Grant County, Washington severe weather history spans 82 recorded events between 1955 and 2023. The dominant hazard is thunderstorm wind, accounting for 34.1% of all recorded events. It ranks #2,947 nationally and #11 in Washington.
82
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
0
Direct injuries
$583K
Property damage
The record
What the Grant County, Washington severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Grant County, Washington severe weather history averages 1.2 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2010s, with 27 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 14 events fall before 1990 and 68 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is lightning, with $187K in reported property damage. In total, 8 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Grant County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 28 | 0 | $97K | 70 | 1955–2022 |
| Hail | 17 | 0 | $51K | 1.75 | 1968–2015 |
| Funnel Cloud | 11 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1998–2023 |
| Flash Flood | 8 | 0 | $166K | 0 | 1998–2023 |
| Tornado | 6 | 0 | $27K | F2 | 1972–2023 |
| Heavy Rain | 6 | 0 | $5K | 0 | 1997–2015 |
| Lightning | 4 | 0 | $187K | 0 | 1999–2006 |
| Flood | 2 | 0 | $51K | 0 | 2017–2019 |
Decade by decade
Grant County, Washington severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
6 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 6 touched down inside it and 0 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972-04-05 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1985-08-10 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 2023-05-26 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.4 mi | Touched down here |
| 2010-05-19 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 2003-05-11 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1979-07-01 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Flooding from heavy rain producing thunderstorms occurred in Ephrata during the late evening of May 17th. Basin Street, the main road through the downtown business district was flooded with 4 to 8 inches of water with first floor damage to multiple businesses in the downtown area. A portion of the ceiling in the Department of Corrections building collapsed due to standing water on the roof.
High winds uprooted a 40 foot tree onto a car in southeastern sections of Quincy. Power and phone outages were reported across southwestern sections of town. Six inches of standing water was on sections of Highway 28 in town.
Roughly fifty customers in the Mae Valley subdivision of Moses Lake lost power when strong thunderstorm winds damaged five different power poles holding transmission lines.|As the gust front moved into northern sections of Grant County, law enforcement reported numerous trees and power poles downed in and around Grand Coulee. Overall, 6500 customers loss power across Grant County during the storm.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
101,799
Population (ACS)
$300K
Median home value
12
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 11, 2023 | Fire | BAIRD SPRINGS FIRE | FM |
| Mar 22, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Aug 12, 2018 | Fire | GRASS VALLEY FIRE | FM |
| Jul 20, 2018 | Fire | BUCKSHOT FIRE | FM |
| Apr 21, 2017 | Flood | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, MUDSLIDES | DR |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Grant County, Washington?
82 events are on record between 1955 and 2023, causing 0 direct deaths and $583K in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Grant County?
Thunderstorm Wind, with 28 recorded events — 34.1% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Grant County?
6 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 6 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Grant County?
12 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Grant County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Grant County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Grant County as relatively low risk, placing it in the 77 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Grant County, Washington 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
- Garfield County 25
- Grays Harbor County 31
- Franklin County 45
- Island County 6
- Ferry County 84
- Jefferson County 16
Cite this page
“Grant County, Washington.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/washington/grant-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.