rain measurement of 1.35 inches in 2 hours from a nearby observer. Nearby roads were also flooded.

5. Feb 9, 1999High Wind, White Pine$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong storm system brought high winds and heavy snow to much of northern and east central Nevada. Some reported wind gusts were: 67 mph at Wells, 62 mph at both Elko and Spring Creek, 56 mph at Ely, and 54 mph at Winnemucca. Several large trees were blown down in Elko and Ely. The Toki-Ona restaurant in Elko had damage to its sign and the Pizza Hut in Ely had roof damage.Heavy snowfall was also reported across portions of northern and east central Nevada. Some amounts included: 8 inches at Wild Horse, 7 inches at Eureka, 6 inches at Ely and Lamoille, and 3-4 inches between Elko and Wendover.

6. Apr 14, 2015High Wind, White Pine$4,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds ahead of a strong cold front gusted up to 70 mph. The strong winds damaged a patio awning at the Hotel Nevada in Ely. Damages are estimated.

7. Feb 9, 1999High Wind, White Pine$3,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds in McGill and Ely caused some roof damage and blew out some windows in Ely.

8. Aug 12, 2014Flash Flood$2,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms produced flash flooding on State Route 893 at mile marker 40. Lots of debris was washed onto the roadway. Damages estimated.

9. Aug 10, 2014Flash Flood$2,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms with heavy rain caused flash flooding on alternate State Route 93 near Lages Station. A 2 mile section of the highway was flooded and a car was washed off the road. Partial washouts on dirt roads in the area were observed. Damages are estimated.

10. Aug 12, 2014Debris Flow$2,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A large debris flow occurred on the Hampton fire burn scar with debris flowing 4 miles into the valley below the fire burn area. A mesonet site about 5 miles away reported 0.90 inches of rain in 80 minutes. A private residence was impacted by the debris flow. Damages are estimated.

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

101°F2 times, most recently Jul 12, 2002

All-time low

−30°FFeb 6, 1989

Warmest night

72°FJul 30, 1906

Coldest day

1°FDec 22, 1990

Wettest day

2.52 inSep 26, 1982

Snowiest day

16.0 inApr 7, 1900

Hottest year

2025mean 48.6°F

Coldest year

1893mean 42.0°F

Wettest year

189717.20 in

Driest year

19744.22 in

Snowiest season

117.9 in2022-23

Station Ely Airport (USW00023154), 6,250 ft elevation, 1.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 26, 2026; 99.9% 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 USW00023154.
• 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.