Crook County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 WY WSGS (1,552), 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. Oct 3, 2013Blizzard, Wyoming Black Hills$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A historic blizzard pounded northeastern Wyoming with heavy snow and strong winds. Snowfall ranged from six inches to more than two feet with blowing and drifting snow reducing visibility to near zero. Many trees and power poles were downed by the heavy, wet snow and roads were impassible.

2. Jul 19, 2010Hail$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind-driven large hail broke windows and damaged siding and roofs of houses in Moorcroft. The hail also broke windshields and dented vehicles.

3. Jun 22, 2012Hail$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail caused automobile and building damage in Moorcroft.

4. Nov 1, 2000Blizzard, Wyoming Black Hills$578,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense winter storm brought high winds and heavy, wet snowfall to portions of northeastern Wyoming. In Crook and Weston Counties, snowfall rates were one to two inches an hour. Snowfall totals in the plains were from 4 to 8 inches, while in the Bear Lodge Mountains, totals were from 8 to 24 inches. The Four Corners area in northeastern Weston County reported the most snowfall at 24 inches. High winds sustained up to 40 mph with gusts to 60 mph caused blizzard conditions and toppled 300 power poles.5,800 people were without power and almost 15 miles of lines had to be replaced. The city of Moorcroft had over 150 stranded semi-trucks after the interstate was shut down. In…

5. Jul 13, 2009Hail$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Baseball sized hail caused extensive damage to homes and automobiles throughout town.

6. May 22, 2014Hail$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail to tennis ball size damaged buildings and automobiles.

7. Jul 13, 2009Tornado$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large tornado touched down west of Cook Lake and tracked east-southeastward across the Bear Lodge Mountains, dissipating west of Wyoming Highway 111. The tornado downed about 4000 acres of Ponderosa pine trees, destroyed two metal shop buildings and a large barn at a ranch, and severely damaged a house and mobile home. Two people in the residences received very minor injuries.

8. Jul 9, 2001Lightning$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a building in downtown Moorcroft. The fire ignited the building, a sporting goods store. Most of the building was destroyed.

9. Jun 22, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds downed branches, trees, and a few power poles; heavily damaged or destroyed small structures; and ripped the roof off a mobile home.

10. Oct 4, 2005Winter Storm, Wyoming Black Hills$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A strong low pressure system developed over the Central Rockies and moved through the Northern Plains, bringing heavy snow to much of northeast Wyoming. Precipitation started as rain during the day and changed over to snow late in the afternoon, mixed with freezing rain and sleet. Heavy snow fell during the night and ended in the morning. Snowfall amounts were generally 6 to 12 inches, with locally higher amounts across northern Campbell and Crook Counties. The heavy, wet snow resulted in many downed trees, branches and power lines. This caused numerous power outages and some minor property damage. The 7 inches of snow at Colony tied for the 5th highest daily snowfall for October.…

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

108°FJul 6, 1981

All-time low

−48°FDec 24, 1983

Warmest night

76°F2 times, most recently Jul 13, 2026

Coldest day

−18°FDec 20, 1990

Wettest day

3.02 inOct 2, 1971

Snowiest day

20.0 inMar 26, 2009

Hottest year

1981mean 48.3°F

Coldest year

1996mean 40.3°F

Wettest year

201326.18 in

Driest year

20248.70 in

Snowiest season

93.2 in1970-71

Station Devils Twr #2 (USC00482466), 3,862 ft elevation, 11.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1959 to September 30, 2026; 90.1% 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 USC00482466.
• 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.