Carbon County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Carbon 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 (1,540).

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. Apr 14, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wind gust to 70 mph blew out windows in about 35 vehicles on the east side of Rawlins, WY.

2. Feb 16, 2000Winter Storm, Southwest Carbon$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy snow fell over parts of south-central and eastern Wyoming, resulting in icy roads and numerous accidents.Interstate 80 was closed for a while between Laramie and Rawlins, Wy. Around 8 inches of snow accumulatedin Rawlins, WY, with 6 inches reported in Douglas, Wheatland and Lusk, WY.

3. Apr 20, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong thunderstorm wind gust rolled a mobile home 3 times in Echo Springs, resulting in 3 injuries.

4. Mar 27, 1999Winter Weather, Southwest Carbon$37,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ice on highway 287 caused a collision between two pickup trucks. The driver of one of the pickup trucks was seriously injured and had to be extricated from the vehicle. The accident occurred 6 miles south of Muddy Gap at 730 am. Another accident occurred 30 miles north of Rawlins, in which a person lost control of thier vehicle on the ice. The vehicle slid into the ditch and rolled 3 times. The driver sustained a broken arm. The accident occurred at 715 am.

5. Feb 11, 1999Winter Storm, Southwest Carbon$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A winter storm dumped 8 to 12 inches of snow across southwest Carbon County. In addition, strong winds overturned 10 semitrailers along Interstate 80 in Carbon County.

6. Dec 8, 2025High Wind, North Snowy Range Foothills$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Nearly all WYDOT sites in the zone reported persistent wind gusts between 65 to 85 MPH. WYDOT webcam at Cooper Cove showed a flipped over 16 wheel truck, which likely occurred that morning during wind gusts of 70 to 76 MPH.

7. Oct 22, 2001High Wind, Southwest Carbon$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong and gusty winds blew over much of southeast Wyoming, especiallyover and near the mountains. Winds gusted to 70 mph at Arlington and north of Cheyenne, with gusts to 63 mph recorded in Cheyenne and Rawlins, WY. Some monor damage was reported at a large distribution center underconstruction in Cheyenne.

8. Nov 13, 2007High Wind, Snowy Range$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Gusts around 70 mph on Interstate 80 near Arlington, with a peak gust of 84 mph recorded at 05:26 A.M. MST.

9. Feb 2, 1999High Wind, Snowy Range$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   West winds were sustained at 35 to 45 mph across all of southeast Wyoming with gusts as high as 85 mph. Dozens of trailers were blown over on Interstate 25 north of Cheyenne, and on Interstate 80 west of Laramie. A record wind gust for the month of February was reported at the National Weather Service Office in Cheyenne. Many billboards, power lines, trees and awnings were blown down around the city. A gas station canopy was also ripped off by the winds. In Wheatland, trees were blown down and a barn was destroyed by the winds. In Converse County, the winds damaged house siding, roof shingles and vehicle windows. a semi-trailer was overturned on Interstate 25 between Douglas and…

10. Mar 6, 1998Winter Storm, Snowy Range$20,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A winter storm affected parts of southeast Wyoming, with a total of 11 inches of snowfall reported in Rawlins, 10 inches at Lusk and Hanna, and 8 inches of snowfall was reported across Platte county. The Wyoming Highway Patrol received 19 reports of automobile accidents involving injuries due to snow packed roads, and another 90 accidents without injuries between midnight and 715 pm.

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

98°F3 times, most recently Aug 2, 2000

All-time low

−36°F3 times, most recently Feb 2, 2011

Warmest night

71°FAug 8, 1995

Coldest day

−19°F2 times, most recently Dec 21, 1990

Wettest day

2.06 inSep 16, 1965

Snowiest day

19.0 inJan 29, 1980

Hottest year

1999mean 46.3°F

Coldest year

1964mean 40.3°F

Wettest year

200916.06 in

Driest year

20203.67 in

Station Rawlins Airport (USW00024057), 6,769 ft elevation, 11.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1951 to October 25, 2026; 95.8% 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 USW00024057.
• 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.