Adair County, Oklahoma severe weather history spans 482 recorded events between 1961 and 2026. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 40.7% of all recorded events. It ranks #940 nationally and #66 in Oklahoma.
482
Recorded events
5
Direct deaths
4
Direct injuries
$4.4M
Property damage
The record
What the Adair County, Oklahoma severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Adair County, Oklahoma severe weather history averages 7.4 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 156 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 44 events fall before 1990 and 438 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The deadliest hazard in the Adair County, Oklahoma record is flash flood, responsible for 4 direct deaths. The costliest is tornado, with $2.4M in reported property damage. In total, 5 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Adair County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 196 | 0 | $270K | 2.75 | 1965–2026 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 163 | 0 | $826K | 75 | 1966–2025 |
| Tornado | 44 | 0 | $2.4M | F3 | 1961–2026 |
| Flash Flood | 43 | 4 | $890K | 0 | 1996–2024 |
| Flood | 36 | 1 | $0 | 0 | 2008–2023 |
Decade by decade
Adair County, Oklahoma severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
41 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 34 touched down inside it and 7 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-12-31 | EF3 | 4 | 10 | 21.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1970-06-11 | EF3 | 1 | 45 | 51.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 1999-05-04 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 38.2 mi | Crossed in |
| 1983-11-22 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 19.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 2024-11-04 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 32.9 mi | Crossed in |
| 2024-05-07 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 11.7 mi | Touched down here |
| 2018-11-30 | EF2 | 0 | 5 | 47.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 2016-03-23 | EF2 | 0 | 4 | 11.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 2011-05-22 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 4.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 2008-04-10 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 2.8 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Adair County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 5, 2022 | Flash Flood | BIDDING SPGS | 2 | 2 | $0 |
| Feb 21, 2018 | Flood | STILLWELL ARPT | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Sep 9, 2010 | Flash Flood | BUNCH | 1 | 0 | $75K |
| Jun 30, 1999 | Flash Flood | STILWELL | 1 | 0 | $5K |
| Apr 13, 2022 | Tornado | STILWELL | 0 | 1 | $300K |
| Jun 12, 1970 | Tornado | 0 | 1 | $0 |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Locally heavy rainfall resulted in the flooding of portions of several county roads. A vehicle was driven into a flooded low water crossing west of Stilwell, where it was washed downstream. Four people were inside the vehicle at the time. A 14-year old boy and a 9-year old girl in the vehicle were taken to the hospital, treated, and released. A 6-year old girl was drowned in the vehicle. A 43-year old man was also drowned, and was recovered eleven miles downstream, two days after the incident.
Numerous roads in the southern portion of the county were flooded and closed. Several county roads and low water crossings were washed out. A nineteen year old drowned when his vehicle was swept off the road while he tried to drive through a flooded low water crossing.
A 22-year old man drowned while attempting to cross a marked low-water bridge over Evansville Creek on OK Hwy 100 east of Stilwell. His compact pickup truck was swept off the road into the fast-moving stream, which had been flooded by up to 4 inches of rain earlier that morning upstream in Crawford and Washington Counties in Arkansas. The man's passenger managed to swim to safety, but the driver was carried downstream where his body was found several days later.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
19,575
Population (ACS)
$118K
Median home value
29
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 18, 2025 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Jun 29, 2022 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Feb 24, 2021 | Severe Ice Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR |
| Feb 17, 2021 | Severe Ice Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM |
| Apr 5, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
Within the county
Most affected places
- Watts 129
- Stilwell 112
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Adair County, Oklahoma?
482 events are on record between 1961 and 2026, causing 5 direct deaths and $4.4M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Adair County?
Hail, with 196 recorded events — 40.7% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Adair County?
41 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 34 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Adair County?
29 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Adair County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Adair County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Adair County as relatively low risk, placing it in the 54 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Adair County, Oklahoma 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
- Alfalfa County 673
- Atoka County 457
- Beaver County 1,025
- Beckham County 801
- Blaine County 560
- Bryan County 619
Cite this page
“Adair County, Oklahoma.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/oklahoma/adair-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.