LaGrange County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within LaGrange County: 10.
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.

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. May 18, 1997Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Highway 9 near county road 200N near Lagrange, tornado picked upsheriffs car and spun it around, minor injury to deputy fromflying glass. Several trailers and cars in vicinity damaged.

2. May 18, 1997Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado at Stone Lake at 930 pm est threw boat from lake intoliving room, house collapsed. Eight homes damaged.

3. May 18, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds destroyed several business and other buildings in town and just east of town. Large trees and power lines down.

4. Jul 12, 2006Flash Flood$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The same storms that affected southern Elkhart county moved across parts of southern Lagrange county, from Topeka to Oliver Lake. Topaka was the hardest hit area with at least 22 homes reporting some sort of damage from the flash flood. Numerous roads were flooded and closed in and around Topeka. 9 inches of rain was recorded in the Oliver Lake area before tapering off after 3 am EDT. Numerous streams that feed into the lake and rainfall over the lake itself resulted in the lake level rising 0.70 inches over the normal stage at the DNR dam. Water covered many of the piers with some boats floating on shore or into other craft. Also several roads around the lake had water flowing…

5. Sep 24, 2024Tornado$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The same storm that produced the EF1 tornado in Noble county, intensified once again, producing yet another tornado near the intersection of County Roads 300 S and 300 E. It continued northeast damaging barns and knocking down trees. It completely destroyed an outbuilding and ripped the roof off and knocked the walls down of a chicken housing structure. The tornado dissipated shortly thereafter in a field. A horse and buggy was blown over in the 2900 block of County Road E 300 S, with 2 occupants suffering minor injuries. Maximum sustained winds of 95 mph were estimated.

6. Jan 12, 2005Dense Fog, Lagrange$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread dense fog developed across much of Northern Indiana during the morning hours. Visibility was reported to be at or near zero in many locations. Numerous accidents were reported as a result of the fog. The fog was indirectly responsible for a total of 2 deaths and at least 11 injuries. A 32 vehicle pile-up occurred on the Indiana Toll Road, 4 miles east of State Route 9 near the Indiana/Michigan state line at approximately 11 am EST. A 27 year old male was killed when the car he was traveling in as a passenger was crushed between 2 semi's involved in the pile up. 8 other injuries were reported in this pile up. 2 ambulances were also involved in the pile up when they were…

7. Feb 6, 2008Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several secondary roads had water on them, with some spots haveing washouts in poor drainage area.

8. Jun 23, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees downed with some on cars. Power lines down across town and a barn was destroyed.

9. Feb 20, 2018Flood$54,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damage occurred to several roads in the county due to high water levels on rivers, creeks and streams. Road damage was reported in parts of the county. High water levels on Whitmer and Westler lakes, located near Wolcottville caused damage to several homes and a water treatment plant suffering damage. Estimates were over 54,000 dollars.

10. Mar 30, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Lost the roof on two barns and one outbuilding was destroyed. Fuel tanks were blown a long distance. Some telephone poles were snapped.

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

104°F2 times, most recently Jul 7, 2012

All-time low

−21°FJan 16, 2009

Warmest night

78°FJul 19, 2019

Coldest day

−5°FJan 30, 2019

Wettest day

5.84 inJul 8, 1951

Snowiest day

9.4 inApr 7, 1957

Hottest year

2012mean 53.4°F

Coldest year

1997mean 47.3°F

Wettest year

195450.94 in

Driest year

201024.16 in

Station Goshen Municipal Airport (USW00014829), 824 ft elevation, 18.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1953 to October 26, 2026; 98.3% 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 USW00014829.
• 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.