Washington County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Washington County: 1.
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, Washington$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

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

2. May 6, 2024Tornado$15.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is the second segment of a two-segment tornado. The tornado crossed into Washington County near Gap Road, and moved across the southwestern portion of Bartlesville, and then across the central and northeastern side of town. An estimated 1000 homes and businesses were damaged in town, some severely. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted, and many power poles were snapped. A squall line merged with the tornadic supercell, and ultimately ended the tornado process northeast of Bartlesville. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 115 to 125 mph.

3. May 8, 2000Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Golfball to softball size hail fell in Bartlesville damaging roofs, windows and cars.

4. Apr 19, 2003Tornado$1.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado entered Washington county 5 miles northwest of Dewey and passed between Dewey and Copan before entering Nowata county 1 mile north of Wann or 6.8 miles east northeast of Copan. The tornado produced F2 damage and a half mile wide damage path at its peak. 41 homes, two businesses and 40 barns and sheds were damaged. 16 of the homes were severely damaged including two mobile homes which were completely destroyed. Three people were treated at an emergency room of a hospital in Bartlesville due to injuries received during the tornado. Two of those people were inhabitants of one of the moble homes that was destroyed.

5. Sep 1, 2014Thunderstorm Wind$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency management personnel measured thunderstorm wind gusts to 80 mph. A hospital, a school, and an apartment complex sustained major damage to their roofs due to the strong wind. Nearly 600 homes were also damaged by the wind, about 100 of which had major damage. Numerous trees and large tree limbs were blown down along with many power poles. Over 10,000 people were without power in Bartlesville at the height of the storm. School was canceled the following day due to the prolonged power outage in the area and due to storm debris covering many roads used by the school buses.

6. Jul 1, 2007Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Caney River near Bartlesville rose above its flood stage of 13 feet at 4 am CDT on June 30. The river crested at 21.45 feet at 9:30 am CDT on July 2. The river fell below its flood stage at 5 pm CDT on July 6.||The flood category reached the major level. 2500-3000 residents were displaced across Washington County due to the flood. 85 residents were evacuated in Dewey. The total amount of homes receiving flood damage was roughly 250. Numerous streets were closed during the flood, including nearly every east-west street in Bartlesville. Damages totaled for government infrastructure were roughly $400,000. Total damages estimated at $1 million.

7. May 20, 2001Hail$1.0 million
8. Mar 31, 2023Wildfire, Washington$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Very dry air and very strong wind gusts of up to 60 to 65 mph behind a dry line, combined with drought-stricken fuels to promote conditions that supported the rapid spread of wildfire across portions of eastern Oklahoma during the afternoon of March 31st. Numerous wildfires occurred across the region, but the largest fires affected Washington and Osage Counties, where over 4400 acres were burned, and in Le Flore County, where over 250 acres were burned. The fires in Washington County destroyed ten homes and numerous outbuildings, and burned a number of vehicles. These fires continued to burn into early April.

9. May 16, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds estimated at 80 miles an hour associated with a line of thundestorms referred to as a bow echo did serious damage to homes and businesses, especially in the Oak Park neighborhood. Light to moderate damage was reported for 129 homes. This included shingles and gutters blown off roofs and broken windows. Severe damage was done to two homes whose roofs were blown off making them uninhabitable. Of the businesses which were damaged two were considered to have light to moderate damage and one was reported to have severe damage. One building that received roof damage was the Lighthouse Outreach Center where a flat tar roof was pealed back by the wind. After the roof…

10. Jan 29, 2002Ice Storm, Washington$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…

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, 4.9 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.