Houston County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by USGS MN (213), NASA (3).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Aug 18, 2007Flash Flood$27.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   At least 50 mudslides were reported across the county with four state highways and eight county roads closed. At one point 20 roads were closed across the county. Some homes collapsed or were carried away by mudslides. Numerous railroad tracks and bridges washed out. There were numerous reports of injuries. Hardest hit communities included Houston, Hokah, La Crescent and Brownsville. A 25 foot earthen dam near Hokah, which was built in 1921, collapsed. This caused significant damage to a portion of the town, including the main park and an automobile dealership. First calls of flooding began around 9:30 p.m. Saturday August 18 to dispatch center, with flooding problems becoming…

2. Jun 22, 2013Flash Flood$7.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Very heavy rain caused widespread flash flooding across a good portion of Houston County. Roads around the town of Houston became covered with water and impassable. Rapidly rising water along Riceford Creek caused a campground to be evacuated. A mudslide occurred just outside of Spring Grove. Numerous other roads around the county sustained damage, including County Highway 27 which had a complete section washed out. State Highway 16 east of Houston, State Highway 76 between Caledonia and Houston and County Highway 43 along with numerous other county roads were closed along with at least 20 township roads. In the western part of the county, one vehicle was swept off a road and the…

3. Jun 8, 2008Flood$6.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding forced the closure of virtually all roads across the county. Several civil emergency messages were sent by request of county officials for evacuations in mainly the southern half of the county. An estimated 9300 acres of corn and 5400 acres of beans were lost. There were massive mudslides in some parts of the county, just like in August 2007. Debris backup was common against area bridge supports.

4. Aug 18, 2007Flash Flood$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tremendous flash flooding and mudslides covered many highways in the area, including Highway 76 between Money Creek and Houston. Highway bridges were completely blown out and sections of roads were quickly eroded away. Other mudslides were reported on county highways 9, 13 and 26.

5. Aug 18, 2007Flash Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A man was killed when he attempted to cross flood waters with two others in his vehicle. The car was washed away on County Road 6 near Pine Creek. His two female companions were rescued but the victim's legs were pinned under a part of the car and rescue workers could not save him. Several rescue workers also became caught in flood waters which swamped at least two rescue boats. This all occurred during the early morning hours of Sunday, August 19th in darkness.||Highway 26 from La Crescent to the Iowa border, Highway 16 from La Crescent to Hokah, and Highway 61 north of La Crescent were all closed by flood waters and damage.

6. Jun 7, 2008Flash Flood$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Very heavy rain led to flash flooding through much of the county. A rainfall total of 7.18 inches was measured 3 miles southwest of Reno. The bridge over Clear Creek was reported damaged and unsafe for use. In addition, highway 26 was closed due to mudslides. County Highways 5, 23, 31 and 249 were closed due to high water and washouts.

7. Aug 4, 2014Lightning$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A lightning strike hit a transformer in La Crescent and the resulting damage also took out a nearby substation. Around 3,400 customers were without power until the next day.

8. May 1, 2001Flood, Houston$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Mississippi River crested in April 2001 at levels second only to the all-time flood of record, which occurred in April 1965. In spite of the river slowly receding, water levels remained above flood stage, resulting in continued flooding until the middle of May. Numerous homes and businesses were damaged due to the flood waters. This resulted in Wabasha, Winona and Houston County receiving federal disaster relief funds.

9. Jun 1, 2000Flash Flood$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   3 to 6 inches of rain fell during the night of May 31 into the morning hours of June 1, causing widespread flash flooding. Hardest hit was Spring Valley (Fillmore County), where residents of 25 homes had to be evacuated and people in 3 homes were rescued by boat. The flood was the worst in Spring Valley since 1942. Near Eitzen (Houston County), flood waters washed out a 20 foot wide, 15 foot deep section of county highway 27. Between Dexter and Austin (Mower County), Interstate 90 had to be temporarily closed due to 2 to 3 feet of water across the road. Total property damage was estimated at 4.3 million dollars, with an additional estimate of 1.2 million dollars in damage to…

10. May 18, 1996Hail$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Baseball size hail damaged crops and injured farmers in the area.

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

108°FJul 13, 1995

All-time low

−37°FJan 30, 1951

Warmest night

81°F3 times, most recently Jun 30, 2026

Coldest day

−18°FDec 23, 1983

Wettest day

5.59 inAug 7, 2021

Snowiest day

14.4 inDec 3, 1990

Hottest year

1998mean 51.9°F

Coldest year

1950mean 42.4°F

Wettest year

201644.76 in

Driest year

194816.74 in

Snowiest season

78.7 in1961-62

Station La Crosse Municipal Airport (USW00014920), 650 ft elevation, 14.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1938 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00014920.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.