Le Flore County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Le Flore County: 19.
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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by East OK, West AR (Regmi and Walter, 2020) (139).

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 21, 1999Hail$2.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Golfball-sized hail caused major damage in Poteau. Many cars had their windshields broken out, their mirrors and antennae knocked off, and some cars were dented so badly that it knocked off paint. The entire police fleet suffered dents. Roof damage on many buildings was considerable. State Farm Insurance alone had 800 building damage claims and 350 auto claims stemming from the storm. The awning on the Black Angus restaurant on Broadway was shredded by the force of the hail. State Farm reported $1.6 million in claims, and the Reed-Williams Insurance Company reported $1 million in claims two weeks after the storm, and more claims were still coming in. All in all, this was a…

2. Mar 26, 2000Tornado$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down 1.5 miles northwest of Hodgen and moved southeast passing near the town of Hodgen before lifting 2 miles southeast of Hodgen. Three mobile homes were destroyed and as many as eight others were damaged. In addition, two broiler houses were destroyed, killing all the chickens inside.A few other agriculture structures were damaged and a few power lines were blown down.

3. Dec 5, 2013Ice Storm, Le Flore$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Arctic air spread across eastern Oklahoma on the 4th as a strong storm system developed across the western United States. Several upper level disturbances moved through the south central part of the country on the 5th through the 6th, resulting in widespread wintry precipitation across the region beginning during the morning hours of the 5th. The precipitation fell as mainly freezing rain across southeastern Oklahoma and as snow and sleet across northeastern Oklahoma. The precipitation changed to all snow by the time it ended on the 6th. By the end of the storm, portions of southeastern Oklahoma received over an inch of ice. Power outages were widespread across Choctaw,…

4. Mar 11, 2006Tornado$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado associated with the north end of a bowing convective line segment destroyed two chicken houses, severely damaged several homes, destroyed sheds and outbuildings, snapped and uprooted a number of trees, and blew down power lines and power poles.

5. Feb 20, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$540,000
6. May 25, 2015Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed near Kerr Mansion, south-southwest of Poteau. It moved north-northeast then turned more northward west of Poteau and eventually curved north-northwest as it moved through Shady Point and west of Panama before dissipating. Several homes were severely damaged within the path, a number of other homes received roof damage, at least two mobile homes were destroyed, barns and outbuildings were destroyed, a cellular communications tower was partially collapsed, numerous trees were snapped or uprooted, and power poles were blown down by this tornado. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 110 to 120 mph.

7. May 20, 2015Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous buildings in town were flooded, including the housing authority, the Choctaw Nation Hospital, and a nursing home.

8. Apr 28, 2017Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado developed southwest of Cameron and moved generally north. It destroyed mobile homes, damaged homes, destroyed outbuildings, snapped numerous trees and power poles, uprooted numerous trees, and rolled several vehicles. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 110 to 120 mph.

9. Jun 4, 2005Lightning$120,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a diner causing a fire that burned it down.

10. Feb 20, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$120,000

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

115°FAug 3, 2011

All-time low

−10°FJan 11, 1977

Warmest night

84°F2 times, most recently Aug 3, 2011

Coldest day

8°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

6.81 inNov 24, 1973

Snowiest day

11.0 in2 times, most recently Jan 27, 2000

Hottest year

2012mean 66.2°F

Coldest year

1979mean 58.0°F

Wettest year

201573.93 in

Driest year

198026.46 in

Snowiest season

21.9 in1977-78

Station Fort Smith Regional Airport (USW00013964), 448 ft elevation, 24.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1945 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00013964.
• 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.