Nowata County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Dec 8, 2007Ice Storm, Nowata$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

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

2. Aug 23, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds measured at 74 miles an hour at a nearby mesonet site and estimated at 80 miles an hour at Nowata did widespread damage in and around Nowata. Several hundred trees and power poles were damaged or blown down. The trees fell on several houses causing roof damage. Several cars were also damaged. The downed power poles caused widespread power outages that lasted up to 12 hours.

3. May 16, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds estimated at 80 miles did serious damage along a 6 miles long area from just southwest of Nowata to just northwest of Nowata. Two homes, an indoor livestock area and 5 barns were destroyed. Twelve other structures received significant roof damage. This damage was produced by the same line of thunderstorms that produced significant wind damage in Bartlesville earlier in the morning.

4. Jul 1, 2007Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   At 1145 pm CDT on June 29 the Verdigris River near Lenapah rose above its flood stage of 30 feet. The crest of the river at 42.89 feet at 300 pm CDT on July 2 was a record. The river fell below its flood stage at 4:45 am CDT on July 8.||Widespread flooding resulted. Numerous roads became impassible, including State Highway 169, State Highway 28, and State Highway 10.|At least one major bridge over the river was damaged. The flooding primarily occurred in rural areas with roughly 30 residences directly damaged. Environmental issues were also a factor along the Verdigris River due to a 42,000 gallon crude oil spill at a Coffeyville, Kansas refinery caused by flooding. The river was…

5. May 7, 2007Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains that began during the evening of May 6th and continued through the morning of May 7th caused significant flash flooding of rural roads across the north and northwest portions of the county. As many as sixteen tin horns were washed out and major damage to county roads resulted.

6. Nov 11, 2015Wildfire, Nowata$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong westerly wind gusting up to 55 mph behind a pacific cold front, combined with unseasonably warm conditions and low relative humidity, promoted the rapid spread of wildfire across northeastern Oklahoma during the afternoon and evening hours of November 11th. Large wildfires burned portions of Osage, Washington, Delaware, and Nowata Counties. The wildfire that affected Washington and Nowata Counties burned an estimated 26,000 acres, including two homes and numerous outbuildings. The towns of Lenapah and Delaware in Nowata County were evacuated during the evening due to the approaching wildfire. Wildfires in Osage County burned about 14,000 acres, and a wildfire in Delaware…

7. Sep 7, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense downburst destroyed a double wide mobile home, killing three occupants. The strong thunderstorm wind also destroyed at least two other mobile homes, damaged the roofs and siding of a number of permanent homes, destroyed a number of steel-framed or wood-framed outbuildings, snapped many power poles, and snapped or uprooted trees in this area.

8. May 26, 1996Tornado$200,000
9. Apr 19, 2003Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A F1 tornado entered Nowata county from Washington county one mile north of Wann. The tornado traveled east northeast three miles producing damage to barns, sheds, and power poles and power lines before lifting 8 miles west southwest of South Coffeyville. The electrical service was interupted for up to 8 hours in the northwest part of Nowata county and adjacent parts of Washington county.

10. Mar 4, 2004Flash Flood$120,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy thunderstorm rains caused flooding and some damage of numerous roads across Nowata county. The highest rainfall total for the day was 3.73 inches at Wann.

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°FJul 14, 1954

All-time low

−28°FFeb 10, 2011

Warmest night

88°FAug 1, 1934

Coldest day

5°F4 times, most recently Jan 14, 2024

Wettest day

7.07 inSep 30, 1986

Snowiest day

16.0 inMar 17, 1970

Hottest year

1954mean 63.0°F

Coldest year

1924mean 56.2°F

Wettest year

198658.70 in

Driest year

195619.21 in

Snowiest season

26.9 in1978-79

Station Bartlesville Municipal Airport (USW00003959), 690 ft elevation, 20.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1920 to October 26, 2026; 99.3% 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 USW00003959.
• 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.