Martin County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Martin County: 1.
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 10, 2008Flood$8.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding occurred along the East Fork White River in Martin County, including near Shoals, due to heavy rain.

2. Jan 27, 1999Flood, Martin$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).

3. Jun 25, 2023Tornado$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm spawned this fourth and final tornado of the day, which tracked in an overall east-southeastern direction across primarily far southern Martin County, before entering northeastern Dubois County for its final 1 mile. The tornado's intensity varied from EF0/EF1 damage along its first 3 miles, to EF1/EF2 impacts amid its middle 3.5 miles, with a slight weakening to EF1 damage seen after leaving Martin County. The tornado also turned to a more southeasterly track for a 2 mile segment within its most intense portion.||The tornado touched down on elevated ground about 250 feet west of Haw Creek Road (just northeast of straight line wind damage that occurred…

4. Nov 15, 2005Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F3 tornado touched down near Washington, Indiana on the afternoon of 15 November 2005, and proceeded northeast for 12 miles, lifting at Crane Naval Base in Martin County. The tornado was up to 1/4 mile wide at times. The worst damage occurred 4 miles northeast of Montgomery. K&K Industries sits at that site. Abe Knepp, the owner, is also a chaplain for Daviess County Emergency Management, and was monitoring law enforcement radio traffic while at work. His decision to send his 120 employees home early likely saved several lives, as the plant was destroyed by the tornado. 123 homes and 20 businesses sustained damage in Daviess County. Despite the amount of damage, only one of the…

5. Jan 5, 2005Flood, Martin$250,000
   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…

6. Jun 25, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm straight line winds followed approximately 800 to 1700 feet southwest of the center line track of the corresponding EF2 tornado from its start location (where estimated 77 mph winds collapsed a farm outbuilding on Haw Creek Road) to at least as far as the Shoals 8 S COOP station (where 3 trees were downed around the house with several more downed to the east of Windom Road). Fifteen power poles were reported broken from the storm's winds along Windom Road with lines on the ground.

7. Mar 12, 2006Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several bouts of heavy precipitation brought significant flooding to the East Fork White River in south central Indiana. One man was killed when he drove into a flooded road in Jackson County, while another was killed when he fell from a boat on a swollen tributary of the East Fork. Crests along the East Fork White were as high as 14 feet above flood stage. Damage amounts are estimated.

8. May 26, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread tree damage from thunderstorm wind gusts occurred around West|Boggs Lake north of Loogootee where hundreds of trees were downed.

9. Jun 25, 2023Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Continuation of EF1 supercell tornado from northeastern Daviess County. The tornado continued onto far northwestern portions of Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center's grounds, snapping hardwood trees in a non-continuous path, before lifting about a mile west of Lake Greenwood's southwest corner.

10. Jul 7, 1996Lightning$70,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Lightning strike caused extensive damage to a home near Loogootee.

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

114°FJul 14, 1936

All-time low

−23°F3 times, most recently Jan 20, 1994

Warmest night

80°FJun 14, 2022

Coldest day

−5°FJan 19, 1994

Wettest day

6.66 inMar 24, 1913

Snowiest day

12.0 inMar 20, 1996

Hottest year

1938mean 60.5°F

Coldest year

1995mean 51.0°F

Wettest year

197968.04 in

Driest year

191425.61 in

Snowiest season

41.7 in1969-70

Station Shoals 8 S (USC00128036), 477 ft elevation, 9.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1912 to October 21, 2026; 96.8% 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 USC00128036.
• 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.