Sterling

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 Whiteside County, the county that contains Sterling.

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 Whiteside County, the county that contains Sterling.

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 Whiteside County, the county that contains Sterling.

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. May 23, 2003Flood, Whiteside$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A pattern change at the end of April brought a series of heavy rain producing systems to Eastern Iowa and Northern Illinois over the first 10 days of the month. Area rivers responded with the Iowa River going above flood stage starting on the 10th. The Cedar and Wapsipinicon Rivers followed by going above flood stage around the 15th. The Mississippi River also went above flood stage, beginning around the 20th. Most tributaries went below flood stage around the 20th, and most locations on the Mississippi that were above flood stage went below by the 28th.Most of the flooding was minor. One location-the Mississippi River at Gladstone Dam 18-experienced moderate flooding. Most…

2. Feb 20, 1997Flash Flood$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains fell over the area while soils were still partially frozen. These widespread two-to-four inch rains came as area rivers and streams were running high from snowmelt from the previous week. Nearly every stream and river went out of its banks, leaving standing water for several days afterward. The single largest impact was felt along the Rock River where record flooding occurred. At Joslin the river reached a record crest of 18.77 feet. This flooding came with large ice jams and, despite massive sand-bagging efforts, the combination of high water and ice breaks broke through levees near Erie and Hillsdale. Flooding caused evacuations of several towns along the Rock River.…

3. Jul 24, 2010Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the fourth week of July resulted in the Rock River at Como going above the moderate flood stage level of 11 feet around 1230 am CDT July 25. It crested around 12.9 feet around 1 am CDT July 26. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 930 am CDT July 27.

4. Jul 29, 2016Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The public reported several roads were closed in Morrison due to high water across the roads.

5. May 10, 1996Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The small tornado which developed and touched down near Clinton, Iowa crossed the Mississippi River and touched down again in Fulton, Illinois following 80-100+ mph winds. The tornado overturned mobile homes, trapping several people inside. The homes were destroyed.

6. Jun 22, 2009Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the middle of the month resulted in the Rock River at Joslin going above the moderate flood stage level of 14 feet on June 22nd around 12 am. It crested around 14.73 feet around 830 pm on June 23. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 5 pm June 24.

7. Apr 18, 2011Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water from snow-melt in the upper Midwest moved south through the Mississippi River basin causing major flooding along the Mississippi River.||The snowfall was well above normal for the 2010-11 winter in much of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Minneapolis, MN recorded 86.6 inches of snow, which is 30 inches above normal. Snowfall in eastern Iowa, northwest Illinois, and northeast Missouri totaled 35 to 65 inches, which was 10 to 20 inches above normal.||The snow-melt flood crest reached Dubuque on April 19 and was finally south of the Burlington area by April 25. The crest levels ranked 4th through 8th depending on the location, when compared to historical crests.||Bellevue surpassed its…

8. Aug 25, 2014Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts estimated to be 75 mph blew down numerous trees across all of Morrison, IL around 220 pm CDT August 25. There was widespread tree damage across town with some trees on power lines and residences.

9. Jul 25, 2010Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the fourth week of July resulted in the Rock River at Joslin going above the moderate flood stage level of 14 feet around 8 pm CDT July 25. It crested around 17.4 feet around 7 pm CDT July 27. It remained above the moderate flood stage level through the end of the month.

10. May 19, 2005Lightning$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Lightning struck the chimney of the Montmorency School south of Rock Falls while students were being dismissed for the day. Luckily the chimney was located in the back of the school and the school bus boarding area is in the front so there were no injuries. The chimney had to be toppled by a wrecking company that evening for safety reasons. Repairs from the lightning strike and subsequent damage to part of the roof and a boiler were briefly put on hold when asbestos was discovered in the damaged area.

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 14, 1936

All-time low

−32°F2 times, most recently Jan 17, 2009

Warmest night

81°FJul 29, 1931

Coldest day

−14°F2 times, most recently Jan 19, 1994

Wettest day

5.08 inJul 10, 1922

Snowiest day

14.0 inFeb 7, 1933

Hottest year

2012mean 54.9°F

Coldest year

1917mean 44.1°F

Wettest year

201851.27 in

Driest year

191019.83 in

Snowiest season

92.9 in1978-79

Station Dixon Wwtp (USC00112348), 650 ft elevation, 9.7 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 14, 2026; 86.6% 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 Whiteside 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 USC00112348.
• 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.