Washington County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Washington 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. Jun 29, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$21.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Supercell thunderstorms developed over Central Iowa and rapidly intensified into a long squall line which raced southeast over Eastern Iowa into Central Illinois. Numerous funnel clouds were sited along the leading edge of the storm and a few non-supercell tornadoes were masked within a large area of damaging winds. Straightline winds from 60 to over 120 mph produced the most serious damage with these storms and 8 counties in Eastern Iowa were declaired disaster areas. School-net stations measured winds at 69 mph in Cedar Rapids and 123 mph at Washington. Across the county warning area sustained winds of 70 to 80 mph ripped down trees, power lines, and windmills, and knocked over…

2. May 15, 1998Tornado$9.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado developed two miles Southwest of Washington Iowa and produced a 30 mile long continuous path of damage and debris as it moved to the Northeast at nearly 30 mph. The tornado weakened and lifted before reaching I-80 near West Branch Iowa shortly before 6pm. The tornado continued Northeast across Cedar County Iowa producing another 15 miles of isolated damage...not continuous. The storm producing this tornado continued Northeast producing a brief touchdown one mile west of Oxford Mills Iowa near the intersection of county roads E53 and X64. Another brief touchdown occurred south of Dubuque near Zwingle Iowa before the storm moved into Wisconsin. In Washington Iowa extensive…

3. May 18, 2000Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The same frontal boundary meandering about Southern Iowa and Central Illinois lifted into Central Iowa and North Central Illinois by afternoon. A nearly stacked low center over the Mid Missouri River Valley underwent filling as it shifted eastward across Southern Iowa and Central Illinois. Much of Eastern Iowa along and south of U.S. Highway 30 was thrusted into the warm sector where temperatures climbed into the upper 70s to lower 80s. Meanwhile, areas north of the boundary were quite cool with a brisk northeast surface wind and plenty of cloud cover keeping temperatures down in the 60s. 12z soundings from KILX and KDVN indicated very steep lapse rates with Cape values of…

4. Aug 3, 2010Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains resulted in flash flooding in and around Wellman, IA during the morning of August 3. Major flooding was observed on Smith Creek on the south edge of town. County Road W 38 had to be closed due to the flood waters. Much of the town, including the fire station and water treatment plant, was under water. Some residences had 8 to 10 feet of water in their basements. Some water rescues were performed. The flood water was still about a foot deep in parts of town, especially near the fire station, during the late morning hours.

5. Jun 13, 2010Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the second and third weeks of June resulted in the English River at Kalona going above the moderate flood stage level of 16 feet on June 12 around 11 pm. It crested above the major flood stage around 19 feet around 7 pm June 15. It fell below the moderate flood stage on the evening of the 17th. It crested for a second time at 16.8 feet at 1 pm June 19. It fell below moderate flood stage the morning of June 20. It rose back above the moderate level on the 23rd, cresting at 17.4 feet at 1 am June 24. It finally fell and stayed below the moderate flood stage level around 2 am June 26.

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

   Heavy rains during the first week of August resulted in the English River at Kalona going above the moderate flood stage level of 16 feet on August 3 around 11 am CDT. It crested over the major flood stage level around 18.1 feet around 7 pm CDT August 3. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 1 pm CDT August 6.

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

   Heavy rains during the last week of August resulted in the English River at Kalona going above the moderate flood stage level of 16 feet on August 27 around 1130 am. It crested around 16.82 feet around 1130 pm on August 27. After falling off for a while, it rose to a secondary and higher crest around 17.81 feet around 3 pm on August 29. It finally fell back below the moderate flood stage level around 3 pm August 30.

8. May 3, 2012Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado began near 120th street near Wayland in Henry County and moved into Washington County near Noble and lifted near Crawfordsville. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 10 minutes in Washington County. Damage along the path of the tornado included: several farm outbuildings destroyed, roof damage to homes, trees snapped, and power poles damaged. The most severe damage occurred near and to the northeast of Noble (Washington County) where several turkey farms sustained extensive damage and two large wooden truss power poles were snapped off. Two homes between Noble and Crawfordsville had the roof removed as well as the exterior walls on the upper floor. One of…

9. May 13, 2010Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the second week of May resulted in the English River at Kalona going above the moderate flood stage level of 16 feet on May 13 around 330 am. It crested around 17.2 feet around 1 pm May 13. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 130 pm May 15.

10. Feb 24, 2007Ice Storm, Washington$377,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A widespread and crippling ice/snow storm affected eastern Iowa, northwest and western Illinois, and extreme northeast Missouri on February 24, 2007. This massive ice storm was the worst to affect the region since January 22-23, 1965. Ice accumulations of around one inch were common, with some reports to near two inches! To make matters worse, east winds gusting over 50 mph, combined with the heavy ice accumulation, brought down numerous tree branches and power lines, along with several thousand power poles. There were even whole trees crashing down from the weight of the ice. Widespread power outages occurred, affecting over 180,000 people, which lasted more than a week in some…

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

113°FJul 15, 1936

All-time low

−32°FJan 16, 2009

Warmest night

84°FJul 27, 1930

Coldest day

−11°FFeb 3, 1996

Wettest day

7.35 inAug 3, 1943

Snowiest day

15.5 inJan 25, 1898

Hottest year

1987mean 54.7°F

Coldest year

2014mean 46.7°F

Wettest year

201057.26 in

Driest year

190116.52 in

Snowiest season

48.5 in1950-51

Station Washington (USC00138688), 687 ft elevation, 5.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 97.4% 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 USC00138688.
• 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.