Whitman County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by WA WGS (46), NASA (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. Jul 16, 2026Wildfire, Washington Palouse$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Lyons Ferry was discovered around 0855 on July 16. It was located 10 miles south of Washtucna. Lightning started the fire. It burned 33931 acres of grassland. Two firefighters were injured. It was contained on July 22. Cost is estimated.

2. Jul 2, 2025Wildfire, Washington Palouse$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Siegel Fire started on July 2 by suspected human cause. It was located 14 miles south of Cheney. It burned 700 acres of timber. It was contained on July 16. Cost is estimated.

3. Apr 9, 2019Flash Flood$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Missouri Flat Creek experienced a Flash Flood which resulted in the North Grand Avenue business district being inundated with up to 4 feet of water in places. Numerous businesses were damaged and parked cars were floated and carried away. Pullman police and fire crews made numerous water rescues of stranded customers and employees of at least 4 businesses including the rescue of 16 people from one business. There were no known injuries and by the next morning the creek had receded back into it's banks.

4. Aug 18, 2022Wildfire, Washington Palouse$985,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Wagner Road Fire is located 12 miles west of St. John, WA. This fire started on Thursday, August 18th and has burned approximately 7,381 acres of rangeland, stubble and standing wheat.

5. Sep 7, 2020Wildfire, Washington Palouse$850,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Manning Road Wildfire, 13 miles northwest of Colfax, was ignited by unknown sources on September 7th. It was fueled by a high wind event and dry conditions. A total five structures were lost and acres damaged rose to 2,885 before containment a week later. The cost of fighting the fire was calculated at 250,000 dollars.

6. Jul 12, 2023Wildfire, Washington Palouse$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fire started on July 12 from unknown cause. It was contained on July 14. It burned 1700 acres of brush. No structures lost.

7. Feb 12, 2014Flood$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous areas of northern and central Whitman County experienced flooding between the 12th and 14th. State route 23 was closed between Sprague and Saint John between mileposts 15 and 43 due to water over the roadway in several locations. Colfax, WA experienced heavy flooding closing Mill Street from Canyon to Spring which also included mileposts 0 to 1 of SR 272. Flood waters up to a foot were observed in portions of downtown Colfax. Water undercut part of the roadway on SR27 five miles south of Oakesdale washing out part of the northbound lane. Several homes in the community of Ewan were inundated with up to one foot of water.

8. Jun 7, 1998Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   flash flood damaged 2 buildings and washed away farm machinery

9. May 16, 2015Flash Flood$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Whitman County Sheriff dispatch reported flash flooding between Oaksdale and Teknoa. The water damaged some nearby spring wheat crops and damaged county roads.

10. Jul 24, 2023Wildfire, Washington Palouse$358,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Lightning started the wildfire on July 24. It was contained on July 28. It burned 526 acres of grassland and brush. No structures lost.

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

110°FAug 4, 1961

All-time low

−32°FDec 30, 1968

Warmest night

73°F2 times, most recently Jul 1, 2021

Coldest day

−5°FDec 30, 1968

Wettest day

2.45 inAug 10, 1952

Snowiest day

13.0 inJan 2, 1966

Hottest year

2025mean 51.4°F

Coldest year

1985mean 43.9°F

Wettest year

195829.85 in

Driest year

194412.12 in

Snowiest season

77.0 in2008-09

Station Pullman 2 Nw (USC00456789), 2,515 ft elevation, 2.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1940 to October 22, 2026; 96.4% 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 USC00456789.
• 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 October 30, 2026.