Mitchell County

Every recorded tornado

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

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 19, 2013Flash Flood$4.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain produced wide spread flash flooding across much of Mitchell County. Numerous roads around Stacyville were under water by early evening and sand bagging occurred along the Little Cedar River. U.S. Highway 218 was closed by flooding between Osage and St. Ansgar and State Highway 9 was closed east and west of Osage. West of Osage, two culverts were washed away, causing a section of Highway 9 to collapse. A total of 22 roads were closed, 6 to 8 bridges washed out and approximately 90 percent of the gravel roads across the entire county were covered with water. Damage to the roads was estimated to be around $4.5 million. In addition to all the road damage, a railroad bridge…

2. Jun 7, 2008Flood$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Highway 218 was closed due to flooding and Highway 9 east of Osage was closed since water topped the bridge. Widespread overland flooding continued across the county, which was described as a lake on Sunday June 8. In addition, the Cedar River was in flood for several days, cresting in Charles City, Iowa during the morning of June 9th.||In Stacyville the flooding was the worst in years and left water standing in fields for more than a week. Besides crop damage, many basements were flooded.

3. Apr 6, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts estimated at 65 to 70 mph caused damage to several farms, knocking down sheds and outbuildings. Ten cattle were killed when a large shed collapsed on them. A 660 foot chicken house, containing 45,000 chickens, was completely destroyed, injuring and killing many of the animals.

4. Jun 7, 2008Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding closed several secondary roads in the county with numerous bridges and culverts washed out.

5. Aug 27, 2021Flash Flood$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Runoff from heavy rains pushed the Little Cedar River out of its banks. County roads A46 and T64 near New Haven had to be closed because of the flood waters. Spring Creek also went out if its banks causing U.S. Highway 18 to be closed near Osage. A dam on the Cedar River near Mitchell sustained damage from the flood waters. Numerous gravel roads across the county suffered washouts.

6. Jul 19, 1999Flash Flood$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   As much as 8 inches of rain caused flash flooding over portions of northeast Iowa. Hardest hit were Rockford and Nora Springs (Floyd County) where an earthen dike washed away and a dam was breached. Both communities suffered extensive damage to homes and businesses due to what was described as the worst flooding in years. Numerous rural roads throughout the area were washed out, while corn and soybean fields were underwater. A man died when his car was swept away, attempting to cross a flooded bridge near Rudd (Floyd County).

7. Apr 9, 2011Hail$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to two inches in diameter fell in St. Ansgar.

8. Apr 12, 2022Tornado$525,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This EF1 tornado developed south of New Haven and tracked northeast before moving into Howard County, passing south of Riceville. Along the path, numerous farm buildings, grain bins, and trees were damaged or destroyed.

9. Jul 19, 1999Flood, Mitchell$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Cedar River experienced record flooding due to excessive rainfall amounts. On the 19th, the river crested at 18.26 feet at Charles City (Floyd County). Two days later on the 21st, the river had an all-time record crest at Charles City of 22.80 feet. Cooperative observer rainfall reports from the 19th through the 21st included 11.81 inches at Charles City, 10.75 inches at Osage (Mitchell County) and 11.85 inches at New Hampton (Chickasaw County).Nearly every creek, stream and river in Chickasaw and Floyd Counties was bankfull or flooding during the National Weather Service storm survey. Many roads were impassable. There was extensive evidence of flash flooding from heavy rains…

10. Jul 20, 1999Flash Flood$350,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorms dropped torrential rains on northeast Iowa, which caused a second round of flash floods in as many days. Numerous highways were either closed or remained closed due to high water.

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°FJul 14, 1936

All-time low

−35°F2 times, most recently Feb 1, 1996

Warmest night

84°F2 times, most recently Jul 14, 1995

Coldest day

−17°FJan 31, 2019

Wettest day

6.37 inAug 10, 1980

Snowiest day

15.0 inDec 27, 1904

Hottest year

1987mean 51.0°F

Coldest year

1951mean 42.3°F

Wettest year

201653.10 in

Driest year

191017.14 in

Snowiest season

71.0 in1950-51

Station Osage (USC00136305), 1,121 ft elevation, 4.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1894 to October 27, 2026; 96.8% 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 USC00136305.
• 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.