Boone County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Boone County: 4.
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. Dec 30, 2006Winter Storm, Boone$8.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Freezing rain accumulated over 1 inch over most of Boone county on|trees, power lines, vehicles and other untreated objects. The weight of the ice, and a mix of light sleet and snow that fell briefly late Saturday night, caused widespread tree damage and also felled numerous power lines and power poles. Fallen trees also caused damage to cars and houses. Many towns in Boone county lost power, some for days. The storm caused an estimated 8 million dollars worth of damage to Utility companies.

2. Jun 17, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds lifted a barn up and tossed it into a house.

3. May 22, 2004Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A swath of 2 to 4 inches of rain fell across Boone county from the evening of the 21st into the early morning hours on the 22nd. This produced flash flooding across several county roads, and washed sections out of a few. Six to 8 inches of flood waters also crossed Highway 14 in Albion. The damage to county roads alone was estimated at around 100 thousand dollars.

4. Jun 12, 2010Flood$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Although three day rain totals in the area through 7am June 12th were in the 3 to 4 inch range, the rain fell on saturated soil due to rains earlier in the month plus heavier rain fell upstream of Boone county. The heavier rain upstream of Boone county caused flooding along the Cedar River which was aggravated by the failure of a dam on the river near Ericson which sent flood waters to another dam near Spalding which was then over-topped. The flooding in Boone county washed away 2 sections of a wooden bridge southwest of Primrose and also flooded farmland and a few county roads in the area.

5. Jun 17, 1998Lightning$70,000
6. Jun 12, 2010Flood$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Another 1 to 1.5 inches of rain fell across Boone county ending 7am June 12th, bringing three day totals into the 3 to 4 inch range. This was on top of several inches that fell prior to June 10th. This additional rain brought more flooding to the county, especially along Beaver Creek and its tributaries from around Petersburg to Boone to near St. Edward. Highway 39 just west of St. Edward was either briefly closed or down to one lane due to flood waters much of the 12th into the 13th. Highways 14 and 32 were closed around the Petersburg area for a while and many county roads from Petersburg to Boone were closed because of flood waters. Several homes and businesses in the St.…

7. Mar 13, 2019Flash Flood$52,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Beaver Creek flooded due to heavy rain and snow melt. By 130 PM CST water was crossing over the intersection of Highways 39 and 56 west of St. Edward. The resulting snow melt and heavy rain caused the waters from Beaver Creek to flood downtown St. Edward and eastern sections of Albion.

8. Jul 18, 2018Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Semi tractor trailer overturned. Large 12 inch diameter tree branches were also blown down.

9. Mar 13, 2019Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain and rapid snow melt created ice jams along Cedar Creek and flooded Highway 52 and Highway 56. The town of Cedar Rapids was evacuated due to the impending flood waters.

10. May 29, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorm winds estimated at between 60 and 80 mph broke off many tree branches and uprooted trees. Local power companies were out much of the night repairing downed power lines in Albion.

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

116°FJul 24, 1936

All-time low

−34°F2 times, most recently Feb 16, 2021

Warmest night

86°FSep 7, 1964

Coldest day

−13°FFeb 8, 1899

Wettest day

6.00 inSep 11, 1900

Snowiest day

19.0 inFeb 18, 1984

Hottest year

1939mean 54.6°F

Coldest year

1996mean 47.2°F

Wettest year

198241.01 in

Driest year

193611.44 in

Snowiest season

77.3 in1983-84

Station Genoa 2 W (USC00253185), 1,590 ft elevation, 20.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to September 30, 2026; 99.6% 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 USC00253185.
• 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.