Shelby County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Shelby County: 3.
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. Sep 14, 2008High Wind, Shelby$5.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds of 40 to 50 miles per hour were sustained for several hours. A gust to 73 mph was recorded in Anna. Widespread damage occurred across the region, from trees being blown down on powerlines, to significant crop losses and structural damage.

2. Jul 8, 2003Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   One hundred homes near Lake Loramie were flooded. Evacuations occurred near Fort Loramie, Jackson Center, and Port Jefferson. Numerous roads remained underwater across the northern half of the county.

3. Sep 26, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong microburst caused damage to homes across the eastern part of the county. One house was blown off of its foundation, and several others sustained major damage. Numerous trees were downed across the area. Maximum wind speeds were estimated between 100 and 120 mph.

4. Jul 8, 2003Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lake Loramie State Park was evacuated as the lake came out of its banks. Numerous roads were flooded across the northern half of the county. County Road 25A and nearby parkland were underwater in Sidney.

5. Jul 9, 2003Flood, Shelby$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms with heavy rain moved across portions of western Ohio during the early morning. Another two to three inches fell on many areas that had seen six to twelve inches over the last week. This caused many road closures due to high water, and small streams to rise out of their banks again. The most serious flooding occurred from northern Darke county through Shelby and Logan counties. Communities along the swollen Great Miami River from Indian Lake downstream through Lakeview, DeGraff, Port Jefferson and Sidney dealt with flooded homes and businesses. A mobile home park near Russells Point was flooded and evacuated. Sandbagging occurred in Port Jefferson in an effort to…

6. Mar 6, 2022Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Although there were some very minor signs of damage on Studer Road, the first notable damage associated with this tornado occurred at a property on the east side of Marshall Road, where one tree was damaged and part of a barn roof was removed. On the west side of Darke Shelby Road, a house had a loss of some shingles and gutters, with at least a dozen trees damaged or uprooted. On the east side of this road, another home had some minor roof damage and a few trees were downed. A barn just north of this home was leveled, with sheet metal from the barn thrown downstream over a tenth of a mile.||At a property on the west side of Simon Road, several structures were damaged and parts of…

7. May 17, 2019Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flowing water was completely covering Botkins Road and Sidney Freyburg Road. Several homes were also flooded in the Botkins area.

8. Aug 11, 2002Lightning$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A house along State Route 48 near the Shelby-Miami county line was set on fire by a lightning strike. Firefighters from surrounding villages responded to the blaze, which took nearly two hours to extinguish. The five year old home was completely destroyed. There were no injuries, as the homeowners were out of town at the time of the fire.

9. Jul 9, 2003Flood, Shelby$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms with heavy rain moved across portions of western Ohio during the early morning. Another two to three inches fell on many areas that had seen six to twelve inches over the last week. This caused many road closures due to high water, and small streams to rise out of their banks again. The most serious flooding occurred from northern Darke county through Shelby and Logan counties. Communities along the swollen Great Miami River from Indian Lake downstream through Lakeview, DeGraff, Port Jefferson and Sidney dealt with flooded homes and businesses. A mobile home park near Russells Point was flooded and evacuated. Sandbagging occurred in Port Jefferson in an effort to…

10. Aug 9, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous trees were downed in Ft. Loramie, Newport and Sidney and a barn was damaged near Hardin. In Sidney, some trees fell on houses, some falling trees ripped up sidewalks, and a roof was blown off a shed.

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

102°F2 times, most recently Jun 29, 2012

All-time low

−31°FJan 19, 1994

Warmest night

78°FJun 28, 1998

Coldest day

−11°F2 times, most recently Jan 19, 1994

Wettest day

4.65 inAug 8, 1995

Snowiest day

20.2 inNov 26, 1950

Hottest year

2024mean 54.2°F

Coldest year

2014mean 48.1°F

Wettest year

201156.23 in

Driest year

196323.70 in

Station Sidney 1 S (USC00337693), 940 ft elevation, 4.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1978 to October 27, 2026; 90.8% 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 USC00337693.
• 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.