Yates County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Yates 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 storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 to 2025.

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by 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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jan 19, 1996Flash Flood$7.9 million
2. May 14, 2014Flash Flood$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Catastrophic flash flooding was occurring in the downtown area of the Village of Penn Yan. Jacobs Brook became a raging torrent of water as it traveled into, and under the center of the village. The hardest hit areas were in the vicinity of Elm Street and Champlin Avenue where roads buckled, parking lots caved in, and the Owl's Nest Community Center collapsed. Tractor-trailer container boxes were seen floating down the streets, where they collided into the Wagner restaurant causing significant structural damage. Foundations of several homes were washed away during the flood.

3. Apr 4, 2003Ice Storm, Yates$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A stationary front was west to east across Pennsylvania during the 3rd and 4th of April. Areas of low pressure moved along the front bringing precipitation to upstate New York. A large area of high pressure, centered over Hudson Bay Canada helped to keep cold air at the surface. The morning of the 5th low pressure moved northeast to Erie, Pennsylvania then to northeast New York that evening. A trailing cold front brought with it an end to the precipitation from west to east. Patchy freezing rain was across these counties first the night of the 3rd into the 4th. At this time the freezing rain was most widespread in Northern Oneida County. Steady widespread freezing rain started…

4. May 13, 2014Flash Flood$1.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several creeks were out of their banks, and water was washing over some roads in the area.

5. May 13, 2014Flash Flood$1.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive flooding was occurring on Hamilton, Davis and Longdorf Roads in the Village of Penn Yan.

6. Apr 27, 2011Flash Flood$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A total of seven towns and one village reported significant roadway damages. In most cases, the damages were related to either shoulder wash-outs or significant debris buildup on roadways. In one case, the road was fully washed out. several other roads had deep, newly formed pot holes/voids. In addition to roadway damage, there were several cases of mass wasting and sediment transport. In the Town of Middlesex, one home had soil and debris build-up as high as the door knob level. Another area along South Lake Road had the downward movement of an entire portion of a hillside with localized water damages to several homes. A voluntary evacuation was in place for the area along South…

7. Jun 14, 2015Flash Flood$650,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rushing water was flowing out of ditches and across driveways into nearby houses.

8. Jun 14, 2015Flash Flood$650,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water was flowing over numerous roads in the area.

9. May 13, 2014Flash Flood$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several locations along Guyanoga Road were flooded and impassable.

10. May 13, 2014Flash Flood$400,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Several creeks were flowing out of their banks, and water was flowing over some roads in the area.

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°FAug 10, 2001

All-time low

−17°F2 times, most recently Feb 18, 1979

Warmest night

82°F2 times, most recently Jul 6, 1999

Coldest day

0°F2 times, most recently Feb 14, 2016

Wettest day

3.71 inJul 29, 2014

Snowiest day

18.0 inJan 18, 2022

Hottest year

2012mean 52.1°F

Coldest year

1963mean 46.2°F

Wettest year

201744.95 in

Driest year

198821.60 in

Station Canandaigua 3 S (USC00301152), 720 ft elevation, 17.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1944 to October 27, 2026; 98.6% 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 USC00301152.
• 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.