Barron County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Sep 21, 2005Hail$30.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hundreds of houses damaged from wind driven large hail. Numerous car windows shattered. The local newspaper reported that one auto glass replacement company estimated about 200 different jobs were required.

2. May 16, 2017Tornado$10.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado first developed over southeastern Polk County, then tracked mostly east-northeast across southern Barron before moving into Rusk County and eventually Price County. In Barron County, the tornado hit numerous farmsteads, devastating barns and other outbuildings. The hardest hit area in Barron County was just north of Chetek, WI, where high-end EF2 damage was found. A number of mobile homes were completely demolished, and this is where the one fatality occurred. After that, several turkey barns were leveled, and then multiple homes were hit hard near Prairie Lake, especially those on the eastern shore.

3. May 25, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A storm survey was conducted and estimated the winds of 80 to 90 mph. Numerous large trees, up to 4 feet in diameter, were uprooted, snapped, or blown down on the west side of Prairie Lake. ||The damage was concentrated in a one mile swath from near 10th 1/2 Ave and 23rd street, north-northwest to 22nd 1/2 Street and 23rd near Lakewood Park. Almost all of the trees were blown to the north-northwest with some indication of a divergence signature on the west side of the storm damage. One of worst area of damage was at the Sandy Grove Resort where significant structural damage occurred to residences and cabins. ||There were also several lake homes that were severely damage from the…

4. Jun 11, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   5 mile wide swath of damaging wind extended across much of Barron County. Numerous trees down, roof blown off house, trailers tipped over at RV Park, chopper box and semi truck blown over in Turtle Lake. Roof blown off barn 3 N Poskin. Semi truck blown over on eastern edge of Barron. Trees fell through roofs of houses 1 SW Cameron. Damage figure include totals from all storms in Barron County between 1640 and 1705.

5. May 16, 2017Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   There was a swath of very large hail, up to 3 inches in diameter, that occurred from east of Clayton, to Barron.

6. Apr 9, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several properties received minor damage to roofs, with two properties sustaining significant damage with 40% of their shingles damage. One home had a tree fall on it which caused considerable damage to their roof.

7. Jul 21, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe wind gusts caused damage to several trailer homes on the south side of Rice Lake.

8. Aug 7, 2010Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service Storm Damage Survey determined that an EF-1 tornado touched down approximately 4.5 miles north-northeast of Cumberland, and tracked east-southeast to approximately six miles northeast of Cumberland, Wisconsin. Structural damage was confined to a barn and garage destroyed. Hundreds of trees were either uprooted and blown down, and several of the large trees were in excess of four feet in diameter.

9. May 19, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Barn and garage destroyed. Estimated windspeed. Damage estimate for entire county.

10. Oct 4, 2005Flash Flood$225,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Water up to three feet deep flooded cars in the city of Barron. Elsewhere in Barron County, four bridges in Doyle Township, several miles east of Rice Lake, were washed out. Three of the bridges crossed Spring Creek, and the fourth crossed Pokegama Creek. Numerous roads were also closed. Reports of rainfall ranged from 12.5 inches in northeastern Barron County, to 7 inches in the central portion of the county, to approximately 4 inches in the southern portion of the county. All were taken from citizen back yard gauges.

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

101°FAug 1, 2006

All-time low

−43°F2 times, most recently Jan 17, 1982

Warmest night

79°FAug 2, 1988

Coldest day

−21°F2 times, most recently Feb 3, 1996

Wettest day

5.51 inAug 27, 1960

Snowiest day

14.0 inApr 20, 1982

Hottest year

1987mean 48.6°F

Coldest year

1996mean 38.7°F

Wettest year

196846.91 in

Driest year

197617.41 in

Snowiest season

89.8 in2013-14

Station Rice Lake (USC00477132), 1,103 ft elevation, 2.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1952 to October 18, 2026; 95.8% 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 USC00477132.
• 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.