Knox County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Knox 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 4, 2008Flood$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding occurred along the Wabash River in Knox County, including near Vincennes, due to heavy rain and breaks in a levee. The Wabash River levee failed early on the 10th downstream of Vincennes.

2. Jun 5, 2008Flood$8.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding occurred along the White River in Knox County, including near the Petersburg, Hazleton, and Edwardsport areas, due to heavy rain and levee breaches. Levee unit 8 failed in the Smother's Creek area near Edwardsport. The levee breach failure caused the White River to crest at Edwardsport. More than 20,000 acres of Daviess County flooded as a result of the levee failure.

3. Jan 22, 1999Flood, Knox$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rapid snow melt and heavy rain on the 21st and 22nd from 2 to 5 inches caused widespread flooding all along the Wabash River from Lafayette to East Mount Carmel. Flooding was the highest since April 1994 as crests were generally around 10 feet above flood stage. As flooding was nearing an end, more rain on the 31st caused the flooding to continue into February. The following are crests for various locations along the Wabash: Lafayette - 21.83 feet (flood stage is 11 feet); Covington - 26.18 feet (flood stage is 16 feet); Montezuma - 26.30 feet (flood stage is 14 feet); Clinton - 25.75 feet (flood stage is 18 feet); Terre Haute - 22.42 feet (flood stage is 14 feet); Riverton -…

4. Jan 21, 1999Flood, Knox$1.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain of up to 5 inches on the 21st and 22nd combined with rapid snow melt upstream causing widespread flooding along the White River from Muncie to East Mount Carmel. Crests ranged from around a foot above flood stage along extreme eastern sections of the White to around 10 feet above flood stage across extreme western sections. Flooding along the river in Hamilton and northern Marion counties were the highest seen since December 1990 and January 1991. Many homes and streets were flooded, and a few rescues took place. The following are various crests along the river: Muncie - 9.62 feet (flood stage is 9 feet); Anderson - 12.8 feet (flood stage is 10 feet); Noblesville -…

5. Jan 5, 2005Flood, Knox$1.0 million
   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…

6. Jan 4, 2005Flood, Knox$1.0 million
   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. Sep 20, 2002Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado formed along a squall line in Pike county then moved across Knox and into Daviess counties. A few homes were destroyed in Knox county and several were damaged. A conservation officer in his vehicle was thrown an eighth of a mile by the tornado.

8. May 26, 2024Tornado$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado with peak winds of 112 mph began near Decker where tree damage was found near the starting point. At the start, funnel clouds were jumping as most|of the damage was confined to the trees while houses remained|undamaged. The tornado quickly strengthened in producing low end|EF2 damage about a half mile east of Decker where a pole barn was|destroyed with debris found over a mile east of the original|damage location. In that same lot, a school bus was picked up and|moved about 20 yards away.||A sporadic damage path continued for about 2.5 miles northeast of|Decker with EF1 damage to mainly trees and one other small barn.|The sporadic damage path persisted through rural…

9. Apr 8, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple reports of structural damage reported in Vincennes with significant tree damage due to thunderstorm wind gusts across town. Widespread power outages also reported.

10. Jul 13, 2003Flood, Knox$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous thunderstorm complexes marched across the northern half of the Indianapolis CWA starting on the evening of July 4th. The storms gradually started effecting southern areas of the CWA as well. The onlslaught of periodic heavy rain didn't end until the 11th. This caused major flooding major flooding all along the Wabash River. For the month of July, this type of flooding was likely unprecedented from Lafayette to Vincennes. For a more devasting flood later in the agricultural season, one must go back to August 1875.Location: FS in feet: Crest in feet: Date:Lafayette 11.0 25.05 7/10Covington 16.0 28.92 7/11Montezuma 14.0 30.35 7/12Clinton 18.0 29.50 7/13Terre Haute 14.0 25.09…

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

107°FJun 29, 2012

All-time low

−26°FJan 19, 1994

Warmest night

80°FJun 14, 2022

Coldest day

−9°FJan 19, 1994

Wettest day

6.54 inJul 25, 2022

Snowiest day

12.5 inJan 25, 2026

Hottest year

2012mean 58.2°F

Coldest year

1993mean 51.8°F

Wettest year

201162.42 in

Driest year

201235.35 in

Snowiest season

22.5 in2013-14

Station Vincennes 5 Ne (USC00129113), 452 ft elevation, 3.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1982 to October 26, 2026; 98.9% 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 USC00129113.
• 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.