Frankfort

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 Clinton County, the county that contains Frankfort.

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.

The drought index is for Clinton County, the county that contains Frankfort.

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 18, 2000Hail$15.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A series of supercell storms dumped hail from golfball to softball size across a large portion of the northern half of the IND CWA. The storms moved across a warm front that stretched across central Indiana. Numerous cars, car lots and homes had extensive damage estimated around 75 million dollars. Frankfort, Anderson and Muncie were hardest hit. In addition, three homes in New Whiteland were burned to the ground by a lightning strike. Later in the evening, a squall line moved across the same area producing only isolated hail reports.

2. Jul 17, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Very strong thunderstorm winds associated with a rapidly developing thunderstorm complex caused extensive damage in the Frankfort area. Heavy damage occurred at the Clinton county fairgrounds where a large tree fell on a tent. Six injuries were reported...mainly cuts and abrasions. Several rides and buildings at the fairgrounds received heavy damage. Park officials estimated 100 mph winds. Numerous trees were also reported down in Frankfort and over 50 homes were damaged by wind or falling trees.

3. Jul 5, 2003Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy thunderstorms trained across the northern third of the Indianapolis forecast area with parts of Carroll and Howard counties getting as much as 8 to 10 inches of rain in less than 12 hours. One 36 year old female was killed in Burlington as she attempted to clean out a storm drain and was sucked down. Also, a 62 year old female was killed when she attempted to move her vehicle across a flooded roadway road at State Road 218 and County Road 525 West. She was subsequently swept into a ditch with 9 to 10 feet of water. 25 homes were filled with several feet of water in Delphi adjacent to Deer Creek as a levy broke there. Deer Creek reached a record water level. Flash flooding…

4. Mar 31, 2023Tornado$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Continuation of the tornado that first impacted Montgomery and Boone Counties (as an EF1 and EF0, respectively). The tornado continued to track to the northeast, parallel to and roughly 0.8 miles southeast of West Manson Colfax Road, while intensifying. Near the intersection of County Roads 700 South and 750 West a homestead ascertained EF1-intensity damage, with 2 outbuildings on cinder blocks completely destroyed, the collapse of chimney and significant roof damage.||The tornado then reached peak intensity as an EF2 with peak winds of 120 mph, for about 0.5 miles prior to crossing US Highway 52 at the intersection with County Road 650 South. Through this most-intense segment, a…

5. Jul 26, 2005Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F1 tornado touched down briefly on the northeast side of Frankfort, destroying a garage and causing damage to other structures.

6. Apr 20, 2004Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A low-topped supercell produced an F1 tornado near Frankfort. The tornado destroyed 2 garages and a high school scoreboard and also damaged a barn.

7. Mar 26, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees, limbs, and utility poles were blown down by thunderstorm winds across the county.

8. Nov 18, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$205,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Part of the Walmart's roof collapsed and the front of the store was damaged due to damaging straight-line thunderstorm winds. Two semi truck was knocked over as well. One man inside an overturned truck was taken to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries. A church's steeple was bent by the severe wind. Multiple trees and large branches were snapped and the roof of Frankfort High School sustained some minor damage. Many other homes and structures sustained damage as well.

9. Jul 26, 2005Tornado$175,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F0 tornado touched down briefly in Michigantown. One mobile home was destroyed and four others were moved.

10. Jan 22, 1999Flood, Clinton$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    3 feet of water in the Frankfort High School parking lot in addition to many flooded streets closed schools across the county. Local authorities said the high water was a result of run-off from the snow melt and 4-5 inches of rain that fell over the previous 24 hours.

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

108°FJul 14, 1936

All-time low

−26°FDec 24, 1983

Warmest night

80°F4 times, most recently Aug 19, 1936

Coldest day

−10°FJan 20, 1985

Wettest day

5.10 inJun 25, 1978

Snowiest day

15.5 inDec 19, 1973

Hottest year

1921mean 57.5°F

Coldest year

1978mean 47.7°F

Wettest year

195754.63 in

Driest year

191427.25 in

Snowiest season

82.8 in2013-14

Station Frankfort Disposal (USC00123082), 824 ft elevation, 2.1 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1914 to October 21, 2026; 96.7% 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 Clinton 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 USC00123082.
• 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.