Howard County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Howard County: 18.
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. Jul 5, 2003Flash Flood$18.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy thunderstorms trained across the northern third of the Indianapolis forecast area with parts of Carroll and Howard counties getting as much as 8 to 10 inches of rain in less than 12 hours. One 36 year old female was killed in Burlington as she attempted to clean out a storm drain and was sucked down. Also, a 62 year old female was killed when she attempted to move her vehicle across a flooded roadway road at State Road 218 and County Road 525 West. She was subsequently swept into a ditch with 9 to 10 feet of water. 25 homes were filled with several feet of water in Delphi adjacent to Deer Creek as a levy broke there. Deer Creek reached a record water level. Flash flooding…

2. Jul 5, 2003Flood, Howard$18.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   From from the evening of July 4th and overnight July 5th, 8 to 13 inches of rain fell across parts of Howard, and Carroll counties as storms trained across that area. Numerous storms moved across this area as well through July 11th. This caused record floods along Wildcat Creek from Kokomo to Lafayette. A hospital in Kokomo alone had 5 million dollars worth of damage. 823 homes in Howard County received damage with major damage to 232. Carroll county had damage to 197 homes and Tippecanoe around 300. Kokomo crested at 17.78 feet (FS - 10 feet) on the 5th, and Lafayette crested at 23.64 feet (FS - 10 feet)on the 7th.

3. Jan 22, 1999Flood, Howard$14.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rapid snowmelt and heavy rain on the 21st and 22nd caused widespread flooding along Wildcat Creek. 120 homes were evacuated on Kokomo's east side.

4. Aug 24, 2016Tornado$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This EF-3 tornado, with maximum wind speeds of 152 mph, caused significant structural damage to homes and businesses across the south side of Kokomo. A Starbucks building was destroyed near Markland Mall. According to WTHR13, at least 80 homes were destroyed. Out of the 1,000 total homes damaged, about 170 of them sustained major damage. Much of the Park Place Apartments were damaged or destroyed. Numerous trees were downed as well.

5. Jun 11, 1998Tornado$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This strong tornado originated from a supercell which initially produced several funnel clouds beginning northeast of Crawfordsville, passing over Frankfort to Kokomo's south side. This supercell finally produced its tornado just south of Kokomo near Oakford and Center. The tornado damaged a school near Center and caused its most extensive damage in Greentown where over two dozen buildings were destroyed and nearly 200 buildings were damaged. The tornado continued tracking ENE along the N & W train tracks and into WC Grant County west of Swayzee.

6. Apr 20, 2004Tornado$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A third in a string of tornadoes associated with an isolated low-topped supercell touched down in Kokomo. The tornado was rated an F1 and severely damaged a skating rink and trucking company. There was also damage to 3 other homes and 1 minor injury reported.

7. Jun 24, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Separate supercells produced isolated wind damage across parts of central Indiana during the afternoon and evening. Most of the damage were trees down, however numerous funnel clouds were observed and a Chrysler plant in Kokomo received major damage. A rubberized fabric roof was peeled back on the plant and aluminum siding was blown off. Also, some debris from the plant was found 3 miles away. Trees in the area were snapped and all in the same direction and several semi trailers were tipped on their side.

8. Mar 31, 2023Tornado$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This was the third tornado (and only EF1) to impact Howard County. The tornado began in a rural field south of a homestead with two barns, home, and mobile home. One small barn was completely destroyed along with the mobile home which caused a serious injury. The home and larger barn had lesser damage. This tornado continued to the northeast, damaging the trees, homes and barns of several homesteads, with maximum winds of 110 mph. The tornado continued into a larger neighborhood near US Highway 35 where it caused mainly roof and tree damage to tree rows.

9. Apr 20, 2004Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The second in a series of tornadoes associated with an isolated low-topped supercell touched down in rural Howard county 8 miles southwest of Kokomo. The tornado was rated an F0 and destroyed a barn and overturned a grain bin in its brief lifetime.

10. Jun 11, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$400,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An area of mainly sporadic tree damage was|found across Kokomo from near Berkley Road, along and near west|Sycamore street, to Crown Point Cemetery. Additional Tree damage|was found along east Sycamore street, near Wildcat Creek.||All of this damage was found to be due to straight line winds, as|all damage was blown down in a east to east-northeast direction.|Wind gust that caused the damage are estimated to be in the 80-90|MPH range with a peak gust of 95 MPH possible.

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

110°FJul 14, 1936

All-time low

−26°F2 times, most recently Jan 21, 1985

Warmest night

84°FAug 22, 1936

Coldest day

−14°FDec 25, 1983

Wettest day

8.82 inJul 5, 2003

Snowiest day

16.4 inFeb 14, 2007

Hottest year

1921mean 57.3°F

Coldest year

1978mean 46.7°F

Wettest year

201159.15 in

Driest year

190826.17 in

Snowiest season

106.3 in1981-82

Station Kokomo 3 Wsw (USC00124662), 822 ft elevation, 2.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1901 to October 26, 2026; 98.2% 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 USC00124662.
• 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.