Craig County

Every recorded tornado

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

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Dec 8, 2007Ice Storm, Craig$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   One to two inches of ice accumulated on trees, power lines and other exposed surfaces.

2. May 4, 1999Flash Flood$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An estimated 5 to 8 inches of rain in a short time caused Big Cabin Creek on the west side of Vinita and Bull Creek on the east side of Vinita to overflow their banks and enter 54 homes. Water was five feet deep in some homes. 30 homes were evacuated. The hardest-hit areas were located along North Second to North Fourth Streets, near Sequoyah and Tahlequah. According to the police chief, all of the homes around North Second Street were devastated. Later in the evening, water from Bull Creek drained into Big Cabin Creek, flooding out several homes in the Westwood area. Long-time residents say that the last time Bull Creek flooded any homes was in 1961, though they said the flooding…

3. May 10, 2008Tornado$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado developed just south of the Oklahoma-Kansas border north-northwest of Welch. It moved rapidly east across northeastern Craig County, intensifying and widening as it moved into Ottawa County. In Craig County, the tornado destroyed several mobile homes, severely damaged about a dozen other homes, snapped or uprooted numerous trees, and blew down power poles and power lines.

4. Jun 3, 2010Lightning$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning ignited a large fire at the Paint and Home Decorative Center of the TH Rogers Lumber Company in Vinita, destroying the building and all of its contents. The structure was approximately 60x200 feet and contained laminate flooring, rolls of carpet, cans of paint, and decorative doors.

5. May 6, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong thunderstorm wind severely damaged the school gymnasium, damaged the roofs of homes, destroyed outbuildings, and blew down trees.

6. May 1, 2012Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado tore the roof off of a permanent home, shifted another permanent home off its foundation and blew out an exterior wall, turned over an outbuilding, rolled two horse trailers, destroyed a 40' by 60' steel-framed barn, and snapped or uprooted a number of hardwood trees. Maximum estimated wind in the tornado based on this damage was 110 to 120 mph.

7. May 9, 2000Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains caused flooding on the eastern side of Vinita. Water up to four inches deep entered up to fifteen houses. Boats were used in the streets to rescue families.

8. Jan 12, 2007Winter Storm, Craig$133,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An arctic cold front moved into northeastern Oklahoma during the late evening hours of the 11th and had finally passed through the southeastern portion of the state by the evening of the 12th. A strong upper level low pressure system moved into the southern Rockies and several disturbances translated across the Southern Plains bringing periods of heavy sleet and freezing rain to the region. The initial precipitation began around daybreak on the 12th and the final round occurred on the 14th. |A devastating swath of one to three inch ice amounts fell in an estimated 60 to 80 mile wide band from roughly Atoka to McAlester to Muskogee to Grove. An estimated 120,000 electric customers…

9. Jun 18, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$109,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm wind resulted in at least $109,000 in damage to the utility infrastructure across the county during this severe thunderstorm.

10. Jun 20, 1999Flash Flood$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Most small creeks throughout Craig County overflowed their banks, resulting in serious damage to county roads, estimated at $75,000-$100,000. However, no residences were flooded.

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°F2 times, most recently Aug 10, 1936

All-time low

−25°FJan 22, 1930

Warmest night

89°FAug 2, 1934

Coldest day

3°FJan 15, 2024

Wettest day

8.35 inAug 14, 1961

Snowiest day

18.0 inFeb 9, 2011

Hottest year

1938mean 64.2°F

Coldest year

2019mean 59.1°F

Wettest year

201981.67 in

Driest year

196318.75 in

Snowiest season

29.0 in1969-70

Station Spavinaw (USC00348380), 685 ft elevation, 20.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1923 to October 27, 2026; 88.3% 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 USC00348380.
• 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.
• 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.