Skagit County

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.

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 (5,439), USGS Conterminous (54), West Coast Slow Moving (Yuankun and others, 2021) (19), NASA (15).

Deadly landslides

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. Nov 12, 2021Flood$12.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain and some snow melt caused flooding throughout much of Skagit County, especially on the Skagit and Samish Rivers. Flooding on the Skagit started on the 12th, then temporarily dropped below flood stage, before rising to major flood on the night of the 14th. 2 fatalities occurred during this time with many road, highways, and bridges closed due to water over roadway, washouts, sloughing, and debris. Town inundated including Rockport, Hamilton, Lyman, Sedro Woolley, and Mount Vernon. There was urban and small stream flooding as well on the 15th.The heavy rain also triggered a number of landslides throughout the area. Damages are reported and estimated; not all damages have…

2. Nov 28, 2021Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding of minor category occurred on the Skagit and Samish Rivers, as well as other streams and urban areas.

3. Jul 30, 2017Wildfire, Cascades Of Whatcom And Skagit Counties$2.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wildfire started 10 miles NE of Darrington on the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Reservation on July 30th. No structures were lost thanks to fire suppression efforts. The fire burned 216 acres and was permitted to burn itself out by early September after moving into more isolated areas.

4. Jan 8, 2009Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   One home in Allen was partially flooded from Thomas Creek. A business west of Sedro Woolley was flooded. About 30 roads in Skagit county were closed.

5. Nov 15, 2006High Wind, Western Skagit County$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees fell on homes, power lines and over roads. A roof was torn of a large barn near Hamilton.

6. Nov 4, 2006Flood$1.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Record flooding occurred on the Cowlitz, Nooksack, Puyallup, Nisqually, |Skykomish, Stillaguamish, Carbon, Snoqualmie, and Bogachiel. Major flooding occurred on the Tolt, Snohomish, Skokomish, Skagit, and White rivers. Other rivers flooding were the Satsop, Cedar, Wynoochee, Elwha, Deschutes, Dungeness, Skookumchuck, and Chehalis.

7. Dec 14, 2006High Wind, Western Skagit County$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Deception Pass bridge was closed for several hours. Two locations near Skagit Bay had wind gusts in the 80s. The Guemes Ferry was knocked loose from its moorings. In Anacortes a man was injured when a tree fell on his vehicle.

8. Nov 26, 2006Heavy Snow, Western Skagit County$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Six to 14 inches of snow fell. The heavy snow downed trees and power lines. About 30 county roads were closed.

9. Oct 18, 2017High Wind, Western Skagit County$625,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Padilla Bay had sustained wind 30 mph or greater from 115 PM to 4 PM. Highest sustained wind was 32 mph with a peak gust of 44 mph. This verifies the high wind warning for this first event of the season, when lower criteria for high wind are in effect.

10. Dec 12, 2010Flood$300,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    There was some damage along the Skagit river.

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

99°FJun 30, 1915

All-time low

−2°FJan 26, 1957

Warmest night

74°FAug 16, 2023

Coldest day

11°FJan 7, 1909

Wettest day

4.01 inNov 18, 1911

Snowiest day

13.0 inFeb 24, 2011

Hottest year

1958mean 53.2°F

Coldest year

1955mean 47.8°F

Wettest year

199069.20 in

Driest year

198728.22 in

Snowiest season

41.0 in1949-50

Station Sedro-woolley (USC00457507), 52 ft elevation, 5.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1896 to August 31, 2026; 90.9% 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 USC00457507.
• 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.