Jackson County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Jackson County: 2.
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 5, 2008Flood$30.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flood occurred along the East Fork White River in Jackson County, including in the cities of Seymour and Rockford, due to heavy rain. Water was over roads and houses were flooded in Medora. Water also affected several homes on the east side of Cortland and trapped some residents. In Seymour and Rockford multiple homes were affected by flood waters. many low spots around the county were flooded. Water rescues were made and a railroad bridge was washed out.

2. Jun 5, 2008Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding occurred along the Muscatatuck River in Jackson County due to heavy rainfall.

3. May 8, 1996Tornado$1.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong tornado developed just west of Seymour and moved across the downtown area causing major damage before lifting. In all, nine businesses sustained major damage, eighty-eight homes were damaged and seven homes were destroyed. Three mobile homes were also destroyed. The Seymour highschool also received damage.

4. Jan 22, 1999Flood, Jackson$1.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A combination of snowmelt and a heavy rain storm late on the 21st and 22nd caused widespread flood along the East Fork of the White River. Travel was very difficult in Jackson county as bridge construction had closed U.S. Hiughway 50, the only east-west road in the county that the East Fork does not flood. The East Fork flooded all local roads used as a detour for Highway 50. Columbus crested at 12.64 feet (flood stage is 9 feet), Seymour at 17.47 feet (flood stage is 12 feet), Bedford at 28.15 feet (flood stage is 20 feet), Williams at 10.9 feet (flood stage is 8 feet) and Shoals at 21.16 feet (flood stage is 20 feet).

5. Apr 27, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm wind gusts downed 30 power poles and damaged house roofs.

6. Jan 3, 2005Flood, Jackson$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   All of the snow cover from the historic pre-Christmas 2004 snow storm melted by New Year's Day 2005 as the dew point temperatures rose into the 50s. Lowland flooding occurred along the East Fork White River in Jackson County. The White River in southern Indiana rose to bankfull levels. This was the result of the melting snow cover.With warm air over Indiana, a storm system brought 2 to 4 inches of rain to much of central and southern Indiana from the 1st through the 3rd. Because of the saturated soil conditions, widespread local flooding occurred in central and southern Indiana. The major rivers in the state were flooding by the 4th. Another storm system quickly followed from the…

7. Jun 17, 2026Tornado$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-1 tornado with path length of 6.35 miles and a maximum width of 325 yards moved through portions of Jackson county. The peak winds were 110 mph with the tornado impacting mostly heavily wooded areas and a few residences.

8. Jun 7, 2006Tornado$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F1 tornado touched down in eastern Jackson County on the evening of 7 June 2006, damaging or destroying a double wide trailer, a restaurant, four other homes, and numerous large trees.

9. Apr 27, 2026Tornado$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-1 Tornado with a path length of 3.71 miles and path width of 100 yards moved through this area. The estimated peak winds were 105 mph with damage including snapped trees and two barns destroyed. The tornado touched down just east of Co Road 300E where multiple trees were snapped about 15 to 20 ft above ground. The tornado then moved northeast and caused substantial damage to barns and to at least one home across a three to four mile path before lifting near Co Road 600E to the north of County Road 1000N. The tornado may not have been on the ground continuously for the whole track.

10. May 30, 2004Tornado$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An F0 tornado blew done numerous trees and a HAM radio antenna and did damage to the roof of a business.

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, 16.4 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.