Rosebud County, Montana severe weather history spans 600 recorded events between 1958 and 2025. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 55.5% of all recorded events. It ranks #583 nationally and #7 in Montana.
600
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
3
Direct injuries
$622K
Property damage
The record
What the Rosebud County, Montana severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Rosebud County, Montana severe weather history averages 9.0 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 220 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 23 events fall before 1990 and 577 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is flood, with $225K in reported property damage. In total, 9 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Rosebud County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 333 | 0 | $21K | 6 | 1958–2025 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 218 | 0 | $36K | 90 | 1960–2025 |
| Flash Flood | 16 | 0 | $130K | 0 | 1999–2013 |
| Flood | 12 | 0 | $225K | 0 | 2011–2019 |
| Tornado | 9 | 0 | $0 | F1 | 1980–2014 |
| Funnel Cloud | 6 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2010–2024 |
| Heavy Rain | 3 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1998–1998 |
| Lightning | 2 | 0 | $10K | 0 | 1998–2001 |
| Wildfire | 1 | 0 | $200K | 0 | 1998–1998 |
Decade by decade
Rosebud County, Montana severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
12 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 11 touched down inside it and 1 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980-06-14 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 2014-05-31 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1999-08-15 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1999-08-15 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1998-08-23 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 1996-06-24 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1993-07-20 | EF0 | 0 | 3 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1993-07-02 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1993-07-02 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1991-06-19 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Rosebud County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 16, 2001 | Lightning | FORSYTH | 0 | 3 | $0 |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Heavy rainfall caused rivers and streams to rise significantly resulting in some flooding. High water caused difficult passage on the road going into the town of Rosebud and water covered Highway 12 in the Hammond Valley. At the height of the flooding, Highway 12 was closed due to flooding from Ingomar to Forsyth. ||The Yellowstone River at Forsyth went above flood stage with minor lowland flooding reported from May 22nd through May 29th. The river crested at 12.35 feet on the 24th and 12.18 feet on the 28th.||Damage estimates based on FEMA reviews and Individual Assistance approvals.
Thunderstorms producing heavy rains (on what was already saturated ground from thunderstorms the previous day) produced flash flooding over portions of Southwestern Custer County and Northwestern Powder river County. Smaller creeks flooded and Highway 566 was closed from Birney to Ashland due to water and debris running over the road. Road damage was reported throughout Custer County.
Very heavy rain over the Big Horn Mountains resulted in significant runoff into the Tongue River. The river crested just over 11 feet which was 4 feet higher than the record crest of 7.3 feet set in 2011. Flooding occurred along the Tongue River from the Birney area to just southeast of Colstrip. |One home was inundated by the flood waters. A levee in Ashland flooded at St Labre which resulted in homes in the Cheyenne Village near St Labre being accessed only by boat for a period of time. Water inundation of these homes was confined to crawl spaces and not up to floor level. Six homes on the Northern Cheyenne Tribe Reservation were inundated by floodwaters. The American Red Cross set up a shelter at the Ashland Public School. |The Tongue River was also out of its banks at Brandenberg, mainly in the grassy areas, but it did cover about 3 feet of the gravel on Tongue River Road.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
8,165
Population (ACS)
$182K
Median home value
15
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 7, 2026 | Straight-Line Winds | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR |
| Sep 30, 2021 | Fire | RICHARD SPRING FIRE | DR |
| Aug 10, 2021 | Fire | RICHARD SPRING FIRE | FM |
| Sep 3, 2020 | Fire | SNIDER/RICE FIRE COMPLEX | FM |
| Mar 31, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
Within the county
Most affected places
- Forsyth 109
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Rosebud County, Montana?
600 events are on record between 1958 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths and $622K in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Rosebud County?
Hail, with 333 recorded events — 55.5% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Rosebud County?
12 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 11 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Rosebud County?
15 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Rosebud County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Rosebud County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Rosebud County as relatively low risk, placing it in the 50 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Rosebud County, Montana severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Roosevelt County 612
- Sanders County 64
- Richland County 491
- Sheridan County 357
- Ravalli County 180
- Silver Bow County 81
Cite this page
“Rosebud County, Montana.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/montana/rosebud-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.