Fall River County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Jul 29, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds damaged fences, signs, and buildings in Hot Springs and blew down trees and power poles. Buildings and automobiles were damaged by fallen trees. A mobile home was lifted off the ground and destroyed. A large portion of Hot Springs lost power for several hours.

2. Jun 19, 2010Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two inch diameter hail caused extensive damage to automobiles and some buildings in Hot Springs.

3. Jun 22, 2012Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down just west of the Edgemont Road. It moved eastward and caused damage at a ranch just east of Highway 71 north of Ardmore. A large wooden barn was completely destroyed; its walls and roof were blown more than 100 yards away. Two large sheds lost roofs and walls and smaller sheds were blown apart. The modular house sustained minor damage.

4. Jun 17, 2014Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Golf ball size hail was accompanied by 50 mph wind gusts and heavy rain.

5. Jun 11, 2013Hail$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm developed just northwest of Hot Springs and moved southeast, producing hail to ping pong ball size and strong winds.

6. Aug 28, 2013Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm developed near Hot Springs and merged with another storm over Custer County. Large hail and strong wind gusts were reported from Hot Springs to Fairburn.

7. May 22, 2019Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Runoff from heavy rain caused overland flooding east of Hot Springs and south of Buffalo Gap, with flooding along Hat Creek around Ardmore and Horsehead Creek around Oelrichs. Several county roads west of Oelrichs and a road along Beaver Creek south of Buffalo Gap had to be closed.

8. Jun 24, 1998Tornado$166,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A roof was blown off a house, and two campers and a boat trailer were damaged. A mobile home was also destroyed with a young man on the porch of the house thrown.

9. Jul 1, 1998Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   HOUSE DESTROYED ON PROPERTY OF EMERGENCY MANAGER; NEARBY HOUSES AND OTHER STRUCTURES HAD ROOF DAMAGE.

10. Jun 22, 2012Hail$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Hail from golfball to softball size fell.

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

112°F3 times, most recently Jul 10, 1939

All-time low

−41°F2 times, most recently Jan 11, 1909

Warmest night

79°FJul 30, 1933

Coldest day

−12°FJan 12, 1916

Wettest day

4.31 inApr 19, 2000

Snowiest day

21.0 inApr 4, 2023

Hottest year

1934mean 53.3°F

Coldest year

1899mean 42.0°F

Wettest year

191532.01 in

Driest year

19606.15 in

Snowiest season

72.5 in2022-23

Station Hot Springs (USC00394007), 3,560 ft elevation, 4.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1894 to October 22, 2026; 91.5% 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 USC00394007.
• 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.