Goshen County

Every recorded tornado

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

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 26, 1999Hail$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe hailstorm caused considerable damage to crops and property over a large part of central and eastern Goshen county...particularly between Yoder, WY and Torrington, WY.

2. Jun 12, 2017Tornado$597,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant tornado damage was noted at a ranch 20 miles north-northeast of Torrington, WY, just west of the Union Pacific railway line. Significant damage consistent with EF-2 intensity winds was to the main ranch residence and surrounding barns (DI 1, DOD 8). Several three-quarter ton pickup trucks were vaulted several yards by tornadic winds, with several horse trailers rolled 50 to 100 yards and severely damaged. Several horses at this location were seriously injured with 3 horses killed. One person in the residence received minor head injuries. The tornado continued northeast, moving into Sioux County, NE at 1630 MST.

3. Jun 26, 1999Hail$250,000
4. Jun 26, 1999Hail$100,000
5. Jun 23, 2023Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large cone tornado developed just east of US-85 south of Hawk Springs, before quickly becoming rain-wrapped. The tornado snapped cottonwood trees, with a tree branch impaling a stucco house. It also damaged outbuildings and snapped power poles. An injury occurred when the tornado flipped an 18-wheeler and injured the driver. The same tornado tracked to the southeast and damaged another outbuilding and a barn 3 miles southeast of Hawk Springs. The tornado was officially rated an EF-2. In addition to the tornado damage, straight-line winds from the Rear Flank Downdraft (RFD) damaged several hardwood trees. This is consistent with 100 MPH winds.

6. May 6, 2000Hail$100,000
7. Aug 14, 2006Flash Flood$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall from 3 to 4 inches fell over the La Grange, WY. area and produced street flooding with some water in basements. A county road bridge was also washed out.

8. Jun 27, 1999Hail$75,000
9. Aug 3, 2005Flash Flood$73,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant flooding reported in Yoder, WY, with many streets under several inches of water.

10. Jul 30, 1996Tornado$70,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A tornado twisted a grain auger, buckled two grain bins andblew an empty 300 gallon fuel tank one-half of a mile. Inaddition, several many trees were downed by the tornado and a powerpole was knocked down.

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°FJul 11, 1939

All-time low

−46°FFeb 6, 1899

Warmest night

78°FJun 16, 1898

Coldest day

−13°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

3.18 inJun 7, 1953

Snowiest day

17.6 inApr 25, 1935

Hottest year

2012mean 53.0°F

Coldest year

1993mean 45.6°F

Wettest year

191527.48 in

Driest year

20126.99 in

Snowiest season

81.9 in2009-10

Station Scottsbluff W B Heilig Field Airport (USW00024028), 3,957 ft elevation, 34.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 25, 2026; 99.9% 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 USW00024028.
• 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.
• 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.