Pawnee County

Every recorded tornado

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

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, Pawnee$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

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

2. Mar 13, 2025Wildfire, Pawnee$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Unseasonably warm temperatures, high wind, and low relative humidity combined with dormant fuels to promote conditions that supported the rapid spread of wildfire across portions of eastern Oklahoma in mid to late March. Some of the worst wildfires occurred on the 14th, with near record warm temperatures, very dry air behind a dry line, and very strong wind gusting to near 70 mph locally. Numerous wildfires occurred during this period, some of the largest of which burned almost 32000 acres, 115 homes, and 145 outbuildings in Pawnee County, more than 6500 acres in Latimer County, about 3000 acres in Adair, Haskell and Pittsburg Counties, more than 2000 acres in Pushmataha County,…

3. Oct 4, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds (known as a rear flank downdraft) associated with a nearby F1 tornado blew the roof off of the high school auditorium, causing over $1 million in damage to the high school. Debris was scattered throughout the high school campus. An adjacent metal-style bus garage was also damaged. Many trees and power lines were downed or snapped by the winds throughout Pawnee. Specifically, several big oak trees were blown down at the Pawnee Agency, including one blown onto the pre-school. Near the Pawnee Municipal Hospital, large trees along Boulder Street were blown down, one falling onto a mobile unit. Tree damage was also reported in the Lusk Addition. A trailer home just…

4. Oct 4, 1998Tornado$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado briefly touched down in the southwest part of the city of Pawnee at 738 PM CDT near 6th Street and Ash. The tornado travelled northeast for 0.4 miles and had a width of 125 yards. Many trees were downed or snapped along the path with about fifty homes receiving minor roof, window, and porch damage. One mobile home was destroyed. Widespread wind damage also occurred in Pawnee due to strong winds in the vicinity of the tornado known as a "rear flank downdraft". The roof at the high school auditorium was blown off by the nearby winds. Damage from the tornado and the winds combined were nearly $2 million. (The official damage estimate in this entry does not include damages…

5. May 7, 2007Flash Flood$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The City of Pawnee received 3.25 inches of rain during the 24 hours ending 7 am CDT. This excessive rainfall caused substantial flooding of county roads, which resulted in major damage to several of them. Three bridges were also washed out.

6. Mar 25, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong thunderstorm wind destroyed the marina and sunk several boats at the marina.

7. Jan 29, 2002Ice Storm, Pawnee$200,000
   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…

8. May 6, 2000Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the early morning hours caused low lying areas in Cleveland to be flooded. Other low lying areas in eastern Pawnee county were also likely flooded with some damage to bridges and roads.

9. Apr 10, 2008Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains flooded and damaged numerous secondary roads across Pawnee county.

10. Sep 19, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Strong thunderstorm wind overturned multiple recreational vehicles (RV) at a campground on the east shore of Pawnee Lake. Two people were injured and a man was killed when the RV they were in overturned.

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 31, 2012

All-time low

−29°FFeb 10, 2011

Warmest night

85°FAug 14, 2026

Coldest day

4°FFeb 16, 2021

Wettest day

8.20 inMay 21, 2019

Snowiest day

13.0 inDec 25, 2009

Hottest year

2012mean 63.7°F

Coldest year

1979mean 58.1°F

Wettest year

201961.11 in

Driest year

193617.00 in

Snowiest season

30.7 in1987-88

Station Ralston (USC00347390), 825 ft elevation, 19.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1959 to October 27, 2026; 91.4% 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 USC00347390.
• 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.