Emery County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 UT GRC (830), USGS Conterminous (17), NASA (11), USGS Seismogenic Mass Movements (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. Aug 1, 2018Wildfire, Wasatch Plateau/Book Cliffs$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Dollar Ridge Fire was a human caused wildfire that began during the afternoon of July 1. The fire burned 68,869 acres and destroyed 363 structures, including 74 homes. Costs to fight the fire were approximately $18 million, though rehabilitation efforts were projected to add significantly to the cost. At the height of the fire, approximately 1,100 people were evacuated from communities in Wasatch and Duchesne Counties. The fire was considered effectively contained on August 31, at 94% containment. Note that this event began in July.

2. Jul 1, 2018Wildfire, Wasatch Plateau/Book Cliffs$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Dollar Ridge Fire was a human caused wildfire that began during the afternoon of July 1. The fire burned 68,869 acres and destroyed 363 structures, including 74 homes. Costs to fight the fire were approximately $18 million. At the height of the fire, approximately 1,100 people were evacuated from communities in Wasatch and Duchesne Counties. Note that this event continued into August.

3. Aug 1, 2021Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A significant flood wave carrying debris moved down Bear Creek Canyon, sweeping away mining vehicles at the Gentry Mountain Mine. Several miners were caught in the flood waters, with one miner able to save himself by clinging to a tree a quarter mile down the drainage. Another miner was not able to escape the flood waters and was found deceased 6 miles downstream. Another Mine car was flipped 8 times in the flood waters, but the miners were able to kick out the windows and escape. Significant infrastructure damage occurred at the Mine.

4. Jul 1, 2012Wildfire, Wasatch Plateau/Book Cliffs$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Church Camp Fire began on June 24th, approximately 22 miles south of Duchesne, Utah. The cause of the fire is unknown, but it was believed to be human-caused. The fire caused the evacuation of Argyle Canyon, a popular summer cabin and recreation area. A total of 7,211 acres were burned before the fire was 100% contained on July 7th. Three injuries to firefighters were reported, with one back injury and two heat-related injuries. The fire destroyed 15 cabins and 78 other non-residential buildings. In addition to the property damage, fire suppression costs totaled $12.2 million. Note that this event began in June, and monetary property damage listed here is for the entire event.

5. Apr 14, 2015Wildfire, Central Mountains$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Quakie Haven Fire began near Fish Lake on the afternoon of April 14, and grew quickly due to strong winds. The fire destroyed two summer cabins and damaged several outbuildings and other structures in the Sleepy Hollow area, but fire crews were able to keep the blaze away from other cabins in the area. The fire also forced the temporary closure of portions of State Route 25. Suppression efforts continued for more than a week after the blaze was ignited, but the fire was effectively under control and was no longer threatening structures beginning on the evening of the 14th of April.

6. Jul 1, 2012Wildfire, Central Mountains$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Clay Springs Fire began on July 27th east of Delta, Utah, and was human-caused. Clay Springs was the largest fire of the year in the state of Utah, burning a total of 107,846 acres before it was 100% contained on July 21st. The fire forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people, including the entire communities of Oak City and Fool Creek. Damages from the fire included one cabin that was destroyed, minor damage to a few other residences, 3 city storage structures destroyed, and dozens of power poles damaged. Two firefighters were injured by the blaze. In addition to physical damages, fire suppression cost a total of $6.6 million. Note that this event began in June, and monetary…

7. Mar 20, 2000High Wind, Wasatch Plateau/Book Cliffs$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong downslope winds developed overnight across Weber County. Wind gusts estimated at 115mph (100kts) tore the roofs off of 3 condominiums in South Ogden. Major damage was also caused to the interiors of these condos, along with some toppled garage doors, a toppled brick wall, and a damaged fence nearby. Miraculously, nobody was seriously injured. Damage estimates to the area was just over 1 million dollars. These same downslope winds also caused an estimated 70 thousand dollars damage to the roof of Wasatch Hall on the campus of Weber State University, and several thousand dollars in damage due to scattered losses of fences, shingles and trees in the Ogden area. These same…

8. Oct 29, 2024Winter Weather, Wasatch Plateau/Book Cliffs$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A pickup truck collided head-on with a semitrailer after the driver of the pickup truck lost control on state Route 96. Archived liquid precipitation measurements suggest around 0.2-0.5 had fallen in the area by that point, with National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center data indicating a snow depth of 2-4 inches at the time of the crash.

9. Sep 10, 2013Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant flooding impacted Emery County over two days, particularly on the west side of the county. Road damage and high water levels caused multiple highways to close down. State Route 10 closed from Castle Dale to Emery, with many boulders moving onto the road, some as large as cars. State Route 29 closed from mile post 0 to 12, or approximately Orangeville to Joe's Valley Reservoir. State Route 31 was closed multiple times through the event, in part due to multiple debris flows coming off of the Seeley Fire burn scar. In addition to the major routes listed here, many more local roads were closed due to flood waters, including Cottonwood Canyon. Monetary damages to roads were…

10. Mar 17, 2014High Wind, Castle Country$80,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Strong winds in Emery County caused damage in several locations from Huntington to Ferron. Damages included many fences that were blown down, multiple traffic signs bent or broken, and significant damage to at least one roof. In addition, at least one parked trailer was flipped over, and multiple power transmission lines were damaged, resulting in a power outage for around 2,500 people. The top recorded wind gust in this part of the state was 54 mph at Carbon County Regional Airport/Buck Davis Field.

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

107°FJul 13, 2002

All-time low

−35°FFeb 10, 1933

Warmest night

82°FAug 4, 1902

Coldest day

−8°F3 times, most recently Jan 22, 1937

Wettest day

2.15 inAug 28, 2007

Snowiest day

11.0 inFeb 22, 2022

Hottest year

1994mean 51.9°F

Coldest year

1933mean 41.2°F

Wettest year

196514.28 in

Driest year

19422.39 in

Snowiest season

47.0 in1936-37

Station Castle Dale (USC00421214), 5,629 ft elevation, 4.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1899 to September 30, 2026; 99.2% 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 USC00421214.
• 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.