Jennings County

Every recorded tornado

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

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

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. Dec 22, 2004Heavy Snow, Jennings$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several business roofs, barns, and a building housing the Rolling Hills Shrine Club collapsed under the weight of heavy snow.

2. Apr 9, 1999Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong F3 tornado moved across the extreme southeastern part of the county significantly damaging 2 homes and destroying 4 barns. 2 high tension power line towers were toppled as well. The tornado then moved northeast out of the Indianapolis CWA.

3. Jun 4, 2008Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

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

4. Mar 4, 2026Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains washed out a bridge on County Road 1100 North at Wolf Creek.

5. Sep 14, 2008High Wind, Jennings$115,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Electrical service was interrupted in most of Jennings County starting late in the morning and escalating throughout the afternoon hours. Duke Energy reported 6,759 customers without power. Jennings County Dispatch became inundated with calls for downed power lines and limbs in roadways. At least one road, Deer Creek Road, was closed because of the number of power lines down, according to dispatch. Several other county roads were closed due to downed trees and limbs. In North Vernon, a large Pin oak tree fell on a large Coachman camper, a huge Beech tree fell near Middle School Road, Bradford pear trees fell along the city park's walkway, and a large tree fell on electrical lines…

6. Jun 12, 2005Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The remnants of Tropical Storm Arlene spawned an F1 tornado southwest of Hayden, Indiana. The tornado touched down at County Roads 500 South and 750 West and lifted at County Road 900 West and US Highway 50. Several outbuildings were damaged, and several grain bins were overturned. Numerous trees were also downed by the tornado. The tornado was on the ground for 11 minutes, with a path length of 5.3 miles and a width of 75 yards. No one was injured by the tornado. Damage amounts are estimated.

7. May 15, 2007Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF0 tornado touched down near county roads 535 W and 300 S, seven miles to the southwest of North Vernon. At this location there was significant structural damage to a barn and a metal bridge over a creek thrown several hundred feet. A portion of a roof of a house was torn off, a number of outbuildings were damaged, and the end of a tool shed was damaged. In addition to this damage, trees also blew down during the storm.

8. Sep 25, 2011Tornado$65,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado began at approximately 12:33 AM EDT around 6 miles west of North Vernon along County Road 700 West between County Roads 150 North and 300 North. The tornado destroyed a pole barn, damaged 2 homes, overturned tractors, downed trees and telephone poles, and laid down a corn field before lifting around 12:34 AM EDT. One of the homes had its roof blown off. There were no injuries. The path was approximately a half mile long and 75 yards wide. Based on the damage, the tornado was rated an EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale with winds estimated near 100 mph.

9. Sep 21, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm downburst winds caused damage along Base Road from County Road 575 North to County Road 850 North, and to the northeast from that area. Several large trees were uprooted while winds downed power lines, broke off power poles, and bent flagpoles to the ground. Residences were impacted, as well as a plant farm where winds leveled a greenhouse and ripped plastic off of 2 others.

10. Mar 18, 2008Flood$60,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Flooding occurred across numerous locations in Jennings County due to heavy rain. Many county roads were closed due to high water. Late in the day on the 18th a woman whose car was submersed by Graham Creek east of Lovett was rescued from the flood waters. Water was also being pumped out of several homes in North Vernon.

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

105°F2 times, most recently Jun 28, 2012

All-time low

−24°FJan 17, 1977

Warmest night

84°FAug 13, 1947

Coldest day

0°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

6.50 inJun 23, 1960

Snowiest day

16.0 inFeb 25, 1961

Hottest year

1954mean 57.5°F

Coldest year

1958mean 52.3°F

Wettest year

194564.52 in

Driest year

198727.11 in

Snowiest season

47.5 in1950-51

Station N Vernon 2 Ese (USC00126435), 719 ft elevation, 2.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1938 to October 27, 2026; 92.9% 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 USC00126435.
• 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.