Jackson County

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.

Volcanoes within 100 miles

1. U.S. volcanoes within 100 miles, from the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. The threat category is the USGS 2018 National Volcanic Threat Assessment, which ranks volcanoes by how hazardous their past eruptions were and how many people and how much infrastructure lie near them. It is not a forecast of eruption.

USGS Volcano Hazards Program, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by OR DOGAMI (2,839), NASA (19), West Coast Slow Moving (Yuankun and others, 2021) (1).

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. Sep 8, 2020Wildfire, Jackson County$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Almeda Drive Wildfire started on 09/08/20 in the morning. The cause is under investigation. As of the last report at 0630 PDT on 09/15/20, the fire had burned 3200 acres and was 100 percent contained. This fire burned in a greenway and an adjacent urban area. 2,482 residential structures, 173 commercial buildings, and four public buildings were destroyed. An additional 123 residential structures, 25 commercial buildings, and 1 public building were damaged. There were three fatalities. 721 thousand dollars had been spent on firefighting efforts, but the estimated cost of cleanup is 170 million dollars. 3,614 structures reviewed, 2,482 structures destroyed, 123 structures…

2. Dec 26, 2005Flood, Jackson County$5.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Estimated total damage in Jackson County. 392 homes and businesses damaged. A major slide on I-5 near Siskiyou Summit caused 2 million in damage, mostly to a road drainage system.

3. Aug 24, 2010Wildfire, Jackson County$3.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Weather conditions were hot and dry at the time of the fire. Ashland recorded a high temperature of 98 degrees with relative humidities in the single digits.

4. Jan 3, 2008High Wind, Jackson County$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds knocked down many trees in the Jackson County forests, which in turn caused one death and damaged many structures and vehicles. While the highest recorded gust in the area was 52 mph, winds must have been much higher in the Butte Falls and Lake Creek areas. A Gold Hill woman was killed when a tree fell on her vehicle around 04/0610 PST. Around 50 trees were reported down around Butte Falls, where the elementary school, at least two houses, and at least one vehicle were heavily damaged. Many areas lost electricity and communications, and the power was not restored to some areas for several days.

5. Dec 10, 2014High Wind, Jackson County$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Sensor DW6803 at Science Works in Ashland recorded sporadic high wind gusts during this interval, with a peak gust of 74 mph recorded at 11/0303 PST and a sustained wind of 15 mph. The data from this source is suspect, but there were numerous reports of wind damage on this morning from around Jackson County, and there was one fatality when a tree fell on a camper's tent. The Medford Mail Tribune reported that the roof was blown off of one Medford business and a smaller building collapsed. A city-owned barn in Ashland lost part of its roof. Numerous power lines were down and there were power failures affecting 16000 people. Dozens of trees were felled, some of them falling on cars.…

6. Jul 16, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$160,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   More than 2 dozen pine trees of 1 to 2 ft. diameter snapped or fell, as well as a 3.5 to 4 ft. diameter tree that fell and demolished a fence. A tree fell on a power line in Central Point, which destroyed a mobile home and caused a 15 acre wildfire.

7. Jul 8, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds downed 13 110 ft. tall wooden power poles along Highway 238 between Central Point and Jacksonville. A car was totaled after it drove into one of the poles. There were many fallen trees and limbs, which damaged 3 vehicles in Central Point. Power lines also were downed along Table Rock Rd. in Medford.

8. May 31, 2009Lightning$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong thunderstorm with frequent lightning caused structural damage...power outages...local urban flooding and one injury. A McDonald's employee was injured when lightning struck the restaurant while he was unloading the dishwasher. Full recovery was expected. A manufactured home was partially burned by a fire caused by a lightning strike. Several intersections in Medford and Central Point were flooding by heavy rain. More than 14,000 customers lost power at some point during the storm. All but 891 of those customers had power restored within two hours.

9. Jul 11, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong straight-line winds associated with a thunderstorm swept through portions of Jackson County. Numerous downed large trees were reported, and some of them damaged vehicles and trailers when they fell. Most of the damage was reported near the city of Rogue River. No injuries or deaths were reported.

10. Aug 30, 2007High Wind, Jackson County$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A city of Ashland emergency manager reported numerous trees down around the city, including one that was 4 feet in diameter that fell through a house. Two large trees in Garfield Park were also down. The fire department reported 12 calls for downed power lines, but it is not known how many of these calls were for the same line.

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°F2 times, most recently Jun 28, 2021

All-time low

−6°F3 times, most recently Dec 10, 1972

Warmest night

77°FJul 30, 2022

Coldest day

15°FDec 9, 1972

Wettest day

3.30 inDec 2, 1962

Snowiest day

8.3 inJan 3, 2017

Hottest year

2014mean 58.9°F

Coldest year

1948mean 51.4°F

Wettest year

199631.41 in

Driest year

20138.99 in

Snowiest season

31.6 in1955-56

Station Medford International Airport (USW00024225), 1,313 ft elevation, 2.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1928 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 USW00024225.
• 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.
• Volcanoes USGS Volcano Hazards Program, U.S. volcanoes and 2018 threat assessment.
• 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.