Tipton County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Jul 5, 2003Flash Flood$5.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy thunderstorms trained across the northern third of the Indianapolis forecast area with parts of Carroll and Howard counties getting as much as 8 to 10 inches of rain in less than 12 hours. One 36 year old female was killed in Burlington as she attempted to clean out a storm drain and was sucked down. Also, a 62 year old female was killed when she attempted to move her vehicle across a flooded roadway road at State Road 218 and County Road 525 West. She was subsequently swept into a ditch with 9 to 10 feet of water. 25 homes were filled with several feet of water in Delphi adjacent to Deer Creek as a levy broke there. Deer Creek reached a record water level. Flash flooding…

2. Mar 26, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A pole barn and trees were damaged by thunderstorm wind gusts. Nearby a garage roof was blown off and a fence was blown down. Numerous pictures showed visibility greatly reduced by dust from the strong winds.

3. Jun 4, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A squall line moved across west central and central Indiana knocking down numerous trees. In addition, 2 semi's were overturned 8 miles north of Lafayette, 2 cars were overturned 4 miles northeast of Lafayette, a semi was overturned 5 miles west of Tipton, 2 barns were blown down at North Salem in Hendricks county and a 92 mph gust was measured 3 miles northeast of Pyrmont in southwest Carroll county.

4. Jun 6, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$85,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds collapsed a farm building, landing on farm equipment inside, near the intersection of Division and Meridian Roads. Nearby, a large evergreen tree and large shed were damaged. A large tree blew down onto a house on North West Street. A trailer at Country Living Trailer Park was heavily damaged by a large tree. The Tipton County Jail's radio tower folded over the top of the jail. SR 19 south of Tipton was closed due to downed utility lines. Billboards were damaged and shingles were blown off a storage unit in town. Large limbs, trees, sheds, barns, and other damages were found throughout the general area.

5. Jul 15, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds blew over a semi truck on US Highway 31, 3 miles southwest of Sharpsville, while a tree was downed onto a house in Tipton.

6. Mar 13, 2026High Wind, Tipton$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A non-thunderstorm wind gust, prior to 1309EST, blew over a semi truck and trailer on US Highway 31 near Indiana Route 28.

7. Jul 4, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A squall line moved southeast across central Indiana during the late afternoon and evening of July 4th. The line interacted with extreme instability with CAPES to 5000 j/kg to produce fairly widespread wind damage. There was also a weak F0 tornado that touched down briefly near Lebanon. The only damage was downed trees. The most significant damage was across Howard, Tipton and Madison counties. A silo was blown down across northern Howard county. Across Madison county just northeast of Elwood, a metal roof was peeled back. Finally, a roof was blown off a house, a few sheds were blown down and a silo was blown over across northern Tipton county. Otherwise, the other reports were…

8. Apr 11, 2007Tornado$32,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large barn and two outbuildings were damaged due to an EF1 tornado. This is a continuation of the Hamilton County EF2 tornado.

9. Jun 10, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ten power poles snapped due to thunderstorm wind gusts. A travel trailer was also overturned and slammed into the side of a house. Location is approximate.

10. Jun 22, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A barn wall was blown out with several trees snapped and down on the property due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.

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

103°FJun 29, 2012

All-time low

−25°F2 times, most recently Jan 20, 1994

Warmest night

77°F4 times, most recently Aug 25, 2023

Coldest day

−13°FJan 19, 1994

Wettest day

5.39 inJun 18, 1992

Snowiest day

12.5 inFeb 14, 2007

Hottest year

2024mean 54.6°F

Coldest year

1996mean 47.4°F

Wettest year

201154.61 in

Driest year

199529.10 in

Snowiest season

74.0 in2013-14

Station Tipton 5 Sw (USC00128784), 890 ft elevation, 6.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1971 to October 27, 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 USC00128784.
• 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.