Brown County

Every recorded tornado

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

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 9, 2021Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread wind damage from the north side of Mt. Sterling to south of Hersman. Numerous trees, tree limbs, power poles and power lines were blown down. Several businesses and homes, especially on the south side of Mt. Sterling, sustained roof damage from fallen trees and tree limbs. One of the baseball dugouts at the high school was destroyed, with other minor damage around the school campus. A couple of trees fell onto unoccupied vehicles causing major damage.

2. Jul 9, 2021Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to baseball size fell over Mt. Sterling and surrounding areas causing widespread damage to several dozen vehicles, buildings and crops. At least one farmer lost about a 1000 acres of corn and soybeans due to the large hail.

3. Jun 25, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Brown County emergency manager reported power poles and trees down over the north side of Versailles.

4. May 8, 1996Flash Flood$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain flooded virtually all roads across Brown County. Some suffered washout damage.

5. Aug 12, 1999Tornado$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A small tornado caused damage east of Mt. Sterling near the town of Ripley. One home suffered the brunt of the damage losing its roof to the tornado. Trees were downed and storage buildings in the area were also damaged.

6. Mar 31, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds caused minor roof damage to a house near Illinois Route 107. Also, just east of there an open sided car port was flipped over.

7. Apr 19, 2013Flood$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Illinois River At La Grange set a new record reaching 34.50 feet on April 27th. The river remained above flood stage into May. Agriculture lowland damage was the only know damage.

8. May 25, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$2,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A twelve inch diameter maple tree top was snapped off.

9. May 1, 2013Flood$2,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Illinois River at LaGrange remained in flood at major flood levels in early May, dropping below flood stage on the 22nd at 0600 CST. The river then rose again into flood on the on the 28th and continued in flood into June.

10. Jun 1, 2013Flood$1,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The Illinois River started June in flood and hit major flood levels cresting on the 6th. The river then slowly fell dropping below flood stage on the 23rd. Damage was minimal.

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

112°FJul 14, 1954

All-time low

−22°FDec 22, 1989

Warmest night

83°FJul 15, 1980

Coldest day

−8°FJan 15, 1972

Wettest day

5.84 inJun 14, 1950

Snowiest day

10.9 inFeb 25, 1993

Hottest year

2012mean 56.7°F

Coldest year

1951mean 49.8°F

Wettest year

197366.60 in

Driest year

195320.00 in

Snowiest season

45.2 in1977-78

Station Quincy Regional Airport (USW00093989), 760 ft elevation, 23.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 26, 2026; 99.8% 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 USW00093989.
• 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.