Washington

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 Daviess County, the county that contains Washington.

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 Daviess County, the county that contains Washington.

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 Daviess County, the county that contains Washington.

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. Jun 5, 2008Flood$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding occurred along the White River in Daviess County, including near Edwardsport, due to heavy rain and a breach in a levee. A levee just downstream of Elnora blew out and sandbags were scattered more than a half mile downstream.

2. Nov 15, 2005Tornado$11.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F3 tornado touched down near Washington, Indiana on the afternoon of 15 November 2005, and proceeded northeast for 12 miles, lifting at Crane Naval Base in Martin County. The tornado was up to 1/4 mile wide at times. The worst damage occurred 4 miles northeast of Montgomery. K&K Industries sits at that site. Abe Knepp, the owner, is also a chaplain for Daviess County Emergency Management, and was monitoring law enforcement radio traffic while at work. His decision to send his 120 employees home early likely saved several lives, as the plant was destroyed by the tornado 30 minutes after it was cleared. 123 homes and 20 businesses sustained damage in Daviess County. Despite the…

3. Jan 21, 1999Flood, Daviess$2.0 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 -…

4. Mar 15, 2025Tornado$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado had peaked at EF2 intensity when first tracking through Gibson County and Pike County in far southwestern Indiana, before crossing the East Fork White River and continuing roughly the last half of its overall track within Daviess County and Martin County. The tornado skipped northeast through these two counties, ending south-southwest of the Indian Springs community. The most significant damage was to a farm at County Road 100 South and County Road 1025 East in Daviess County, which sustained damage consistent with winds around 100 mph. Several metal farm outbuildings were damaged, a piece of a wooden 2-by-4 beam was thrown southeast and driven through the windshield…

5. Jan 4, 2005Flood, Daviess$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   All of the snow cover from the historic pre-Christmas 2004 snow storm melted by New Year's Day 2005 as the dew point temperatures rose into the 50s. Lowland flooding occurred along the East Fork White River in Jackson County. The White River in southern Indiana rose to bankfull levels. This was the result of the melting snow cover.With warm air over Indiana, a storm system brought 2 to 4 inches of rain to much of central and southern Indiana from the 1st through the 3rd. Because of the saturated soil conditions, widespread local flooding occurred in central and southern Indiana. The major rivers in the state were flooding by the 4th. Another storm system quickly followed from the…

6. Jun 25, 2023Tornado$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm spawned this second tornado of the day just northeast of the intersection of County Roads 1100 East and 1575 North. The weak tornado then tracked in an east to east-southeasterly direction occasionally downing trees. Scores of hardwood trees were snapped, many at mid trunk, on a hilltop just west of US Highway 231. The tornado continued across the highway and soon after into northwestern Martin County, before ending within the grounds of Crane Naval Support Activity about one mile west-southwest of the southwest corner of Lake Greenwood.

7. Apr 2, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread straight line wind damage occurred throughout Daviess County. One of the damaged strcutures was a home that was still being rebuilt from the 15 November 2005 tornado in the area. Near West Boggs Lake, three campers were rolled by the high winds. One person inside one of the campers was rushed to the hospital with head injuries.

8. Apr 4, 2025Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads closed due to flash flooding. US 231 had water flowing over it. River flooding later in the week would inundate dozens of structures.

9. Jun 21, 2026Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm rainfall up to 6.00 inches caused widespread flash flooding across central and northern Daviess County, with at least 3 water rescues in Washington and at least 3 additional water rescues in other parts of the county from widespread inundated county roads, some with deep water flowing across; water additionally flowed into multiple homes. Flash flooding also impacted west-central Martin County where a CVS in Loogootee had water 2.5 feet deep at its lower back door, while water flowed over several roads north of Loogootee.

10. Jun 9, 2008Flash Flood$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Breaches in sections of the levee just south of Elnora and heavy rain caused flash flooding in Daviess County. Extensive crop flooding occurred along with flooding that occurred to houses.

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

113°FJul 28, 1930

All-time low

−19°F3 times, most recently Dec 23, 1989

Warmest night

82°F5 times, most recently Jun 19, 1995

Coldest day

−3°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

6.20 inJul 25, 2022

Snowiest day

15.0 inJan 25, 1904

Hottest year

2024mean 59.6°F

Coldest year

1904mean 52.6°F

Wettest year

195063.01 in

Driest year

196326.11 in

Snowiest season

28.1 in1978-79

Station Washington 1 W (USC00129253), 482 ft elevation, 2.2 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1896 to October 26, 2026; 85.9% 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 Daviess 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 USC00129253.
• 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.