Portage

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 Kalamazoo County, the county that contains Portage.

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 Kalamazoo County, the county that contains Portage.

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 Kalamazoo County, the county that contains Portage.

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. Apr 5, 2010Hail$125 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorm winds in excess of 80 mph and hail up to golf ball size impacted far southwestern and south central Kalamazoo county as a bow echo moved into Schoolcraft east to Vicksburg. ||The most significant damage occurred across west southwest portions of the town of Schoolcraft, where the siding of the western sides of many homes was shredded by the wind driven large hail. About a dozen irrigation pivots were destroyed and several trees were blown down. ||A local RV dealership had several of it's vehicles rolled over and damaged. Power lines were blown down and a semi truck was tipped over 1 mile south of downtown Schoolcraft. A wind gust to 79 mph was measured one mile…

2. May 7, 2024Tornado$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-2 tornado touched down near the intersection of South 10th Street and West R Avenue and traveled east northeast for around 11 miles until it lifted north of East N Avenue just west of 31st street. Many homes, including two mobile home parks, were severely damaged. Over 500 homes were impacted, 305 of which were in Portage. Twenty three of those homes were destroyed. A number of businesses had significant damage. Thousands of trees were either snapped or uprooted. A large section of the roof of an industrial warehouse also collapsed near the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek international airport. Twelve people were injured. There were no fatalities.

3. Mar 8, 2017High Wind, Kalamazoo$13.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A peak wind gust of 58 mph was measured at the Kalamazoo airport. Peak wind gusts in the 60 to 70 mph range resulted in numerous downed trees and limbs and power lines and widespread power outages.

4. Sep 13, 2008Flood$11.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wave of low pressure moving along a slow moving front and the remnants of Hurricane Ike brought heavy rain to Southwest Lower Michigan. The rain started on the twelfth and persisted through the thirteenth and fourteenth. ||Rainfall totals were impressive and in excess of ten inches across portions of Kalamazoo county, including a report of 10.5 inches at Augusta. The heaviest rain occurred along and just north of the Interstate 94 corridor across northern and central Kalamazoo county.||A local state of emergency was declared for Kalamazoo county and moderate river flooding occurred on the Kalamazoo river at Comstock. Damage to public infrastructure (mostly road and bridge…

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

   Heavy rainfall caused significant flooding on rivers and streams across Kalamazoo county.

6. Feb 24, 2019High Wind, Kalamazoo$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.

7. Apr 26, 2011Hail$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trained spotters reported that large hail fell from a thunderstorm that tracked from just southwest of Oshtemo east northeast across northern Kalamazoo to Richland. The hail size reached 1.25 inches in diameter two miles west of Richland. The hail swath was up to one mile wide based on the correlation of spotter reports with WSR-88D radar products.

8. Jun 13, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts up to 75 mph brought down numerous trees, tree limbs and power lines in Texas township and to the southeast near Schoolcraft and Vicksburg.

9. May 29, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The areas most impacted by the bowing segment of the line echo wave pattern fell within Brady and Wakeshma Townships along and south of E W Avenue between 33rd and 47th Streets. Hundreds of trees were either uprooted or snapped, with some snapped 15-20 feet above the ground. Additionally, some structures were damaged with this storm. A grain silo on the corner of E W Avenue and S 40th Street collapsed, and nearly a dozen farm buildings sustained significant roof damage. The damage path was approximately 8 miles long and 3 miles wide.

10. Sep 5, 2014Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Trained spotters reported that numerous large trees and power lines were blown down across portions of Kalamazoo county, including in the city of Kalamazoo, where thousands of people lost power for several days.

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

107°F4 times, most recently Jul 14, 1936

All-time low

−23°FJan 20, 1994

Warmest night

81°FJul 19, 1930

Coldest day

−11°FJan 31, 2019

Wettest day

5.05 inSep 14, 2008

Snowiest day

16.0 in2 times, most recently Jan 27, 1967

Hottest year

1931mean 53.3°F

Coldest year

2014mean 45.5°F

Wettest year

201951.84 in

Driest year

193019.84 in

Snowiest season

82.4 in2013-14

Station Three Rivers (USC00208184), 810 ft elevation, 18.6 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1895 to October 28, 2026; 98.1% 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 Kalamazoo 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 USC00208184.
• 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.