Putnam County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 30, 2008Tornado$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado formed near Road 13I just south of Township Highway I and dissipated near the Firefox Lake Private Subdivision. As the tornado moved toward the Blanchard River it quickly widened to a peak width of 464 yards or just a little over a quarter of a mile. The tornado continued east before crossing the river again and quickly weakening. The most significant damage occurred along Township Highway I between Roads 13 and 13I. The tornado destroyed six outbuildings including pole barns and well built buildings constructed on a foundation. Over a half dozen homes were damaged with several sustaining major damage including the complete removal of roofs. A large amount of…

2. Oct 24, 2001Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado touched down in extreme southeast Van Wert county northwest of Delphos as an F0 and movednortheast into Putnam county southwest of Fort Jennings. F3 damage occurred 2 miles southwest of Ottawa in Putnam county with significant damage to well built homes and structures. The tornado was skipping across northeast Putnam county with F1-F2 damage before lifting just south of the Henry county line east of Belmore.

3. Jul 29, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$580,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency management reported straight line winds destroyed 3 gym walls and portion of an elementary school wall under construction in Pandora. Walls were cinder block.

4. Aug 22, 2007Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Law enforcement reported that numerous roads were closed due to flowing water from the heavy rains. In addition, the Blanchard River was rapidly rising and beginning to close off roads around the river. Damage estimates are for the flash flooding only and do not account for river flooding.

5. Apr 2, 2025Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A second tornado spun up north of the decaying Van Wert tornado, touching down in far southeast Paulding County. The tornado severely damaged a pole barn as it moved into Putnam county. The tornado rapidly moved northeast, hitting a well anchored mobile homed and flipping it 60 feet away. Three occupants were in the mobile home and two of them sustained minor injuries. It is here that the tornado peaked at an EF-2 with an estimated wind speed of 120 mph. The tornado destroyed another well-anchored 60x120 ft pole barn, throwing its debris onto the bank of the Auglaize River. To the northeast, it directly hit the town of Dupont where it did widespread EF-0 to EF-1 damage throughout.…

6. Aug 5, 1998Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   EXTENSIVE FLOODING OCCURRED ACROSS THE COUNTY ESPECIALLY THE NORTHERN HALF. MANY COUNTY ROADS WERE WASHED OUT TO SOME DEGREE.

7. Jul 21, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   ONE MAN ENDED UP PARALYZED WHEN A LARGE TREE LIMB FELL ONTO HIS CAR. COUNTLESS LARGE TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ACROSS THE COUNTY. ONE HOUSE AND TWO BARNS WERE DESTROYED ON ROAD J-3 AND ROAD K. ANOTHER TWO STORY HOUSE COMPLETELY LOST ITS UPPER FLOOR. ANOTHER BARN ALONG ROAD 7-D AND X WAS FLATTENED WHILE THE LEPSIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUSTAINED EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO ITS ROOF AND WATER DAMAGE TO THE INTERIOR.

8. Jun 29, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A local newspaper showed pictures of a second story wall of the two story Christies on the Square, built in the 1800s, being blown out with debris falling onto the street below, destroying two parked cars.

9. Apr 28, 2011High Wind, Putnam$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency management officials reported 13 power poles downed and snapped along State Road 65, between Roads M and O, south of Ottawa. A semi truck was blown off near the area of the power poles being snapped.

10. Jun 12, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    60 MPH WIND GUSTS REPORTED ACROSS COUNTY. NUMEROUS LARGE TREES AND LIMBS WERE BLOWN DOWN WITH DAMAGE TO VEHICLES AND HOUSES.

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 25, 1988

All-time low

−23°FFeb 26, 1963

Warmest night

78°F3 times, most recently Jul 7, 2012

Coldest day

−12°FJan 20, 1985

Wettest day

6.19 inAug 21, 2007

Snowiest day

10.0 inFeb 13, 2007

Hottest year

2024mean 54.4°F

Coldest year

1963mean 47.9°F

Wettest year

201154.86 in

Driest year

196322.74 in

Snowiest season

71.6 in2013-14

Station Pandora (USC00336405), 770 ft elevation, 9.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1949 to October 24, 2026; 98.9% 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 USC00336405.
• 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.