Ottawa County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Ottawa County: 14.
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 31, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$34.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Michigan State Police EMD's Damage and Injury Assessment Report indicated $4,195,604 in public damage costs, 17 homes destroyed, 827 homes damaged, 8 businesses destroyed, and 129 businesses damaged. Total private damage costs were estimated at $25.0 Million in the city of Grand Haven and Grand Haven Township, $5.1 Million in the village of Spring Lake, $130,000 in Park Township, $182,900 in the city of Zeeland, and approximately $20,000 in Holland. Damage and losses were concentrated in the city of Grand Haven, the village of Spring Lake, and the townships of Grand Haven (northern portion), Spring Lake, Crockery, Polkton, Wright, Park, Holland Charter, Zeeland, and Jamestown.…

2. Jun 19, 2009Flash Flood$34.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous reports of damage to homes and streets across the warned area occurred. Over 2000 homes sustained some type of damage during the flooding. In terms of roads impacted by water, there were four road closures, twenty five road washouts and forty roads were covered by water.||A Local State of Emergency was declared.

3. Mar 8, 2017High Wind, Ottawa$15.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Peak wind gusts of up to 60 mph resulted in numerous downed trees and limbs and power lines and widespread power outages.

4. Apr 17, 2013Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant flooding occurred on rivers and streams across Ottawa county due to heavy rainfall from early to mid April.

5. May 18, 2020Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ottawa county emergency management reported that 372 homes were affected by flooding of the Grand River. Ten homes incurred major damage and 3 sustained minor damage. Several building complexes incurred significant flood damage, particularly in Grand Haven, Spring Lake and Ferrysburg. Several roads were also closed due to flooding.

6. Feb 24, 2019High Wind, Ottawa$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts up to around 60 mph downed tree limbs and power lines and resulted in widespread power outages.

7. Dec 27, 2008Flood$3.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding across portions of Ottawa county was a result of the combination of heavy rain and melting of a significant snowpack across the area. There were up to 80 road closures and significant flooding of numerous intersections. At one time a section of US-31 was closed. Water up to four feet deep across some roads floated several cars. ||The road shoulder and pavement was washed out on several roads in Jamestown, Hudsonville and Conklin. Roads in several subdivisions across Ottawa county were submerged under two to three feet of water and there were reports of first floors of some homes being flooded. ||Severe flooding also occurred in the village of Spring Lake, city of Grand…

8. Feb 5, 2019Ice Storm, Ottawa$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A half to three quarters of an inch of freezing rain resulted in numerous downed trees, limbs, power lines and widespread power outages.

9. Jul 11, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Radar data corroborated with ground truth reports indicates that a significant bow echo came onshore in Holland at 10:25 a.m. A storm chaser estimated that it produced wind gusts of up to 80 mph. Numerous reports of trees and power lines were received from in and near Holland and radar data indicates additional wind damage was likely east northeast to Zeeland and Jenison. The storm blew through Jenison at 10:45 a.m.

10. Jun 21, 2011Flash Flood$1.5 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Three to five inches fell in just one to three hours across portions of central and eastern Ottawa county. This caused extensive flooding of the Grand Valley State University Allendale campus, where over a million dollars worth of damage due to flooding was reported. A coop observer in Allendale measured 4.43 inches of rainfall with this event and a CoCoRaHs observer near Tallmadge measured 3.74 inches of rainfall.

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

99°F3 times, most recently Jul 6, 2012

All-time low

−30°FFeb 11, 1899

Warmest night

83°FJul 5, 1911

Coldest day

−5°FFeb 9, 1899

Wettest day

5.08 inJun 27, 1921

Snowiest day

22.0 inJan 10, 1982

Hottest year

2024mean 53.2°F

Coldest year

1917mean 43.1°F

Wettest year

201947.97 in

Driest year

193016.57 in

Snowiest season

173.9 in1981-82

Station Muskegon County Airport (USW00014840), 624 ft elevation, 21.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1896 to October 26, 2026; 99.9% 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 USW00014840.
• 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.