Marshall County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Marshall 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. Apr 17, 2013Flash Flood$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Torrential rainfall of 4.00 to 8.00 inches resulted in damage to about 2,000 houses and businesses in the county, including several in the cities of Henry and Lacon. Every creek and stream in the county was flooded. Every road in the county was impassable, and several water rescues were made. Numerous roads and culverts were damaged by the flash flooding.

2. Apr 18, 2013Flood$5.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   More than 30 homes and businesses along the Illinois River in Marshall County suffered damage due to record river levels. The river stage at Henry climbed to a record level of 32.87 feet on April 22nd at 16:00 local time, which was nearly 10 feet above flood stage. High impact flooding continued into the month of May 2013.

3. May 6, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong thunderstorm winds derailed approximately 30 train cars about 1.5 miles east of Toluca in Marshall County.

4. Feb 28, 2017Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado crossed from Woodford County into Marshall County at 5:31 PM CST. It tracked northeastward through southern Marshall County...destroying outbuildings and damaging house roofs and trees, as it widened to about 600 yards southwest of La Rose. The tornado weakened in southeast Marshall County as it crossed I-39 west of Rutland, then crossed into LaSalle County in the National Weather Service Chicago County Warning Area (CWA) at 5:49 PM CST.

5. May 25, 2011Lightning$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A thunderstorm shortly after daybreak created a lightning strike which started a house fire in rural western Marshall County. The house and its contents were a total loss. There were no injuries reported.

6. Jun 29, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large bow echo system developed over eastern Iowa and moved rapidly to the southeast into Illinois. It moved into Central Illinois's County Warning Area (CWA) around 4 pm in Knox County and exited the CWA (Lawrence County) around 830 pm. Damage was reported in all 35 counties with this system. The overall general area of wind damage was produced by the passage of the bow echo's "gust front" on the leading edge of the line of thunderstorms. Wind speeds were measured or estimated to be between 60 to 80 mph, blowing down or uprooting thousands of trees, tree limbs, power poles, and power lines. Hundreds of trees fell onto structures causing damage ranging from just torn guttering…

7. Apr 20, 2004Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado crossed from Stark County into Marshall County four tenths of a mile northwest of Camp Grove. It initially blew down numerous trees and power lines until it reached the intersection of 1300N and 250E where it destroyed a shed and a pole barn which had farm equipment in it. The farm equipment was damaged with damage estimated around $250,000. It then continued moving northeast blowing a grain bin into a field, blew down more trees and power lines then crossed into Bureau County (WFO DVN county warning area) west of Whitefield. No injuries were reported.

8. Dec 18, 2008Ice Storm, Marshall$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Weather observers across Marshall County reported between one half and three quarters of an inch of ice, including seven tenths of an inch in Henry.

9. Dec 28, 2015Ice Storm, Marshall$180,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Weather observers across Marshall County reported ice accumulations of around 0.25. This amount of ice combined with winds gusting as high as 40 to 50 mph caused extensive damage to trees, power poles, and power lines. Several homes were damaged by falling trees and tree branches. About 10,000 people lost power for up to 4 days after the storm.

10. Jun 10, 2015Flash Flood$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Rainfall rates of an inch per hour for nearly four hours produced 3.00 to 5.00 of rain in western and central Marshall County. Flash flooding resulted in the closure of Illinois State Highway 17 in much of the county. Part of Illinois State Highway 26 about 6 miles north of Lacon washed out. Rural roads were impassable from Camp Grove to Hopewell to Varna. Mud and debris from cornfields had to be plowed to reopen some of the rural roads.

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°F2 times, most recently Jul 15, 1936

All-time low

−28°FFeb 13, 1905

Warmest night

83°FAug 18, 1947

Coldest day

−11°F2 times, most recently Dec 22, 1989

Wettest day

9.09 inSep 28, 2019

Snowiest day

14.0 in2 times, most recently Feb 2, 2022

Hottest year

1921mean 54.8°F

Coldest year

1904mean 47.8°F

Wettest year

201957.22 in

Driest year

190120.39 in

Snowiest season

61.7 in1981-82

Station Minonk (USC00115712), 750 ft elevation, 17.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1896 to October 26, 2026; 98.3% 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 USC00115712.
• 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.