Yakima County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (1,518), West Coast Slow Moving (Yuankun and others, 2021) (25), NASA (15), USGS Seismogenic Mass Movements (7), USGS Conterminous (2).

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. Dec 28, 1996Heavy Snow, Yakima Valley$30.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   After almost a foot of new snow fell, Yakima had a new record for snow depth with 27" on the ground. There were millions of dollars in damage to several warehouse roofs and dozens of buildings had partially collapsed roofs. I-82 from Yakima to Ellensburg was closed. In Chelan they had 14" overnight with roof collapses of schools and packaging plants which caused losses from fruit damage. Cashmere, also in Chelan County, received a record setting 86 inches of snow so far this season. In Cle Elum they were running out of room to plow the snow. Leavenworth had 90" of snow for the month of December. Mail delivery was held up because some trucks couldn't get to or find buried mail boxes.

2. Sep 7, 2011Wildfire, Simcoe Highlands$4.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A human caused wildfire, which started near Highway 97, burned 3600 acres 12 miles northeast of Goldendale. The fire also destroyed 100 structures including 29 residences.

3. Feb 12, 2011Wildfire, Yakima Valley$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A fast moving cold front brought high winds. Peak wind gusts in miles per hour included Hanford Emergency Ops Center (72), Gable Mountain (71), Yakima Barricade (77), Hanford (61), Rattlesnake Springs (69), Hanford 200 West (71), Hanford Army Loop (69), Vernita Bridge (78), Richland Airport (58). Tree branches up to 1.5 inches in diameter were downed by the winds 8 miles west northwest of Connell. A wildfire in White Swan, fanned by the high winds up to 69 mph, was carried from a house to a logging mill and into the town. The wildfire burned 20 homes. A trailer was blown over west of Ellensburg.

4. Feb 9, 2019Blizzard, Yakima Valley$2.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Near zero visibility and sustained winds of 35 mph created treacherous conditions across the Yakima Valley. 1800 head of cattle valued at an estimated 2.5 million dollars perished in the storm.

5. Jan 7, 2009Flood$1.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall on deep snowpack caused excessive runoff and moderate flooding on the Yakima River from near Easton to the mouth.

6. Aug 23, 2000Lightning$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning started a large range fire near Mule Dry Creek, which is in Yakima County. This wildfire burned along a broad front to the south of Mabton and Prosser, consuming 77,000 acres of scrubland, forest and agricultural land in both Yakima and Klickitat Counties. 16 outbuildings were destroyed, including several vehicles and combines.

7. Mar 6, 2016Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy Rain and snowmelt resulted in higher waters along some of the rivers, which also resulted in minor flooding along some river banks.

8. Jun 27, 2001Hail$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several severe thunderstorms crossed the Lower Yakima Valley, causing tremendous damage to structures and the area's fruit crops. Hail, combined with high winds, bruised or knocked off many of the region's cherries, apples, pears, and grapes. Much of the agricultural damage was concentrated around the towns of Zillah and Toppenish. A representative with the Northwest State Horticultural Council estimated that around 1/3 of the state's entire cherry crop, a 120 million dollar industry, was lost. The storms, which occurred near the beginning of the cherry harvest, threw an estimated 6000 industry employees out of work. Widespread high winds estimated at 70 mph or more damaged…

9. Apr 6, 2011Wildfire, Yakima Valley$180,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wind whipped fire destroyed a home near Outlook.

10. Nov 28, 2001Heavy Snow, Yakima Valley$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy snow fell during the morning hours in the Yakima and Kittitas Valleys. For the city of Yakima, the 11 inches that fell made this the heaviest snow since December of 1996...and the 5th largest daily snowfall ever recorded. Hundreds of accidents occurred during the morning rush hour in Yakima. Interstate 82 and State Routes 82 and 821 were intermittently closed throughout the day due to accidents. Elsewhere, 10 inches were recorded in the Yakima valley next to Granger. In the Kittitas Valley, 9 inches of snow fell in Ellensburg.

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

113°FJun 29, 2021

All-time low

−25°FFeb 1, 1950

Warmest night

77°FJun 30, 2021

Coldest day

1°FDec 30, 1968

Wettest day

1.70 inNov 19, 1996

Snowiest day

14.8 inNov 19, 1996

Hottest year

2015mean 55.1°F

Coldest year

1985mean 46.5°F

Wettest year

199614.78 in

Driest year

19764.18 in

Snowiest season

74.9 in1955-56

Station Yakima Airport (USW00024243), 1,053 ft elevation, 6.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1946 to October 25, 2026; 99.8% 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 USW00024243.
• 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.