Battle Creek

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 Calhoun County, the county that contains Battle Creek.

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 Calhoun County, the county that contains Battle Creek.

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 Calhoun County, the county that contains Battle Creek.

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 29, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The bowing segment of a line echo wave pattern caused extensive damage to homes, businesses, and utilities on the south side of Battle Creek along E Columbia Ave. Approximately 600 homes were damaged with 76 of those homes having been destroyed. Also, 21 businesses were damaged of which 4 were destroyed. To the north and east of the Battle Creek area, two dozen rural properties also sustained damage. Throughout the county, over 40,000 customers were without power and thousands of trees were either uprooted or snapped. The damage path was 33 miles long and ranged from 0.5 mile up to 2 miles in width.

2. Mar 8, 2017High Wind, Calhoun$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A peak wind gust of 59 mph was measured at the WK Kellogg airport in Battle Creek. Peak wind gusts in the 60 to 70 mph range resulted in numerous downed trees and limbs and power lines and widespread power outages.

3. Apr 17, 2013Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant flooding occurred on rivers and streams across Calhoun county due to heavy rainfall and antecedent high river levels and saturated grounds.

4. Aug 24, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   There were multiple reports of downed trees and limbs and power lines.

5. Feb 24, 2019High Wind, Calhoun$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts up to around 60 mph downed tree limbs and power lines and resulted in widespread power outages.

6. Jun 5, 2010Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado touched down near the intersection of Capitol Avenue and East Stafford Avenue just east of Goguac Lake and moved east just missing Riverside Elementary School and then moving along Chapel Hill Drive where it reached its peak intensity. The tornado then weakened as it moved across Interstate 194 before finally dissipating as it crossed 6 1/2 mile road. Three houses and Chapel Hill Methodist Church suffered partial loss of their roofs which along with approximately 100 snapped and uprooted trees resulted in a rating of EF1 along Chapel Hill Drive. The remainder of the track was rated EF0 where clusters of trees were uprooted or snapped with only minor damage occurring to…

7. Jul 1, 2014Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An NWS storm survey indicated that winds reached up to 80 to 90 mph near to northeast of Albion in Calhoun county, where numerous trees and power lines were blown down with extensive power outages. One roof was also blown off a home. A 74 mph wind gust was measured at Brooks field.

8. Oct 26, 1997Heavy Snow, Calhoun$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An early season winter storm which tracked south of Michigan, across Indiana and Ohio, produced a band of heavy, wet snow across much of southwest, south central, and central Lower Michigan. This was the first measurable snowfall of the season and because of significant foliage still left on the trees, limbs and branches were more vulnerable to bending and snapping under the added weight of the heavy snow. This resulted in numerous power outages and reports of property damage from downed trees. At the height of the storm, which occurred late Sunday evening, October 26th into early Monday morning, October 27th, power outages affected 333,000 utility customers statewide. Of these,…

9. Oct 24, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major severe weather episode occurred across southern lower Michigan, highlighted by three supercell thunderstorms that caused extensive damage. The first supercell storm moved into southwest Kalamazoo county just southwest of Schoolcraft. This storm moved northeast at 50 to 55 m.p.h. across Kalamazoo, extreme northwest Calhoun, southeast Barry, northwest Eaton, southeast Ionia, northwest Clinton and Gratiot counties. It produced a swath of damage 2 miles wide in which thousands of trees were either broken off or uprooted, and some structural damage occurred to homes, barns and larger buildings. Much of the damage resulted from trees falling on homes. A few older homes had major…

10. Dec 21, 2013Ice Storm, Calhoun$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    An ice storm brought a half to three quarters of an inch of ice accumulation to the northern half of Calhoun county, causing numerous power outages and downed tree limbs and lines.

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

104°FJul 6, 2012

All-time low

−21°FJan 24, 2026

Warmest night

80°FJul 31, 2006

Coldest day

−3°FJan 17, 1982

Wettest day

6.44 inJun 26, 1978

Snowiest day

21.1 inJan 26, 1967

Hottest year

2024mean 52.6°F

Coldest year

2014mean 45.8°F

Wettest year

198547.67 in

Driest year

200918.73 in

Snowiest season

113.5 in2008-09

Station Battle Creek 5NW (USC00200552), 923 ft elevation, 5.1 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 24, 2026; 89.5% 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 Calhoun 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 USC00200552.
• 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.