Cowlitz County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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 WA WGS (1,292), NASA (19), West Coast Slow Moving (Yuankun and others, 2021) (2), USGS Seismogenic Mass Movements (1), USGS Conterminous (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. Sep 8, 2020High Wind, South Washington Cascades$950 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Three Corner Rock RAWS (TRKW1) recorded a max sustained wind of 37 mph, and a peak gust of 67 mph.

2. Sep 17, 2020Flood$250 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread street flooding in Longview resulting in several businesses in the downtown area experiencing flooding. The first floor of the local Hospital also flooded due to heavy rain. Several videos received from the emergency manager and also noted from broadcast media reports.

3. Dec 8, 2015Heavy Rain$2.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain resulted in multiple land slides between Longview and Kalama. Highway 30 and Kalama River Road were closed due to multiple slides and stranded some residents. A land slide hit a residence and trapped the owner with no injuries.

4. Dec 8, 2015Flood$2.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Cowlitz River at Kelso exceeded flood stage. Rises of the Kalama River resulted in flood damage of many businesses in Kalama including Motel 6, Remax, and the Burger Bar. Camp Kalama was closed due to flooding of the Kalama River. The I-5 offramp in Longview was closed due to high water.

5. Dec 9, 2015Flood$1.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Cowlitz River flooded near Castle Rock and Kelso. The heavy rain caused a large land slide in Woodland that closed I-5 overnight.

6. Oct 23, 2014Tornado$182,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Law enforcement confirmed that a tornado touched down near the Safeway in Longview, WA around 1240 PM. The tornado then traveled down Vandercook Way before dissipating near Main St. There was significant roof damage to industrial buildings, minor roof damage to residential buildings, 35 to 30 large trees snapped off or blew down, some power poles downed, and automobiles damaged from debris.

7. Apr 10, 2023Debris Flow$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An atmospheric river that brought heavy rain caused a landslide that sent debris across I-5 north of Woodland, WA near milepost 24. Around 2.2 inches of rain fell in the Woodland area. Northbound lanes on I-5 were closed for more than 3 hours.

8. Dec 8, 2015High Wind, South Washington Cascades$58,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Three Corner Rock RAWS measured two surges of strong winds on December 8th, once between 11 am and 2 pm, and then again between 5 pm and 9 pm. The sustained winds during these two time periods was 56 mph. A peak gust of 77 mph was reported in the first surge, and a peak gust of 92 mph was measured in the evening.

9. Feb 13, 2025Heavy Snow, Cowlitz County Lowlands$44,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A trained spotter measured 3.5 inches of snow at 1800 2/13 with local storm reports indicating 2-3.5 inches of snowfall across the forecast zone. Additionally, due to the snow there was a 22 vehicle collision, involving multiple commercial vehicles & passenger cars in Lewis & Cowlitz Counties. 6 people were transported to 3 area hospitals.

10. Mar 1, 2022Flood$25,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Between 1 and 3 inches rain fell in the 24 hour leading to a culvert washout in the 2400 block of Tower Road in rural Cowlitz County, closing the road. There was also a landslide that blocked Stewart Creek Road in Longview.

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

108°FAug 10, 1981

All-time low

−6°F2 times, most recently Jan 22, 1930

Warmest night

73°FJul 18, 1941

Coldest day

18°FDec 31, 1968

Wettest day

4.04 inNov 6, 2006

Snowiest day

12.0 inJan 9, 1980

Hottest year

2015mean 56.0°F

Coldest year

1955mean 49.4°F

Wettest year

199664.83 in

Driest year

194428.41 in

Station Longview (USC00454769), 11 ft elevation, 4.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1925 to October 22, 2026; 90.3% 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 USC00454769.
• 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.