Piatt County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Oct 24, 2001Tornado$2.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An eyewitness reported that the tornado touched down on the southwest side of Monticello and traveled to the north northeast across town. It blew down numerous trees near the golf course then destroyed a storage building. In this area the tornado intensified to F2 Intensity (wind speeds of 120 to 130 mph) taking the roof of a church completely off and blew it into the roof of a nearby 2 story apartment building. The apartment building suffered severe damage and has been deemed uninhabitable. A farm implement building/business, which was close to 200 feet in length, had roughly three quarters of the building destroyed. Damage for this building was estimated at nearly $2 million, as…

2. Jul 12, 2014Flash Flood$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Periods of thunderstorms with heavy rainfall produced rain rates of 1 to 2.5 inches for at least two hours from 0630-0830 LST in northern Piatt County. The highest rain totals ranged between 5.00 to 7.00 inches along and north of U.S. Highway 150, including the city of Mansfield and the village of Blue Ridge. Nearly all rural roads in northern Piatt County were flooded with at least a foot of water. County Road 2 from Mansfield to Blue Ridge sustained damage from the flooding. A five mile stretch of U.S. Highway 150 through Mansfield was closed due to flooding. Parts of Interstate 74 from milepost 164 to 168 were impassable. Many homes in Mansfield also had significant basement flooding.

3. Apr 19, 1996Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down briefly 3 miles south of Monticello, in the Breezy Meadows subdivision where it destroyed 2 homes, seriously damaged a third, caused major damage to a church and a metal machine shed. The tornado then lifted and travelled to the northeast touching down 2 miles southeast of Monticello at the Monticello Airport. Again, the tornado was only on the ground briefly, destroying 3 single engine planes, 2 gliders, a hanger and caused major damage to another hanger before lifting and dissipating. Only one minor injury was reported and damage was estimated around $1 million.

4. Jul 13, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down. Several fallen trees landed on homes causing minor to moderate damage. A grain elevator sustained minor damage. Also, a semi was blown over on I-74 near Mansfield. The driver sustained minor injuries.

5. Apr 19, 1996Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado briefly touched down in Milmine completely destroying a new grain bin, throwing a grain auger across the railroad tracks, and caused minor damage to some homes in town, mainly some shingle and window damage. Also, several trees were blown down, windows on a number of cars were broken and several large trucks were overturned. No injuries were reported and damage was estimated around $500,000.

6. Dec 1, 2006Winter Storm, Piatt$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Declared state and federal disaster area. Snow accumulation around 2 inches fell on top of significant ice accumulation.

7. Jun 29, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   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…

8. May 15, 2009Hail$255,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail damaged siding, gutters, roofs, and windows to numerous homes in the Long Grove subdivision west of Monticello. Hail up to 2.75 inches in diameter was also reported on the east side of Monticello, where several cars were damaged.

9. Apr 8, 1999Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado formed and touched down destroying a double wide trailer 3 miles north of Cisco. Four people were initially injured, though one died the next day. A barn and two garages nearby were destroyed. Further to the northeast, the tornado destroyed a barn. Five miles north northeast of Cisco, the top story of a two story barn was removed. After this, the tornado lifted and dissipated. Damage to the mobile home was estimated around $150,000.

10. Apr 8, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous power poles were blown down along Route 105 between Bement and Monticello.

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

109°FJul 14, 1954

All-time low

−25°F3 times, most recently Jan 5, 1999

Warmest night

80°F2 times, most recently Aug 19, 1936

Coldest day

−12°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

5.32 inAug 12, 1993

Snowiest day

14.0 inMar 20, 1906

Hottest year

2012mean 55.6°F

Coldest year

1917mean 48.5°F

Wettest year

199358.54 in

Driest year

191423.82 in

Snowiest season

67.2 in1977-78

Station Champaign 3S (USC00118740), 722 ft elevation, 18.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1902 to October 27, 2026; 99.3% 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 USC00118740.
• 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.