Monroe County

Every recorded tornado

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

Mapped landslides

Mapped by MO DNR (14).

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Oct 2, 2007Tornado$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado first touched down briefly about a mile north northeast of Woodlawn on CR 1109 knocking down a few trees. It lifted and continued to move to the northeast, touching down again on Highway A, just south of the intersection of CR 182 and CR 284. It damaged more trees as it travelled to the northeast. It then struck a residence just northwest of the intersection of Highway 15 and Highway CC. The house had half of its roof removed with debris and insulation blown 100 yards northeast, into a grove of trees. Numerous trees were damaged at this location, including a 5 foot diameter tree that was twisted and snapped off five feet above the ground. The tornado briefly lifted…

2. Oct 2, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Straight line winds knocked over a chimney on a home, broke some of the windows on the home, tipped over a camping trailer and pushed it about a foot, and a small outbuilding was moved about a foot off its foundation. Also, several very large cedar trees suffered extensive damage and a barn was completely destroyed. An outbuilding had the west facing roof peeled off.

3. Oct 17, 2007Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado touched down and destroyed a mobile home just south of Highway F, about a third of a mile east of CR 419. The entire base frame of the mobile home was tossed a third of a mile to the north from it original location into a soybean field. Two occupants of the mobile home were thrown several hundred feet to the north and killed by the tornado. Approximately 100 yards to the north northeast of the mobile home, a large barn and machine shed were destroyed. Debris from the barn, machine shed and mobile home could be found along a path that stretched up to 4 miles from the intial touchdown point of the tornado. Residences within the 4 mile corridor identified clothing,…

4. Jul 9, 2021Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous trees, tree limbs and power lines around the county, especially between Monroe City and Paris. Also, several power poles were blown down along Highway W.

5. May 7, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous tree limbs were reported to be down across town in Madison. A power pole was also snapped here. A carport was blown out along Route A, but the exact location was unknown. Locations within the path of this storm include Madison and Holliday.

6. Oct 30, 2024Tornado$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-0 tornado formed shortly before 11pm CDT off of County Rd 274, initially producing minor tree damage. The tornado moved quickly northeastward and peaked in intensity, impacting a farm off of Highway MM, destroying an outbuilding. From there, the tornado continued east-northeast, producing sporadic tree damage before dissipating just east of Monroe Rd 311. The tornado had a path length of 6.02 miles and a max path width of 150 yards. No deaths or injuries were reported.

7. May 27, 2004Hail$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Amateur radio storm spotters reported hail up to golfball size in Paris. Strong wind gusts also downed some trees and power lines and damaged the roof of a gas station.

8. Mar 31, 2023Hail$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The golf ball sized hail resulted in several broken windows on a house.

9. Oct 31, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds blew shingles off of a house, knocked large tree limbs down, and damaged a new machine shed. The observed thunderstorm wind gust was measured with a Davis weather station.

10. Apr 18, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Shingles were blown off at least one house and 1 inch diameter tree limbs were broken.

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

112°FJul 14, 1954

All-time low

−30°F2 times, most recently Jan 15, 1979

Warmest night

80°F5 times, most recently Jul 19, 1996

Coldest day

−10°FFeb 8, 1933

Wettest day

8.00 inJul 19, 1896

Snowiest day

15.0 inFeb 2, 2011

Hottest year

1990mean 56.4°F

Coldest year

2014mean 48.9°F

Wettest year

200861.14 in

Driest year

198818.95 in

Snowiest season

53.1 in1925-26

Station Shelbina (USC00237720), 747 ft elevation, 11.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1928 to October 27, 2026; 90.0% 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 USC00237720.
• 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.