Jo Daviess County

Every recorded tornado

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

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 27, 2011Flash Flood$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Torrential rains of 7 to 15 inches caused some flash flooding across Jo Davies County during the evening of July 27 and morning of July 28. Numerous streets were reported flooded in East Dubuque causing sink holes to form as well as buckling of the road rending them impassible. A 70 year old woman died in the flood waters after being thrown from a vehicle overcome by flood waters while traveling along Long Hollow Road near Elizabeth, IL. A 75 year old man died in his car which was swept away in flood waters near Galena, IL. A Galena, IL man died of electrocution going down into his flooded basement.

2. Jul 21, 2017Flash Flood$6.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flash flooding occurred throughout the county from 3 to over 9 inches of rain. Almost 1000 structures were flooded. Two water treatment sewage plants sustained damage with thousands of acres of crops lost. Preliminary damage estimates are between 7 and 8 million dollars.

3. Jul 23, 2010Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains of 3 to 9 inches fell across Jo Daviess County during the late evening of July 22 and through the morning of July 23 resulting in flash flooding of much of the county. At 315 am CDT, water was over Highway 20 near Galena and Highway 35 near East Dubuque. Apple River overflowed its banks due to the flash flooding. In Elizabeth, water was flowing out of manhole covers. In addition, Lone Street and Apple River Road were closed due to the flood waters. At 940 am CDT, water rescues were in progress in Elizabeth. Several roads were closed due to flooding.

4. May 20, 2003Flood, Jo Daviess$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A pattern change at the end of April brought a series of heavy rain producing systems to Eastern Iowa and Northern Illinois over the first 10 days of the month. Area rivers responded with the Iowa River going above flood stage starting on the 10th. The Cedar and Wapsipinicon Rivers followed by going above flood stage around the 15th. The Mississippi River also went above flood stage, beginning around the 20th. Most tributaries went below flood stage around the 20th, and most locations on the Mississippi that were above flood stage went below by the 28th.Most of the flooding was minor. One location-the Mississippi River at Gladstone Dam 18-experienced moderate flooding. Most…

5. Jul 24, 2010Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the late night of July 23 and early morning of July 24 resulted in flash flooding of much of Jo Daviess County during the morning of July 24. Major flooding was observed along the Apple River near Elizabeth, where the river level was just below the bridge deck of Highway 20. Water rescues of stranded motorists were performed near Galena, Stockton, and Scales Mound between 4 am CDT and 630 am CDT. A bridge was washed out near Little Rush Creek and Bethel Road about 3 miles east southeast of Elizabeth, IL. A grocery store in Stockton was flooded with 3 inches of water.||Galena closed their flood gates around 5 am CDT on Saturday the 24th, and the Galena River…

6. Apr 5, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   More than half the homes in Woodbine, IL suffered some degree of damage as severe storms moved through the area around 1125 pm April 5. Most of the damage was from downed trees and limbs. Two parked semi-tractor trailers were overturned. Some utility poles snapped near the ground. A garden shed was blown over and other outbuildings were damaged. Shingles, sheets of tin roofing, and tree debris littered the streets. Several homes north of Woodbine and near Apple Canyon Lake sustained damage from fallen trees. This report was from the Freeport Journal Standard.

7. Apr 5, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph ripped the roof off of Tri State Screen Printing and Embroidery located at 11530 Technical Drive about 3 miles west northwest of Galena, IL around 1110 pm April 5.

8. Apr 13, 2011Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water from snow-melt in the upper Midwest moved south through the Mississippi River basin causing major flooding along the Mississippi River.||The snowfall was well above normal for the 2010-11 winter in much of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Minneapolis, MN recorded 86.6 inches of snow, which is 30 inches above normal. Snowfall in eastern Iowa, northwest Illinois, and northeast Missouri totaled 35 to 65 inches, which was 10 to 20 inches above normal.||The snow-melt flood crest reached Dubuque on April 19 and was finally south of the Burlington area by April 25. The crest levels ranked 4th through 8th depending on the location, when compared to historical crests.||Dubuque lock and dam…

9. Jul 20, 2004Hail$240,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Also reported by law enforcement and the general public. Hail ranged in size from 1.50 inches to 2.50 inches.

10. Jul 22, 2017Flash Flood$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A trained spotter reported a brand new bridge was washed on the main road out of Stockton. The spotter reported it was the worst flooding he had ever seen in over 20 years.

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

101°F2 times, most recently Jul 25, 2012

All-time low

−31°FJan 31, 2019

Warmest night

77°F4 times, most recently Jun 30, 2026

Coldest day

−16°FJan 30, 2019

Wettest day

8.85 inSep 14, 1967

Snowiest day

15.0 inMar 5, 1959

Hottest year

2024mean 51.3°F

Coldest year

2014mean 43.9°F

Wettest year

196163.39 in

Driest year

198822.57 in

Snowiest season

79.7 in2007-08

Station Dubuque Regional Airport (USW00094908), 1,040 ft elevation, 20.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1951 to October 26, 2026; 99.9% 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 USW00094908.
• 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.