Albany County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Albany 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 WY WSGS (156).

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 19, 2025High Wind, South Laramie Range Foothills$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Most observation sites across the southern Laramie Range foothills reported strong wind gusts between 60 to 72 MPH. Peak gust of 72 MPH was measured at Whitaker, north of Cheyenne. Locally higher gusts are possible. Laramie County EM shared photos of several train cars blown over and derailed near Federal.

2. May 22, 2008Tornado$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado skipped along it's path north-northwest and moved across eastern and northeastern sections of Laramie, WY. Strong winds also overturned a tractor-trailer on Interstate 80 near Laramie and blew a boat off another trailer.

3. Aug 5, 1996Lightning$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning sparked a fire that consumed 5000 acres by the time it was contained on August 12. Several buildings were destroyed.

4. Mar 1, 2024Wildfire, South Laramie Range Foothills$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Around 12 PM MST, received reports of a grass fire west of Cheyenne that was rapidly spreading with strong southwest winds off the South Laramie Range gusting 30 to 40 MPH. Approximately 6,619 acres were burned 5 miles west of Cheyenne with multiple structures damaged or destroyed. Two evacuation orders were given by local officials including the Happy Valley subdivision. No total loss of primary structures were reported, but numerous outbuildings were damaged or destroyed with one completely loss garage.

5. Aug 13, 2022Flash Flood$76,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall and hail resulting in creek flooding near Lake Owen on the eastern side of the Mullen Burn Scar. Fox Creek Road between Albany and Woods Landing flooded and was closed after a 5 mile stretch was washed out. Road damage of $76,381 was reported with this flash flood.

6. Jul 3, 2001Hail$50,000
7. Mar 5, 2004High Wind, Laramie Valley$50,000
8. May 23, 1996Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado briefly touched down just north of Laramie. The tornado downed a large spruce tree and a metal shed was blown up into a tree.

9. Mar 12, 2026High Wind, Central Laramie Range And Southwest Platte County$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Frequent very strong winds were observed at the WYDOT site at Bordeaux. Highest gust observed at 126 PM MST on March 12th. Several webcam images showed flipped semi trucks on Interstate 25.

10. Mar 12, 2026High Wind, South Laramie Range Foothills$40,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    All observation sites west of Cheyenne reported persistent strong wind gusts over 58 MPH. Peak wind gust of 96 MPH measured at the EMKAYW Union Pacific Railroad site. Numerous photos of at least three flipped over semi trucks on Interstate 25 near the Colorado border.

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

94°F7 times, most recently Aug 2, 2026

All-time low

−50°FJan 12, 1963

Warmest night

61°F3 times, most recently Jul 27, 2026

Coldest day

−22°FJan 11, 1963

Wettest day

2.67 inMay 17, 2000

Snowiest day

18.2 inDec 24, 1982

Hottest year

2024mean 46.2°F

Coldest year

1993mean 38.4°F

Wettest year

199116.60 in

Driest year

20025.40 in

Station Laramie Airport (USW00024022), 7,273 ft elevation, 4.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 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 USW00024022.
• 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.