Buffalo County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Buffalo County: 0.
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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Aug 11, 2016Flash Flood$4.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Runoff from heavy rain pushed numerous streams out of their banks across Buffalo County. In addition, mudslides occurred and some bridges were washed out. Five families in Mondovi and Gilmanton were displaced from their homes because of the flooding. In Gilmanton, flood waters from Elk Creek surrounded some houses and water rescues had to be performed to get the residents safely out. Just west of Gilmanton along County Highway B, several feet of flood waters from Elk Creek flowed through 5 homes. State Highways 37 and 88 near Gilmanton were closed because of the flood waters. State Highway 35 south of Alma also had water over the road for a while in the morning. The flash flooding…

2. Aug 13, 2010Flash Flood$1.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Various roads were closed across the county including County Road EE, which had buckled. Also, 31 mudslides were reported, while multiple homes in Cream had water in their basements. Therefore, significant damage occurred to some roads, homes and businesses. The areas most affected by flooding, mudslides and road closures were along Waumandee Creek from Gilmanton to south of Waumandee.

3. Jul 8, 1999Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado sheared off trees and caused minor damage to homes and barns before hitting the town of Mondovi (Buffalo County). Two homes in Mondovi had roofs removed or garages damaged. Three people sustained minor injuries. 70 to 80 mph winds ripped through areas east of La Crosse, knocking down numerous trees and causing extensive damage to a campground. One home and a barn were destroyed, while a few other homes received roof damage. Several cars were crushed or damaged by falling limbs and trees. There were no injuries reported. Elsewhere across west central Wisconsin, damaging winds and dime size hail were reported by spotters and law enforcement officials.

4. Apr 17, 2026Tornado$928,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This intense EF-3 tornado began near Blank Hill Road where it quickly intensified before damaging three homesteads near highway 88 south of Cream. The most significant damage was to one home where much of the exterior walls were collapsed onto the foundation forming the basis for the EF-3 rating. Other homes and outbuildings sustained significant damage near highway 88 as well. The tornado continued northeast and weakened slightly where additional homes and outbuildings sustained damage before the tornado lifted near County Road X just northeast of Montana.

5. Sep 23, 2010Flood$670,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads across the county were closed due to flooding. Specific roads included State Highways 35 and 95 near Fountain City, State Highway 88, State Highway 37 north of Alma, Sand Road, Oak Valley Road, and Rose Valley Road. Also, all creeks and drainage areas were flooding in and around Nelson. Eight homes around the county had minor damage, while one business incurred major damage from flood waters. The rain began around 3:30 p.m. CST on the 22nd, and the majority of the rain fell by 7 a.m. CST on the 23rd. At this point, 5.50 inches had fallen at Nelson, while 5.14 inches was measured at Alma.

6. Mar 9, 2019Winter Weather, Buffalo$550,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Light to moderate snow fell across Buffalo County from March 9th into the 10th with accumulations generally in the 3 to 4 inch range. The weight of this snow, combined with the copious amounts that fell in February, caused the roof over a large hog barn near Mondovi to collapse. A fire that started after the roof collapsed killed almost 4,000 hogs.

7. Jul 20, 2017Flood$527,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   After the initial flash flooding across Buffalo County, the flood waters continued to cause problems through July 20th into the 21st. Flood waters along Eagle Creek washed out a bridge on County Road G north of Fountain City.

8. Jun 17, 2021Hail$520,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A couple rounds of thunderstorms moved across parts of western Wisconsin during the evening of June 17th. Some of these storms produced large hail across portions of Buffalo, Trempealeau, La Crosse and Vernon Counties. Hail up to 2.5 inches in diameter fell near Buffalo (Buffalo County) and Cochrane (Buffalo County). An estimated 60 mph wind gust occurred in Galesville (Trempealeau County) and trees were blown down that damaged roofs in Centerville (Trempealeau County).

9. Aug 11, 2016Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Runoff from heavy rains caused landslides to occur that undermined several roads in the vicinity of Urne.

10. Jul 19, 2017Flash Flood$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy rains of 6 to 8 inches across the southern half of Buffalo County produced flash flooding. A mudslide covered a portion of State Highway 37 north of Alma. Portions of County Road O were completely covered by water and the road was closed between Cochrane and State Highway 88. Numerous streets were covered by standing water in Fountain City. Around a half dozen roads were closed across the county because of the flooding.

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°F2 times, most recently Aug 7, 2001

All-time low

−38°FJan 31, 1996

Warmest night

85°FJul 20, 1940

Coldest day

−16°FFeb 2, 1996

Wettest day

6.37 inJul 20, 2017

Snowiest day

14.0 in3 times, most recently Feb 24, 2019

Hottest year

2012mean 51.7°F

Coldest year

1979mean 43.1°F

Wettest year

201952.82 in

Driest year

197616.91 in

Snowiest season

79.3 in2018-19

Station Alma Dam 4 (USC00470124), 670 ft elevation, 9.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1939 to October 23, 2026; 98.0% 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 USC00470124.
• 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.