Fayette County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Fayette County: 6.
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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 8, 2008Flood$3.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Turkey River through northern and northeast Fayette County experienced a record flood. At Eldorado, the river crested at a record level of 22.11 feet about 9 a.m. CDT on June 9. The previous record crest was 19.6 feet in May 2004. Flood stage is 12.0 feet. Flood stage levels were also exceeded at Clermont.||Damage in Eldorado was surprisingly minimal with flood waters only impacting a few homes directly near the river on the north side of the village. Further southeast though several bridges and roads were damaged or destroyed as debris would pile up along bridge supports and running water flowed over highways. A large bridge north of West Union, called the Huntzinger Bridge,…

2. Jun 7, 2008Flood$3.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous secondary roads were flooded. Over 5 inches of rain was reported for the weekend of June 7-8.

3. Jun 22, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$3.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A path of wind damage occurred across southern Fayette County. Numerous trees and power lines were downed, several roofs were blown off farm buildings, metal corn bins were caved in and pieces of siding and roofing were strewn throughout farm fields. One home was destroyed, 17 farms received major damage and 10 cows were killed.

4. May 17, 1999Flood, Fayette$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Serious flooding took place along the Turkey and Volga River, causing considerable damage to homes, businesses and crops. In fact, Clayton and Fayette County were both declared federal disaster areas. Many county roads and bridges were washed away, keeping main highways closed for two days. River levels rose nearly a foot an hour, inundating the towns of Volga, Littleport and Garber with as much as 8 feet of water. LP tanks and cars were seen floating away. Even a dozen pigs were stranded on the roof of a barn due to rising flood waters. The Turkey River at Garber (Clayton County) crested at 30.6 feet, breaking the previous flood of record, which was 30.1 feet on May 15, 1991.

5. Jul 24, 2009Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Windows were broken in a house. Hail size was estimated.

6. May 16, 1999Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall amounts of 4 to 8 inches caused major flash flooding. Hardest hit were areas along the Turkey and Volga River where many roads and bridges were washed out. A cooperative weather observer in Fayette (Fayette County) had their reporting equipment washed away, while a 4 foot deep mudslide was reported by the Clayton County sheriff near Volga. The towns of Volga and Garber (Clayton County) had to be evacuated with many residents being rescued by boat.

7. Jul 24, 2009Hail$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Clusters of severe thunderstorms generated by an approaching cold front affected part of northeast Iowa during the afternoon and early evening of July 24. Reports of hail up to 2 inches in diameter were common from storm spotters, law enforcement officials and the public, with a report of close to softball size hail near Ossian (Winneshiek County). In addition, wind gusts between 55 and 65 mph occurred. Crop damage due to the large hail was estimated in the millions of dollars.||Two sets of storms about five hours apart hit Fayette and Winneshiek Counties exceptionally hard with hail damage to buildings and many corn and bean fields stripped clean. In Fayette County, 250,000 acres…

8. Jul 22, 2017Flood$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   After the initial flash flooding, the flood waters lingered across much of Fayette County into Sunday, July 23rd. On Saturday morning, numerous roads were reported to be impassable in Fairbank because of the flood waters. Sandbagging was occurring around several businesses. State Highway 3 was closed between Oelwein and Oran. In the town of Fayette, around 80 percent of the homes had water in their basements and a park in town was closed because of the flooding.

9. Jul 22, 2017Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   After heavy rains dropped 4 to 8 inches of rain, flash flooding occurred across the southern sections of Fayette County. East of Wadena, the bridge over the Volga River on Acorn Road failed. Otter Creek went out if its banks in Oelwein.

10. Jun 16, 2014Thunderstorm Wind$940,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Barns were blown down near Westgate with tin strewn across a road. Another barn was blown down with cattle trapped inside the debris, two of which died. Part of a roof was blown off a building used for milking, exposing an office, with the rain soaking office supplies and computers. On the same farm, part of free stall barn was ripped off and a shed was destroyed. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down in town and a church roof sustained damage from the high winds. Some of the trees were 2 to 4 feet in diameter and were either uprooted or snapped off about 20 feet above the ground. Two grain bins were blown over and landed on a building and a truck.

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

110°F2 times, most recently Jul 14, 1936

All-time low

−40°FFeb 3, 1996

Warmest night

80°FSep 1, 1900

Coldest day

−20°FFeb 3, 1996

Wettest day

7.67 inJul 22, 2017

Snowiest day

21.0 inMar 6, 1959

Hottest year

1931mean 51.5°F

Coldest year

1996mean 41.6°F

Wettest year

190254.31 in

Driest year

196420.86 in

Snowiest season

89.2 in1961-62

Station Fayette (USC00132864), 1,145 ft elevation, 4.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 98.3% 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 USC00132864.
• 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.