Morrow County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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 (1,334), NASA (2).

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. Jun 11, 2013Wildfire, Lower Columbia Basin$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A grass fire believed to have started from a cigarette butt claimed 4 houses on Tuesday, June 11.

2. Jun 19, 2006Wildfire, Lower Columbia Basin$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   On the east side of Arlington, a person operating a weed trimmer fell and the hot exhaust from the weed trimmer touched and ignited dry vegetation. West winds gusting 25 to 30 mph helped spread the resulting wildfire across 1500 acres. Two homes and 3 vehicles were destroyed and two fire engines were damaged. Three fire fighters suffered heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation. One citizen was treated for minor hand burns.

3. May 19, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Downburst snapped 31 power poles, overturned 12 pivot irrigation systems, and threw several 1300 pound hail bales 80 feet from stack. Hail up to golfball size and wind destroyed 3000 acres of crops. Wind gust was measured at PGE Coal plant.

4. Jun 29, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Morrow County Emergency Management reports trees down on houses with power poles and lines down in the south side of Irrigon. Wind damage to numerous houses and buildings in the Irrigon area. At least 22 power poles down from Paterson Ferry Road to Irrigon.

5. Jun 9, 2002High Wind, Lower Columbia Basin$162,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds toppled a sixteen foot hangar at the Lexington Airport. One plane was damaged.

6. Feb 19, 2016Strong Wind, Lower Columbia Basin$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A convective, but non-thunder producing squall line pushed through the Hermiston and Pendleton area. Strong winds were associated with this squall. Spotters reported damage to roofs at the Hospital in Hermiston, as well as a shed and an electric company car was blown over. Air conditioner blown off a roof at the Hermiston Cinema. A 53 MPH wind gust reported at KHRI.

7. Aug 24, 2000Lightning$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning started a range fire that burned 40,000 acres near the intersection of Butter Creek Canyon Road and State Highway 74. Several miles of fencing were lost, along with quite a bit of winter forage for livestock.

8. May 14, 2011Flash Flood$94,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   One to two inches of rainfall within 1 hour caused flash flooding in the Heppner and Lexington areas. Roads were inundated. A home, two basements, and a garage were flooded. Sandbags were used to protect homes and businesses.

9. Jun 2, 2011Flash Flood$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding on Hinton and Willow Creeks damaged roads, bridges, and the Morrow County Fairgrounds. The Heppner elementary school was evacuated as a precaution.

10. Jan 8, 2000High Wind, Lower Columbia Basin$25,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    High winds spawned by a deep low pressure center off the Pacific Northwest coast toppled several trees and created sporadic power outages in The Dalles during the afternoon. Gusts estimated at up to 55 mph downed power lines. The largest power outage lasted around 2 hours and affected the Cascade Square neighborhood in The Dalles. Winds from the same storm blew down a wall from a building under construction in Hermiston at around 2:40 pm. This wall fell on the front end of a pickup truck, causing minimal damage.

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 11, 2024

All-time low

−15°FDec 23, 1983

Warmest night

76°F3 times, most recently Aug 1, 2021

Coldest day

0°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

1.43 inMay 20, 2006

Snowiest day

9.0 inJan 5, 1993

Hottest year

2025mean 56.5°F

Coldest year

1993mean 50.7°F

Wettest year

198312.92 in

Driest year

19995.04 in

Snowiest season

45.3 in1992-93

Station Boardman (USC00350858), 280 ft elevation, 8.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1971 to September 30, 2026; 94.7% 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 USC00350858.
• 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.