Clinton County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Clinton County: 1.
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.

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

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.

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 county boundary (or inside the county).
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 10, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Roofs were torn off a large number of homes and other wind damage was widespread along a two-mile wide path extending from Durant, Iowa through Clinton to Fulton, Illinois. A small tornado developed on the north end of the storm, touching down in Clinton, crossing the Mississippi River and touching down again in Fulton.

2. May 10, 1996Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A small tornado developed on the northern end of the storm and touched down near Clinton, Iowa. The tornado crossed the Mississippi River and struck Fulton, Illinois shortly after 80 to 100+ MPH winds swept through the area.

3. May 4, 2003High Wind, Clinton$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several rounds of thunderstorms struck Eastern Iowa, far Northeast Missouri, and Nothern Illinois from mid afternoon through midnight. A wake low developed behind one line of storms and produced an extended period of wind over 43 knots (50 mph) across parts of Eastern Iowa and Northwest Illinois resulting in power outages and tree limbs down. In Southeast Iowa and West Central Illinois, thunderstorms trained over the same area producing mainly nuisance flooding. In Henderson County Illinois, Illinois Route 94 and numerous other roads were closed due to high water.

4. Jun 1, 2008Flood$646,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Major to record flooding occurred during the month of June 2008 with most forecast points above flood stage for the majority of the month. The flooding during this month was more prolific and severe than the flooding in April 2008, and the flooding in April had been the most prolific flood event since 1997.||While some locations were still experiencing flooding as June began, many of the tributary rivers to the Mississippi in Iowa rose above flood stage during the first few days of the month. At locations that were already above flood stage, the rivers stopped their fall and began climbing again.||Persistent heavy rain from late May into early June resulted in record crests on the…

5. Jun 17, 2010Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the third week of June resulted in the Wapsipinicon River at De Witt going above the moderate flood stage level of 11.5 feet on June 17 around 630 am. After briefly falling back below 11.5 feet, it crested above the major flood stage around 13.2 feet around 7 pm June 22. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 7 pm June 28.

6. Aug 27, 2009Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains of 3 to 6 inches resulted in some flash flooding across much of Clinton County on August 27. Some areas particularly hard hit were De Witt, Welton, and Charlotte. Several residences experienced flooded basements. Two large trees fell over due to erosion from running water in De Witt. Street flooding was also common across the area. Old Highway 61 had water over it in the Welton area. Some residences in Charlotte had to be evacuated due to the rising flood waters. An off-duty NWS employee also contributed to this report.

7. Aug 27, 2009Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the last week of August resulted in the Wapsipinicon River near De Witt going above the moderate flood stage level of 11.5 feet around 145 am on August 27. It proceeded to rise above the major flood stage level of 12.5 feet and crest around 13.14 feet around 130 am on August 29. After falling off for a while, it rose to a secondary crest around 12.94 feet around 4 pm August 31. It fell back below its moderate flood stage level around 8 am September 2.

8. May 16, 2003Flood, Clinton$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A pattern change at the end of April brought a series of heavy rain producing systems to Eastern Iowa and Northern Illinois over the first 10 days of the month. Area rivers responded with the Iowa River going above flood stage starting on the 10th. The Cedar and Wapsipinicon Rivers followed by going above flood stage around the 15th. The Mississippi River also went above flood stage, beginning around the 20th. Most tributaries went below flood stage around the 20th, and most locations on the Mississippi that were above flood stage went below by the 28th.Most of the flooding was minor. One location-the Mississippi River at Gladstone Dam 18-experienced moderate flooding. Most…

9. Jun 23, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large grain bin and elevator were lifted slightly by severe thunderstorm winds, and then collapsed when they dropped back to the ground.

10. Aug 4, 2008Tornado$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An EF0 tornado damaged three farmsteads along a path from 3.2 miles north northeast of Charlotte, IA to 4 miles south southwest of Goose Lake, IA between 547 pm and 605 pm August 4. Several outbuildings were damaged with the total loss of the roofing on many of them. Many trees and branches were damaged, with several large trees blown down or snapped off.

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

109°F2 times, most recently Jul 14, 1936

All-time low

−29°F2 times, most recently Jan 31, 2019

Warmest night

81°F4 times, most recently Aug 2, 2006

Coldest day

−13°FFeb 3, 1996

Wettest day

8.71 inSep 9, 1927

Snowiest day

18.0 inJan 13, 1979

Hottest year

1921mean 54.7°F

Coldest year

1917mean 45.5°F

Wettest year

196152.60 in

Driest year

198819.59 in

Snowiest season

74.5 in1978-79

Station Clinton #1 (USC00131635), 594 ft elevation, 5.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 26, 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.

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.

Neighbouring counties

• 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 USC00131635.
• 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.