Winneshiek County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Winneshiek 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. Aug 23, 2016Flash Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flood waters caused homes along Cedar Valley Road, southwest of Freeport, to be evacuated. Widespread flooding occurred in Freeport prompting the need for water rescues to be performed and for local law enforcement to not allow any travel in the area. River Road near Freeport was closed due to flooding from the Upper Iowa River that also caused a trailer court to be evacuated. The runoff from heavy rains also caused urban flooding to occur on the south side of Decorah where a vehicle was flooded in a parking lot. Numerous bridge approaches were lost in the flooding and lots of gravel was washed off roads.

2. Jun 8, 2008Flood$2.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several civil cmergency messages were issued for evacuations in the county. Nursing homes and residences in the lower areas on the west side of the city of Decorah were evacuated. Ponding of water in Decorah could not be stopped even with pumps running. Many roads were closed in the county due to high water.||In Fort Atkinson, the supports to a train bridge gave way in addition to damage to Highway 24 near town. Mudslides were also reported on County Road B32 between Fort Atkinson and Festina.||In Spillville, flood waters covered many of the streets and the waste water treatment plant. Sand bagging efforts were haulted as flood waters condintued to rise. |The Turkey River flooded…

3. Aug 23, 2016Flash Flood$1.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Runoff from heavy rains caused flooding to occur in and around Calmar, Fort Atkinson and Spillville. The flood waters caused the basement of one house to collapse in Calmar. Cars became stranded near U.S. Highway 52 around Calmar with one person having to stand on top of a car to get out of the flood waters. Rogers Creek near Fort Atkinson went out of its banks with water over several secondary roads. Flooding also occurred along Bohemian Creek in the western part of the county. Flood waters were knee deep in some residences and caused evacuations to occur near Ludwig County Park and County Highway B16 was closed due to the flood waters northwest of Spillville. Sandbagging efforts…

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

   Rounds of thunderstorms produced flash flooding over large parts of the county. Many secondary roads were damaged including infrastructures. The Upper Iowa River also began to rise very quickly. Mudslides were also reported. The Protivin area near neighboring Howard County was also evacuated.

5. Jul 24, 2009Hail$970,000
   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…

6. Jul 24, 2009Hail$964,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail occurred along Highway W42 going into Fayette County.

7. Jul 24, 2009Hail$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail lasted approximately 10 minutes and broke windows and damaged siding.

8. Jun 23, 2013Flash Flood$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain caused flash flooding to occur across Winneshiek County, especially the northern sections. Rapidly rising waters along the Upper Iowa River caused a campground in Bluffton to be evacuated and covered numerous roads in Burr Oak Township stranding residences.

9. Jul 23, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$840,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   In and near Calmar, several buildings sustained wind damage and numerous trees were blown down. The roof was blown off a house, a business lost part of its roof, a system to move grain between storage silos was destroyed, a metal silo collapsed, the side of another silo was blown in, and a portion of the roof was removed from a large barn. At the community college, numerous buildings sustained roof and siding damage with doors blown in, windows broken, and a couple of vehicles were also blown over. The public schools sustained damage to their athletic fields. Metal bleachers at the softball field were blown over and pushed through a chain link fence. At the football field, the new…

10. Jul 24, 2009Hail$810,000
    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…

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

111°FJul 14, 1936

All-time low

−43°FJan 30, 1951

Warmest night

84°FAug 3, 1930

Coldest day

−18°FFeb 8, 1899

Wettest day

8.64 inAug 18, 2025

Snowiest day

14.5 inDec 1, 1985

Hottest year

2024mean 52.5°F

Coldest year

1917mean 41.2°F

Wettest year

201657.58 in

Driest year

191018.54 in

Snowiest season

69.2 in1961-62

Station Decorah (USC00132110), 860 ft elevation, 1.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 25, 2026; 99.0% 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 USC00132110.
• 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.