Canton

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond this area.
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.

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.

Flood insurance figures are for Fulton County, the county that contains Canton.

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 in Fulton County, the county that contains Canton.

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.

The drought index is for Fulton County, the county that contains Canton.

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 city centre.
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. Apr 17, 2013Flash Flood$12.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Torrential rainfall of 4.00 to 8.00 inches resulted in damage to nearly 2000 houses in the county. Several homes had to be evacuated in the town of London Mills. Every creek and stream in the county was flooded, which damaged a few levees and culverts. Nearly every road in the county was impassable, and numerous water rescues were made. This rainfall lead to record or near record flooding on the Spoon River from April 18th through the 24th.

2. Apr 18, 2013Flood$3.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   No homes were damaged by record levels of flooding on the Illinois River. However, thousands of acres of agricultural land and nature reserves were inundated by the flood waters. Several roads along the river were also damaged. The river stage at Havana climbed to a record level of 27.78 feet on April 25th at 19:15 local time, which was nearly 14 feet above flood stage. High impact flooding continued into the month of May 2013.

3. Apr 18, 2013Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Record flooding on the Spoon River damaged 40 houses in the towns of London Mills, Bernadotte and Seville. Multiple levees along the river broke, resulting in the inundation of thousands of acres of agricultural land, nature preserves and county roads. A levee at London Mills also broke, resulting on flash flooding in the town during the evening of April 18th through the 19th. ||At Seville, the river crested at a record level of 35.83 feet on April 20th, nearly 14 feet above flood stage, and almost 3 feet above the previous record. The river gage at London Mills became disabled because of the flooding, but manual readings indicated a crest of 26.50 feet on April 19th, the second…

4. Apr 10, 2017Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dozens of vehicles and numerous homes sustained significant damage from the hailstorm that impacted the city of Canton and surrounding areas.

5. Apr 18, 2013Flash Flood$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The levee protecting the town of London Mills from the Spoon River broke in several locations during the evening of April 18th. This exacerbated the flooding which had already occurred the night before from torrential rainfall. Twenty houses were inundated on the south side of London Mills. In addition, Illinois Route 116 and County Road 2 were under several feet of water. Evacuations had been done so there were no injuries reported.

6. Jun 29, 1998Tornado$670,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down on the west side of Farmington and travelled to the east southeast. It first severely damaged a lumberyard, ripping off the roof of a large storage facility. Then as it moved into the downtown area, several buildings sustained damage to the back walls, as well as, roof damage. Also, several projectiles were found in this area (2x4s driven into the ground). A block down the road a house lost its roof and then as the tornado moved into the east side of town, the second story of a brick building was demolished. Across the street at the high school, a large garage was destroyed which damaged several vehicles. Also, the gymnasium sustained significant roof and…

7. May 11, 2002Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads were flooded including Illinois Route 95 near Smithfield. Also, a section of the intersection of Illinois Route 9 and US Route 24 was washed away due to the heavy rains. Some basements were flooded in Farmington. Due to the heavy rains, a car hydroplaned causing it to go into a ditch off Illinois Route 78 near Norris. Four people in the car sustained minor injuries.

8. Apr 30, 1997Tornado$450,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two storms merged over Northern Fulton County and within a few minutes a tornado developed a quarter of a mile southwest of Fairview (Fulton County). In Fairview, 6 homes sustained extensive damage and 2 had only minor damage. Two people in Fairview sustained minor cuts and bruises, though no one needed to be taken to the hospital. At this time the tornado was F0 in intensity. After leaving Fairview, it travelled to the northeast. When the tornado reached Middle Grove (Fulton County) it was F1 in intensity and damaged 25 homes. The tornado picked up a 27 foot camper trailer and dropped it upside down 50 feet away on the north side of Route 116. Two mobile homes were destroyed, as…

9. Dec 1, 2018Tornado$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado crossed from Schuyler County into far southern Fulton County about 6.9 miles southeast of Astoria at 3:55 PM CST. The tornado progressed northeastward doing extensive tree damage as it nearly paralleled Highway 100. Additional tree damage and minor roof damage occurred near the intersection of Highway 100 and US-136. The tornado then tracked nearly due northward through rural areas doing tree damage before hitting some homes along North Waterford Road, producing mainly roof and siding damage, along with snapping and uprooting many trees. The hardest hit areas from this tornado were along East County Highway 9 southeast of Lewistown, where more extensive home damage…

10. Jun 1, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$225,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A corridor of enhanced wind damage occurred along Highway 24 in Fulton County from southwest of Fairview to just south of Farmington. A National Weather Service Storm Survey found several machine sheds, garages, and outbuildings damaged or destroyed along this path. In addition, numerous trees and powerlines were blown down as well. The winds were likely caused by the rear-flank downdraft from a supercell thunderstorm just ahead of the main line of storms.

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

105°FJun 25, 1988

All-time low

−25°FJan 17, 1977

Warmest night

79°F7 times, most recently Aug 25, 2023

Coldest day

−11°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

5.19 inJul 15, 2020

Snowiest day

12.2 inJan 13, 1979

Hottest year

2024mean 56.1°F

Coldest year

1979mean 48.1°F

Wettest year

199055.35 in

Driest year

198822.16 in

Snowiest season

57.6 in2013-14

Station General Wayne A Downing International A (USW00014842), 655 ft elevation, 19.8 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1943 to October 27, 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.

Declarations for Fulton County.

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.

• 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 USW00014842.
• 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.