Osage County

Every recorded tornado

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

Costliest events since 1996

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

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

2. May 6, 2024Tornado$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is the first segment of a two-segment tornado. This tornado developed just north of County Road 1701 southeast of Hominy, where trees were uprooted and snapped. The tornado moved northeast and crossed Highway 20, snapping numerous trees and snapping seven metal power poles. The tornado continued to snap and uproot numerous trees between Highway 20 and Barnsdall. Significant tree damage was found in several locations. A well-built home was destroyed just southwest of town. Multiple vehicles were thrown and rolled, and trees were stubbed and debarked in this area. The tornado then moved into Barnsdall, causing severe damage to the wax plant on the southeast side of town. More…

3. Nov 27, 2005Wildfire, Osage$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A powerful low pressure center tracked across the Central Plains on the 27th with a central pressure below 990 mb. A swath of damaging winds and dew point temperatures in the single digits and teens swept into eastern Oklahoma behind the associated dry line during the afternoon and evening of the 27th. The wind behind the dry line gusted to between 60 and 70 mph across a large portion of northeastern Oklahoma downing power lines in a number of locations. Downed power lines sparked grass fires that quickly grew out of control, whipped by the strong winds and driven by the very low humidity and dry vegetation. Many fires occurred; nine were very large and damaging. Thirty-five homes…

4. Jan 29, 2002Ice Storm, Osage$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The combination of a slow moving upper level system moving east out of the rockies and a shallow cold air mass moving south into Oklahoma resulted in a widespread rain event across eastern Oklahoma from the evening of the 29th into the next night. Temperatures remained above freezing across much of eastern Oklahoma. However, across a large part of Nowata, Washington, Osage and Pawnee counties, the temperature did fall a few degrees below freezing. While the air temperature was below freezing in those counties, soil temperatures remained above freezing. Thus, roads did not become icy. Exposed objects such as power lines and trees did receive a thick coating of ice, however, as two…

5. May 20, 2019Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Up to five feet of water inundated forty homes and nine businesses in Hominy. The fire department used boats to rescue stranded people.

6. Apr 1, 2024Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed just east of Highway 11, over the southeastern side of Barnsdall. It damaged homes, destroyed outbuildings, and blew down trees and power poles as it moved east-northeast, dissipating north of County Road 2400 and west of County Road 2335. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 90 to 100 mph.

7. May 8, 2026Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Baseball size hail damaged homes and vehicles.

8. May 8, 2003Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A F3 tornado touched down northwest of Fairfax and traveled northeast across rural areas of Osage county before dissipating just west of Bowring. The one community it did effect was Little Chief.Oil tanks southwest of Little Chief were taken off their foundation and rolled a quarter of a mile. In Little Chief a RV was destroyed and there was considerable tree damage. In a field not far from Little Chief seven cattle were killed. Along Highway 60 to the northeast of Little Chief a house and garage were completely swept from their foundation. At the same location a barn was destroyed and three horses were killed. Further to the northeast as the tornado entered the Tall Grass Prairie…

9. May 8, 2026Hail$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to two inches in diameter damaged homes and vehicles.

10. Jan 8, 2026Tornado$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A tornado damaged the roofs of several homes, destroyed a large outbuilding, snapped power poles, and blew down trees. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 90 to 100 mph.

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

113°FAug 3, 2011

All-time low

−13°FFeb 16, 2021

Warmest night

88°F2 times, most recently Jul 31, 2012

Coldest day

5°F2 times, most recently Feb 15, 2021

Wettest day

7.54 inJul 27, 1963

Snowiest day

13.2 inFeb 1, 2011

Hottest year

2012mean 64.7°F

Coldest year

1940mean 58.0°F

Wettest year

197369.88 in

Driest year

193922.56 in

Snowiest season

26.1 in2010-11

Station Tulsa International Airport (USW00013968), 639 ft elevation, 24.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1938 to October 26, 2026; 99.9% 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 USW00013968.
• 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.