Umatilla County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by OR DOGAMI (246), NASA (16).

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. Feb 6, 2020Flood$39.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Umatilla County ��� There was record flooding along the entire reach of the Umatilla River. There was extensive damage to areas along the river, including homes, roads including Interstate 84, railroads as well as other public facilities such as parks and sports complexes. Along the upper reaches of the river, roads were washed out with homes damaged or destroyed. One resident was swept away by flood waters and died. A number of residents had to be evacuated via helicopter or 4 wheeler with 70 homes on the Umatilla Indian Reservation damaged. The Riverview Mobile Home Park at Pendleton was inundated. There was minimal to no damage through Pendleton, due to the levee, but the…

2. Apr 9, 2019Flood$9.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   McKay Creek, with headwaters in the Blue Mountains saw significant rises with record inflows recorded at McKay Reservoir in Pendleton. This resulted in increased releases from the McKay Dam, with flooding downstream along the creek through Pendleton. Teams were out in partnership with Team Rubicon and surveyed 102 homes in the McKay area. Nine homes reported flooded basements, twenty-eight homes reported subfloor or foundation flooding and sixty-five homes had water encroachment on the property. Over ninety homes had actively sandbagged their property.

3. Apr 10, 2019Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A combination of high flows from rain and snow melt coming out of the Blue Mountains and record releases out of McKay Reservoir produced field and roadside flooding downstream of Pendleton through Echo, Hermiston and Umatilla. A footbridge at Umatilla was damaged by the high flows and erosion.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. Apr 26, 2005Flash Flood$170,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A rupture in a retaining wall of a wastewater storage lagoon led to a dam failure which sent 77 million gallons of wastewater onto highway 207 south-southwest of Hermiston, washing out part of the road, and depositing several feet of silt on the road. A resident across the highway ended up with four feet of mud surrounding his home. The flash flood also damaged lines in the Westland Irrigation District. The storage lagoon was at around half capacity at the time of the flood.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. Jul 16, 2012Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall caused flood waters and mud to flow into Helix and damage 16 roads, yards, homes, and basements.

10. Jul 16, 2012Flash Flood$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy rainfall caused flood waters and mud to flow into Helix and damage 16 roads, yards, homes, and basements.

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

117°FJun 29, 2021

All-time low

−22°FJan 27, 1957

Warmest night

79°FJul 6, 1968

Coldest day

−7°FDec 30, 1968

Wettest day

2.19 inAug 16, 1993

Snowiest day

16.1 inFeb 24, 1994

Hottest year

1934mean 55.9°F

Coldest year

1985mean 48.3°F

Wettest year

201018.77 in

Driest year

19676.77 in

Snowiest season

53.9 in1949-50

Station Pendleton (USW00024155), 1,580 ft elevation, 9.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1928 to October 25, 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 USW00024155.
• 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.
• 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.