King County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Apr 6, 2011Wildfire, King$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The massive 'Swenson Fire' ignited during the afternoon hours of the 6th in Stonewall County, north of the Swenson community. The use of a cutting torch during critical fire weather conditions started the blaze, which consumed 122,500 acres before it was finally contained on the 21st. During the fire's 15-day run, it burned into grasslands of adjacent King and Knox Counties. At least nine structures were destroyed. Tragically, a 105-year old cowboy and his wife lost four ranch homes to the fire. The couple, who were uninjured, had lived in Stonewall County their entire lives and as patriarch to six generations of family cowboys on their ranch. The fire destroyed 155 utility poles…

2. May 30, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple storm chasers reported scattered to widespread wind damage in the city of Guthrie from intense rear flank downdraft winds estimated near 90 mph. Several roofs in the city suffered various degrees of damage, with at least one roof partially blown off. A large equipment garage had several bay doors blown out. The intense winds developed shortly after large hail up to baseball size ceased falling. Many large tree limbs were broken in and around the city. Conservative property damage estimates may exceed $350 thousand.

3. Mar 14, 2008Wildfire, King$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A combination of increasing drought conditions, strong downslope southwest to westerly winds, and very dry air all contributed to the growth of at least a half dozen wildfires across the west Texas South Plains region during the afternoon and evening hours of the 14th. Four of these wildfires burned thousands of acres and/or resulted in property damage. ||Although wind speeds on the 14th were generally sustained in the 25 to 35 mph range, an isolated severe wind gust of 62 mph was recorded by a Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet station near Amherst (Lamb County). No wind damage was reported throughout the region. ||Damage resulting from wildfire activity, however, prompted…

4. Jun 5, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A local utility company reported the loss of numerous wooden utility poles as severe thunderstorms produced damaging wind gusts along swath over southeastern King County. More than fifty poles were destroyed across King and neighboring Stonewall County, but the exact number damaged in King County is unknown. In addition, a National Weather Service cooperative observer sustained damage to his home and a large metal storage barn near U.S. Highway 82 and Texas Highways 114 and 222 in eastern King County.

5. May 1, 1996Drought, King$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The drought continued through most of the month of May, causing significant crop damage. Some areas received several inches of rain during the severe weather of the 25th and 26th, but this was not nearly enough to break this long term drought.

6. Jun 1, 1996Drought, King$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Despite periodic thunderstorms this month, the long drought continued across the extreme southern Texas Panhandle, the South Plains, and the Low Rolling Plains. The very dry weather adversely impacted the early cotton crop that dominates this area.

7. Jul 1, 2004Hail$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Baseball size hail was reported by the FD. The hail broke windows and damaged roofs.

8. Jan 11, 2023Strong Wind, King$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense upper level storm system resulted in widespread strong to severe wind gusts raking West Texas on the afternoon of the 11th. The winds managed to lift copious amounts of dust across eastern New Mexico and West Texas. The blowing dust dropped the visibility and painted an eerie red-brown hue across the skyline during the afternoon and early evening before beginning to settle out. Several thicker bands of dust dropped the visibility to one mile or less at its peak. The westerly wind gusts peaked at 50-60 mph over most of the South Plains region.||High wind gusts from the Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet network are below:||62 mph at Silverton (Briscoe County),|62…

9. Apr 22, 2015Hail$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A COOP observer reported golf ball to baseball size hail covering the ground. Several vehicles were damaged and lost windows or windshields.

10. Apr 30, 2000Hail$30,000

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

119°FJun 28, 1994

All-time low

−10°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

87°FJul 20, 2022

Coldest day

11°FJan 25, 2026

Wettest day

8.85 inJul 4, 1986

Snowiest day

10.0 in2 times, most recently Feb 2, 2014

Hottest year

2024mean 66.0°F

Coldest year

1979mean 59.3°F

Wettest year

199138.92 in

Driest year

20118.63 in

Snowiest season

16.7 in1968-69

Station Guthrie (USC00413828), 1,760 ft elevation, 2.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1964 to October 23, 2026; 96.9% 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 USC00413828.
• 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.