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.

Every storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 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. Jun 7, 2008Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several evacuations occurred due to heavy rain that triggered flash flooding. Homes were flooded near Lake Lemon and multiple residents needed rescued. Sate Road 135 was closed.

2. Apr 2, 2025Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   One road was washed out with numerous other road closures. Roads remained closed for several days but the flash flooding threat only lasted a few hours.

3. Jun 3, 2008Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   In Brown County near Peoga damaged occurred to twenty to thirty homes, a barn, powerlines, trees, and a carport due to a tornado. One indirect injury occurred when I firefighter suffered heat stroke. In Johnson County at Camp Atterbury forty buildings were damaged, dozens of vehicles including a 6,000 pound Humvee and a bus were tossed and crushed, the chapel was damaged, and a trailer was tossed on top of a building. Also in Johnson County in Edinburgh 59 buildings were damaged or destroyed. One woman suffered an ankle injury during the tornado. Damaged occurred in Shelby County to a gas station. One woman at the gas station sustained minor injuries when her car windows were…

4. Jun 17, 2026Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-1 tornado with path length 1.37 miles and maximum width 100 yards moved through mostly rural areas of Brown county. The peak winds were 100 mph with the tornado causing extensive tree damage and mainly roof damage to a couple buildings.

5. Jun 19, 2021Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A house along State Road 135 South had rapidly rising flood waters enter the building. Damage was noted to several bridges across the rural portions of the county.

6. Apr 5, 2025Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water flowing over a bridge on State Road 135. Several water rescues completed. Total rainfall ranged from 2.6 to 3.4 inches.

7. May 12, 2002Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms moved across all of central Indiana during the day of May 12 and continuing into the evening. These thunderstorms produced very heavy rain, with many areas seeing more than one round of thunderstorms. The result was extensive flash flooding. Numerous roads were closed, including state roads and U.S. highways. A couple of bridges were washed out, and some culverts were destroyed. At Ball State University in Delaware county, residence halls experienced flooding. Elsewhere in Delaware county water was up to 6 feet deep at underpasses. At Vincennes in Knox county, a trailer park was evacuated resulting in 80 families being moved to a shelter. Other smaller evacuations…

8. Jun 16, 2019Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dispatch reports a crew headed to rescue residents that were possibly trapped after a small dam failure due to thunderstorm heavy rainfall.

9. May 21, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread thunderstorm straight-line winds of 80 to 90 mph created significant uprooted and broken trees within a wide area as well along the damage path of a nearby brief, EF0 tornado.

10. May 8, 1996Tornado$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A weak tornado touched down in extreme southeast Brown County near Spurgeon's Corner and SR 135. The tornado caused major damage to three buildings and minor damage to several others.

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 24, 1934

All-time low

−27°F2 times, most recently Jan 13, 1912

Warmest night

85°FJun 28, 1894

Coldest day

−6°F2 times, most recently Jan 19, 1994

Wettest day

7.00 inMar 25, 1913

Snowiest day

16.0 inDec 23, 2004

Hottest year

1921mean 58.1°F

Coldest year

1917mean 50.1°F

Wettest year

201959.98 in

Driest year

193426.88 in

Snowiest season

43.0 in1995-96

Station Columbus (USC00121747), 609 ft elevation, 16.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 95.7% 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 USC00121747.
• 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.