Franklin

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.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

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 Johnson County, the county that contains Franklin.

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 Johnson County, the county that contains Franklin.

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 Johnson County, the county that contains Franklin.

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.

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. Jun 7, 2008Flash Flood$90.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding occurred at the hospital and at least two bridges failed on county roads due to flash flooding caused by heavy rainfall and a breach in a dam. Large agricultural areas underwater. About 500 homes were flooded in Whiteland with all roads closed into the town. Multiple people were rescued from cars and homes. In Edinburgh, flooding left an estimated 40 to 50 homes uninhabitable. Bluff Creek flooded. The Prince's Lake area flooded as a man made dam eroded in sections and left a gash in the dam. In Franklin, apartments, shops, and homes were flooded. More than 400 water rescues took place in the county. Seventeen police cars were swept away.

2. Sep 20, 2002Tornado$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   One of Indiana's longest tracking tornados formed along a squall line on the morning of September 20. The tornado touched down near Ellettsville in Monroe county and then remained on the ground for 112 miles before lifting in Blackford county. The tornado produced F3 damage at its strongest points. Nearly 100 single family homes were destroyed, along with several mobile homes. Some apartments were also destroyed. Many businesses and hundreds of homes received damage. Several counties were declared disaster areas.

3. Jun 3, 2008Tornado$23.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   In Brown County near Peoga damaged occurred to twenty to thirty homes, a barn, powerlines, trees, and a carport due to a tornado. One indirect injury occurred when I firefighter suffered heat stroke. In Johnson County at Camp Atterbury forty buildings were damaged, dozens of vehicles including a 6,000 pound Humvee and a bus were tossed and crushed, the chapel was damaged, and a trailer was tossed on top of a building. Also in Johnson County in Edinburgh 59 buildings were damaged or destroyed. One woman suffered an ankle injury during the tornado. Damaged occurred in Shelby County to a gas station. One woman at the gas station sustained minor injuries when her car windows were…

4. Mar 31, 2023Tornado$6.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The rotating supercell's fifth and final tornado was a violent EF3 that immediately followed the Johnson County EF0. Following the storm's east-northeasterly track, a tornado redeveloped (2.8 miles after the end of the EF0) in an open field, 0.15 miles west of the intersection of South Sawmill Road and Park Forest South Drive. The tornado moved through mainly northern portions of the Park Forest neighborhood while strengthening from EF1 to EF2 intensity. The circulation continued towards US Highway 31, damaging a communications tower near Whiteland Sewer Department. After crossing US Highway 31, the tornado inflicted mainly EF2-intensity damage to southeastern portions of…

5. Mar 31, 2006Tornado$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down just west of Interstate 65 and Main Street in Greenwood on the evening of 31 March 2006. This tornado was on the ground for 25 minutes, covered an area 17 miles long, and caused significant damage to several homes and businesses along its path, which continued into neighboring Shelby County. At its peak, near the small town of London in Shelby County, the tornado was a strong F2, with a width of four tenths of a mile. The tornado lifted near US 52 and State Road 9 in north central Shelby County. According to the American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis, more than 140 homes were damaged, some of them severely. Fortunately, no fatalities or life-threatening…

6. Apr 19, 1996Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell having produced golfball to baseball size hail from eastern Illinois to central Indiana produced a weak tornado in the south suburbs of Indianapolis. In Morgan county the tornado destroyed 6 buildings and damaged nearly 50 others. The main damage was between Five Points and Waverly and was concentrated in the Fox Hill area.

7. Jan 22, 1999Flood, Johnson$1.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain of up to 5 inches on the 21st and 22nd combined with rapid snow melt upstream causing widespread flooding along the White River from Muncie to East Mount Carmel. Crests ranged from around a foot above flood stage along extreme eastern sections of the White to around 10 feet above flood stage across extreme western sections. Flooding along the river in Hamilton and northern Marion counties were the highest seen since December 1990 and January 1991. Many homes and streets were flooded, and a few rescues took place. The following are various crests along the river: Muncie - 9.62 feet (flood stage is 9 feet); Anderson - 12.8 feet (flood stage is 10 feet); Noblesville -…

8. Jun 25, 2023Tornado$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A rotating supercell thunderstorm spawned the tornado just west of the intersection of Travis and Mullinix Roads. Moving east, it intensified quickly while producing mainly high-end EF1 damage (winds up to 110 mph) near and around this intersection, with bricks blown off of a large house, roof damage, a trailer moved into an adjacent yard, trees snapped, and a few snapped power poles. Spotty low-end EF-2 (up to 115 mph) damage was also probable here.||The tornado continued east and went through parts of the Kensington Grove subdivision causing substantial roof damage to some homes while several trees were downed and snapped, indicative of EF1 intensity (95-110 mph). The tornado…

9. Mar 31, 2023Tornado$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This was the rotating supercell's fourth tornado, and the first and weaker of two tornadoes spawned in Johnson County. The tornado started to the north-northeast of the village of Providence, although most of the sporadic tree damage noted in the town was from straight line winds, with slightly more intense tree damage seen from the tornado. The tornado continued to move east-northeast and crossed Indiana Route 135, with multiple power lines damaged and downed across the highway. Metal roofing of a barn just east of Route 135 was peeled back from winds nearing 85 mph. The tornado continued to the east-northeast towards Indiana Route 144, but lifted just before reaching this…

10. Apr 20, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Separate lines of thunderstorms swept across central Indiana producing numerous large hail and damaging wind reports as a strong low pressure system moved across the state during the afternoon of April 20, 2000. In addition, a single thunderstorm moved across in the early morning producing golfball size hail near Pendleton. The first line of thunderstorms moved across northwestern parts of the IND CWA just before noon producing penny to golfball size hail across Tippecanoe, Carroll and Warren counties. The second line produced large hail but more notably damaging winds across the center of the IND CWA. The worst damage was near Bloomington, Terre Haute, Lebanon and Nineveh in…

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°F2 times, most recently Jul 7, 2012

All-time low

−27°FJan 19, 1994

Warmest night

81°FJul 7, 2012

Coldest day

−11°FJan 20, 1985

Wettest day

7.20 inSep 1, 2003

Snowiest day

11.4 inJan 5, 2014

Hottest year

2012mean 56.9°F

Coldest year

2014mean 50.1°F

Wettest year

199656.81 in

Driest year

195427.93 in

Snowiest season

58.2 in1981-82

Station Indianapolis (USW00093819), 887 ft elevation, 19.1 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 27, 2026; 100.0% 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 Johnson 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 USW00093819.
• 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.