McDonough County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within McDonough 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. May 10, 2003Tornado$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado developed in Adams County (WFO LSX) and moved northeast through Hancock County and entered McDonough County at 1830 CST 3.9 miles southeast of Fountain Green. Tornado continued moving northeast passing 1.2 miles south of Sciota and 1.7 miles north of Good Hope. At 2.4 miles north of Good Hope, the tornado began a gradual turn to the left and exited McDonough County into Warren County 5.6 miles NNE of Good Hope at 1904 CST. Damage ranged from F0 to F1 and path length in McDonough County was 23.0 miles.

2. Jun 22, 2010Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the third week of June resulted in the La Moine River at Colmar going above the moderate flood stage level of 22 feet on June 22 around 12 pm. It crested around 22.8 feet around 7 am June 24. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 1 am June 26.

3. May 13, 2010Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the second week of May resulted in the La Moine River at Colmar going above the moderate flood stage level of 22 feet on May 13 around 10 pm. It crested around 23.4 feet around 1 am May 15. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 3 pm May 16.

4. Jun 14, 2010Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains during the second week of June resulted in the La Moine River at Colmar going above the moderate flood stage level of 22 feet on June 14 around 12 pm. It crested around 22.9 feet around 7 pm June 14. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 9 am June 17.

5. May 15, 2009Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains from May 13th to May 15th resulted in the La Moine River near Colmar going above the moderate flood stage level of 22 feet around 9 pm on May 15 and the major flood stage level of 24 feet around 1:30 am on May 17. It crested around 24.84 feet around 6 pm on May 17. It fell back below the major flood stage level around 10:30 am on May 18 and the moderate flood stage level around 6 am on May 19. The East Fork of the La Moine River also flooded, resulting in several road closures due to the river flowing over roadways.

6. Apr 17, 2013Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several rounds of heavy rain-producing showers and thunderstorms resulted in flash flooding across much of Mc Donough County from mid afternoon on April 17 through the morning of April 18.

7. Mar 15, 2016Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-2 tornado with winds estimated at 115 mph touched down north of Good Hope Illinois in McDonough County. It traveled northeast, crossing into Warren County west of Prairie City and eventually into Fulton County. Several homes were severely damaged with most of the damage occurring to farm outbuildings and trees.

8. Apr 2, 2006Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell produced a long track tornado across northern McDonough county. The tornado first touched down 3 miles south of Blandinsville and moved east-northeast. The tornado moved through the town of Sciota in the 1629-1630 CST time period and dissipated shortly after crossing U.S. 67 2.5 miles north of Good Hope. Considerable damage occurred to trees and buildings along its path.The Hire Township maintenance garage was destroyed. A metal pole barn was destroyed and another heavily damaged. Two wood barns and 7 grain bins were destroyed along the path with 4 grain bins heavily damaged. Most of the damage occurred roughly 3 miles south of Blandinsville.

9. Jun 15, 2011Flood$125,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains from June 13th to June 15th resulted in the La Moine River at Colmar going above the major flood stage level of 24 feet on June 16 around 1246 am CDT. It crested around 24.3 feet around 7 am CDT June 16. It fell below the major flood stage level around 826 pm CDT June 16.

10. May 10, 2003Heavy Rain$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A strong spring storm system moved through the Mississippi valley during the late afternoon and evening hours producing widespread severe weather. In an unprecedented move, WFO Quad Cities held a press conference the day before to warn of a high probability of significant tornadoes in the afternoon and evening hours of Saturday May 10th, with the area most at risk south of a Keosauqua, Iowa to Princeton, Illinois line. Supercell thunderstorms developed and continued into the evening hours spawning several long track tornadoes and produced copious amounts of large hail. Luckily, most of the tornado tracks were in open country and therefore damage was minimized. After dark, a severe…

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°FAug 9, 1934

All-time low

−30°FFeb 13, 1905

Warmest night

84°FJul 27, 1930

Coldest day

−10°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

10.25 inJun 10, 1905

Snowiest day

16.0 inMar 23, 1897

Hottest year

1918mean 56.0°F

Coldest year

2014mean 48.2°F

Wettest year

200954.10 in

Driest year

198820.80 in

Snowiest season

51.5 in1978-79

Station La Harpe (USC00114823), 678 ft elevation, 18.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1895 to October 27, 2026; 97.3% 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 USC00114823.
• 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.