Jones County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Jones County: 0.
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. Jul 23, 2010Flood$15.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Along the Maquoketa River, about 50 homes and 20 businesses in Monticello were flooded due to record flooding. A printing company was flooded for the second time in 11 months, this time even worse than the last. Even with advance preparations, the company sustained losses estimated at $850,000. Similarly, a building company sustained $200,000 after 4 feet of water inundated their facilities. The local paper reported that the CEO of the company knew there was a possibility of flooding, but not 4 feet of water.||The county fairgrounds were also heavily impacted by the floods, putting a damper on the ongoing fair events that typically see more than 250,000 visitors. East of…

2. Jul 25, 2010Flood$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several homes flooded in Olin. The extent of the flooding was blamed at least in part on a levee break along a creek north of town that was intended to divert the creek waters into the Wapsipinicon River.

3. Jun 1, 2008Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The record crest on the Wapsipinicon River at Anamosa occurred on June 13, 2008 at 26.18 feet. Flood stage is 14 feet.

4. Jul 22, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts estimated to be 60 mph destroyed the JumboTron and sound system at the Jones County Fair in Monticello, IA at 1000 pm CDT July 22. In addition, some vendor tents were blown down and an awning on the Jones County Mobile EM Unit was destroyed.

5. Jul 23, 2016Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The emergency manager reported water up to 1.5 feet in depth on the outdoor track at the fairgrounds.

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

   Heavy rains resulted in flash flooding across parts of Jones County on August 27. Some areas particularly hard hit were Anamosa, Monticello, and Center Junction. Several roads were closed due to the flood waters. Highway 151 was closed between Anamosa and Monticello due to flooding of Kitty Creek. Buffalo Creek flooded out of its banks flooding low lying areas. Bear Creek flooded 140th Avenue and Madison Road near Center Junction. The flood waters were 1.5 feet deep.

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

   Heavy rains during the last week of August resulted in the Wapsipinicon River at Anamosa going above the moderate flood stage level of 15.5 feet around 4 pm on August 27. It crested around 18.08 feet around 930 pm on August 27. It fell back below its moderate flood stage level around 5 pm August 28.

8. Jun 12, 2008Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A levee failed along the Wapsipinicon River on the southwest side of Anamosa, IA below the County Rd E34 bridge around 9:16 pm June 12. Flash flooding resulted on the southwest side of Anamosa, IA.

9. Jun 21, 2010Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the third week of June resulted in the Wapsipinicon River at Anamosa going above the moderate flood stage level of 15.5 feet on June 21 around 100 am. It crested around 15.6 feet around 700 am June 21. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 715 am June 21.

10. Jul 11, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Wind gusts estimated to be 60 to 70 blew down numerous trees across all of Jones County Iowa between 520 am and 610 am CDT July 11.

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

103°F2 times, most recently Jul 26, 2012

All-time low

−35°FJan 10, 1982

Warmest night

79°FJul 22, 1952

Coldest day

−18°FFeb 3, 1996

Wettest day

7.55 inAug 22, 2002

Snowiest day

14.0 inJan 27, 1996

Hottest year

1998mean 50.8°F

Coldest year

2009mean 43.7°F

Wettest year

200854.28 in

Driest year

198818.27 in

Snowiest season

71.6 in1974-75

Station Cascade (USC00131257), 814 ft elevation, 14.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1947 to October 19, 2026; 95.9% 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 USC00131257.
• 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.