Custer County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Custer County: 4.
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.

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.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jan 30, 2002Ice Storm, Custer$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Freezing rain began across the northwest third of the state during the evening of the 29th with significant accumulations of ice developing shortly after midnight on the 30th. Freezing rain shifted southward during the early morning of the 30th with moderate to occasionally heavy freezing rain occurring in a 50 to 60 mile wide band, extending from north central Oklahoma, near Ponca City and Perry, southwestward toward Enid, Kingfisher, Oklahoma City, Weatherford, Anadarko, and Hobart. In many areas, the freezing rain continued for 12 to 24 hours, with ice accumulations of 1 to 2 inches commonly observed. As the end of the storm neared, freezing rain transitioned to sleet and snow…

2. Dec 27, 2015Ice Storm, Custer$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damage estimates reported by local power companies.

3. Jun 5, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread damage occurred in and around Custer county. A Cessna 152 airplane was flipped, with the nose gear of two more collapsing in Clinton. Three vehicles were blown over on Interstate 40. One of the drivers was injured. Numerous barns were destroyed from Clinton to Custer City, with the contents of the barns also severely damaged. Several buildings sustained roof damage. Superior Well Services had its roof completely blown off and the bait shop at Foss Lake destroyed. Hundreds of power poles and trees were blown down around Custer county. The top of a large grain bin Sentinel Farmer's Co-Op was destroyed and another grain bin sustained severe damage. The loading arm which…

4. Sep 4, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$360,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Six power transmission poles were downed at the intersection of county road 1000 and county roads 2230 and 2240. Time estimated by radar.

5. Jun 12, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The strong winds damaged the roofs of several buildings and homes. One building was the United Grocery Store. The main roof damage was shingles blown off. Several carports were also blown over. Power lines were downed. A few semi-trucks were overturned on Interstate 40.

6. May 19, 2024Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A television storm chaser observed this tornado develop northwest of E0930 Road and N2205 Road moving southeast crossing E0930 Road. Initially the tornado was a narrow tornado, then as it turned east-northeast quickly become a large multiple-vortex tornado as observed visually and in the damage pattern. The total damage width was about 2.7 miles along N2240 Road, including both damaging inflow winds north of the tornado and very strong damaging Rear Flank Downdraft (RFD) winds south of the tornado, but the tornado width itself was about one mile wide based on the damage survey and preliminary mobile radar data from Texas Tech University. The tornado narrowed as it approached…

7. Mar 7, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$240,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three semis were overturned on Interstate 40, and one of the drivers was injured. Five thousand square feet of the roof at Walmart was blown off. Numerous homes and businesses had windows broken. A porch was destroyed, and a local fire department recorded a wind gusts of 88 mph, resulting in a broken glass door and roof damage. On the southeast side of Weatherford, road signs and power poles were downed, while on the east side of Weatherford, a trailer was overturned.

8. May 19, 2024Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed near County Road N2370 north of County Road E0960. It moved southeast and then east crossing State Highway 54 about 6 miles north of Weatherford. One home east of SH-54 suffered significant roof damage and at least two others had some damage to shingles. One mobile home had roof and siding damage, a few outbuildings were damaged or destroyed, and numerous trees and power poles were damaged.

9. Apr 4, 2023Wildfire, Custer$155,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The 'Route 66 Fire' spread over 1,584 acres.

10. Jun 19, 2014Flash Flood$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Several streets were closed due to flooding with a number of vehicles stalled in flood waters. Damages 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

112°FJul 19, 2022

All-time low

−6°FFeb 15, 2021

Warmest night

84°FJul 20, 2022

Coldest day

7°F2 times, most recently Jan 24, 2026

Wettest day

6.35 inMay 31, 1968

Snowiest day

9.2 inFeb 4, 1964

Hottest year

2012mean 63.6°F

Coldest year

1968mean 57.5°F

Wettest year

201538.81 in

Driest year

20039.05 in

Station Clinton-sherman Airport (USW00003932), 1,918 ft elevation, 24.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1958 to October 26, 2026; 98.7% 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 USW00003932.
• 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.