Garfield County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 WA WGS (4).

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 15, 2024Wildfire, Northeast Blue Mountains$35.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Cougar Creek Fire started July 15 from unknown cause. It burned 24091 acres of timber. The cost is estimated.

2. Jul 17, 2026Wildfire, Northeast Blue Mountains$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The wildfire was discovered around 1255 PST on July 17. It was located 7 miles southwest of Silcott. It was caused by lightning. It burned 2589 acres of grassland. It was contained on August 2. Cost is estimated.

3. Jan 16, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$15,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A vigorous cold front pushed across eastern Washington during the morning of the 16th. Thunderstorms with gusty winds developed along the front. Wind gusts of 40-50 kts were reported, but locally higher gusts were possible.

4. Nov 16, 2010High Wind, Northeast Blue Mountains$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong cold front brought high winds to portions of Central and Eastern Washington. In addition, as the front approached the Spokane area extending south to the Palouse and Blue Mountains, thunderstorms developed resulting in even stronger wind gusts. Numerous power outages and down trees were reported during the storm. The trees damaged several cars and homes. A portion of the High School roof in Clarkston was blown off. A communications tower atop the Asotin County Jail was blown over. In Pullman, shingles were blown off of homes. One particular tree in Pullman landed on a portion of a home, destroying a collectable car, boat, travel trailer, and golf cart. Estimated damage…

5. Jun 15, 1999Hail$5,000
6. Jul 23, 2014Hail$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail ranging from quarters to the size of golf balls fell across northern Garfield County impacting the communities of Pomeroy and Mayview. The hail dented three cars and broke sky lights in a metal building at Dye Seed Ranch. Hail also damaged some of the wheat crop.

7. Nov 16, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong cold front brought high winds to portions of Central and Eastern Washington. In addition, as the front approached the Spokane area extending south to the Palouse and Blue Mountains, thunderstorms developed resulting in even stronger wind gusts. Numerous power outages and down trees were reported during the storm. The trees damaged several cars and homes. A portion of the High School roof in Clarkston was blown off. A communications tower atop the Asotin County Jail was blown over. In Pullman, shingles were blown off of homes. One particular tree in Pullman landed on a portion of a home, destroying a collectable car, boat, travel trailer, and golf cart. Estimated damage…

8. Nov 16, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong cold front brought high winds to portions of Central and Eastern Washington. In addition, as the front approached the Spokane area extending south to the Palouse and Blue Mountains, thunderstorms developed resulting in even stronger wind gusts. Numerous power outages and down trees were reported during the storm. The trees damaged several cars and homes. A portion of the High School roof in Clarkston was blown off. A communications tower atop the Asotin County Jail was blown over. In Pullman, shingles were blown off of homes. One particular tree in Pullman landed on a portion of a home, destroying a collectable car, boat, travel trailer, and golf cart. Estimated damage…

9. Aug 10, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$300
   National Weather Service narrative

   A slow moving Low brought several rounds of thunderstorms to the Eastern Washington. The thunderstorms produced large hail, strong winds, and flash flooding to the region. The first round impacted Southeast WA. The Low increased instability and low level moisture leading to decent afternoon convection.

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

115°F2 times, most recently Jun 29, 2021

All-time low

−22°F2 times, most recently Dec 30, 1968

Warmest night

79°F2 times, most recently Jul 1, 2021

Coldest day

−8°FDec 30, 1968

Wettest day

1.80 inJul 10, 1998

Snowiest day

8.7 inJan 15, 1950

Hottest year

2015mean 56.4°F

Coldest year

1955mean 49.0°F

Wettest year

195018.72 in

Driest year

20077.73 in

Snowiest season

49.8 in1955-56

Station Lewiston Airport (USW00024149), 1,430 ft elevation, 27.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 28, 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 USW00024149.
• 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 November 1, 2026.