Van Buren County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Van Buren County: 2.
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. Oct 24, 2024Lightning$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Broadcast media reported that a historic church north of Keosauqua Iowa was struck by lightning that resulted in a fire and the total loss of the building. The time of the event was estimated using radar.

2. Jun 1, 2008Flood$540,000
   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…

3. Aug 9, 2010Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the second week of August resulted in the Des Moines River at Keosauqua going above the moderate flood stage level of 25 feet on August 9 around 940 pm CDT. It crested above the major flood stage level around 28.3 feet around 7 am CDT August 12. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 245 pm CDT August 14.

4. Jul 5, 2010Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the first week of July resulted in the Des Moines River at Keosauqua going above the moderate flood stage level of 25 feet around 8 pm July 5. It crested around 25.8 feet around 7 am CDT July 6. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 1 am CDT July 7.

5. Apr 17, 2013Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several rounds of heavy rains resulted in flash flooding across much of Van Buren County during the afternoon of April 17.

6. Jul 19, 2010Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains resulted in flash flooding of Farmington, IA and much of southeast Van Buren County during the late evening of July 19 and morning of July 20. The Burg building in Farmington was inundated with flood waters. Some rural roads were covered by flood waters that flowed out of farm fields. The flooding had receded by 830 am CDT July 20.

7. Jul 20, 2010Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the third week of July resulted in the Des Moines River at Keosauqua going above the moderate flood stage level of 25 feet around 7 am CDT July 20. It crested around 25.7 feet around 7 pm CDT July 20. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 7 am CDT July 21.

8. Apr 10, 2008Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF2 tornado moved northeast from just southeast of Lebanon to just northeast of Lebanon during the early evening of April 10th. A wine shed and mobile home were destroyed. The top was ripped off of a silo and the second story of a winery was damaged. A house sustained minor structural damage and several large trees were topped off.

9. Jul 9, 2003Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   On Hwy 81 at the Iowa/Missouri state line

10. May 10, 2003Tornado$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Moved ENE from 5.1 west of Birmingham to 1.9 miles northwest of Birmingham. Path length of 4 miles and rated F0.

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

115°F2 times, most recently Jul 15, 1936

All-time low

−36°FJan 22, 1930

Warmest night

89°FAug 4, 1930

Coldest day

−10°F2 times, most recently Dec 23, 1983

Wettest day

7.15 inSep 13, 1961

Snowiest day

15.0 inApr 11, 1997

Hottest year

2006mean 55.2°F

Coldest year

2014mean 47.0°F

Wettest year

197362.94 in

Driest year

195622.94 in

Snowiest season

53.9 in2013-14

Station Keosauqua (USC00134389), 674 ft elevation, 0.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 94.7% 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 USC00134389.
• 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.