Wisconsin Rapids

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 Wood County, the county that contains Wisconsin Rapids.

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 Wood County, the county that contains Wisconsin Rapids.

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 Wood County, the county that contains Wisconsin Rapids.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 7, 2007Hail$45.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm produced baseball and softball size hail in Port Edwards and Wisconsin Rapids. A 5.5 inch diameter hailstone that fell at Port Edwards was the second largest hailstone ever measured in Wisconsin. (The record largest hailstone in Wisconsin is 5.7 inches in diameter, which fell in Wausau on May 22, 1921.) Approximately 6,000 house and business roofs sustained at least minor damage. Over 500 vehicles were also damaged. Nine schools in the area sustained damage of $6.9 million alone. Total property damage was estimated at $45 million.

2. Sep 23, 2010Flash Flood$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain fell across Wood County, causing rivers and streams to overflow their banks, washing out roads and damaging homes and businesses. Much of the county received at least 4 inches of rain. The heaviest recorded total was 5.95 inches at Pittsville. Sandbagging was necessary along the Yellow River in southwest Wood County. The flooding caused minor damage to 79 homes and 10 businesses, major damage to 1 home and substantial damage to public infrastructure. As many as 35 roads across the county were closed at some point due to the flooding.

3. May 22, 2011Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado moved out of Juneau County at 6:03 pm CDT (1703 CST) and moved east-northeast across southern Wood County. The storm hit a campground on the east shore of the Wisconsin River about three miles south of Nekoosa. Over 100 pine trees were snapped and uprooted on the campground, some two feet in diameter (DI 28 DOD 4). Several camper vehicles were damaged by fallen trees. The tornado was seen by campground visitors just before 6:15 pm. The tornado continued east-northeast and snapped or uprooted hundreds of additional trees south of Wisconsin Rapids. The storm damaged at least six homes and several other outbuildings about six miles south-southeast of Wisconsin Rapids. One…

4. Jun 22, 2002Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An east to west stationary front across central Wisconsin was the focus for the development of thunderstorms. Heavy rain occurred across that part of the state during the night of June 21-22 as thunderstorms trained over the area for several hours. Over 5 inches of rain fell during a 3 hour period across the affected areas. An unofficial gage near Biron (Wood co.) recorded 10.30 inches in 12 hours.A trailer park in Stratford (Marathon co.) had to be evacuated due to high water, and basements were flooded in some homes in central Wisconsin. Several bridges were out due to the flooding and roads were washed out in numerous locations. One township in Marathon county had 40 miles of…

5. May 25, 2021Lightning$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck the Verso Paper Mill at 7:30 pm CDT, producing $300,000 worth of damage.

6. Jul 20, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds downed trees, large branches, and power lines in Wisconsin Rapids. Downed branches, as big as 5 inches in diameter and 10 feet long, blocked at least one road.

7. Jul 20, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines along Highway 54 in Port Edwards.

8. Sep 21, 2016Flash Flood$64,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Runoff from heavy rainfall caused flooded roads, and caused damage to roads and bridges, especially across the western part of the county.

9. Aug 27, 2021Flash Flood$62,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms dumped 3 to 5 inches of rain over northern Wood County during the evening hours. This caused several roads to be closed due to flash flooding with several reports of cars stalled out.

10. Aug 7, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Powerful thunderstorm winds destroyed a barn in the Hewitt area. Several antique and specialty cars that were being stored in the barn were damaged. In addition, part of a roof was blown off of a house in the town of Cameron. Numerous trees and power lines were damaged in the Marshfield, Hewitt, Pittsville and Dexterville areas.

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

102°FJul 4, 2012

All-time low

−32°FJan 31, 2019

Warmest night

78°FJun 22, 2025

Coldest day

−14°FJan 6, 2014

Wettest day

4.12 inSep 23, 2010

Snowiest day

16.4 inFeb 12, 2019

Hottest year

2024mean 48.7°F

Coldest year

2014mean 41.6°F

Wettest year

201639.52 in

Driest year

200621.92 in

Station Wisconsin Rapids Alexander Field (USW00004826), 1,015 ft elevation, 2.4 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1996 to October 27, 2026; 99.4% 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 Wood 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 USW00004826.
• 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.