Door County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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. Aug 23, 1998Tornado$4.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three supercell thunderstorms dropped large hail and tornadoes across northeast and central Wisconsin during the afternoon and early evening. The first two storms developed quickly over central Wisconsin and then tracked east-southeast through the Fox Cities. These two storms primarily produced large hail (1 to 2 inches in diameter) and some wind damage. A brief tornado touched down with the first storm near Menasha (Winnebago co.). The third storm developed farther north in the northeast part of the state. This storm evolved more slowly, but went through the classic life-cycle of a tornadic supercell and spawned an F3 tornado in Door county.Large hail struck the Fox Cities,…

2. Jul 14, 2010Lightning$434,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a home in Fish Creek around 2:30 pm CST. Every fire department in Door County, except Washington Island, helped fight the fire but the house and attached three-stall garage were a total loss. Three vintage automobiles were also destroyed by the fire.

3. Aug 9, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$431,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds downed and uprooted multiple trees in Ephraim. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data. The thunderstorms produced $431,938 worth of damage and debris clean up across central and northern parts of Door County.

4. Aug 2, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds uprooted and snapped an area of trees a couple of miles either side of a west-east line from Frank E. Murphy Park to Jacksonport.

5. Jun 25, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous thunderstorms packing winds over 60 mph swept across much of central and east-central Wisconsin late on June 24 and into the early morning hours of June 25. Door county was particularly hard hit, as thunderstorms hit a park and campground west and south of Sturgeon Bay. Three people suffered minor injuries at a camping resort south of Sturgeon Bay as winds at least 75 mph knocked over camping trailers and trees. Another person was injured at Potawatomi State Park as a tree fell on his tent. Three barns were destroyed, over 20 houses sustained damage, and the grandstand at Door County Fair Park was damaged. A little later in the morning, lightning struck a house in the…

6. Mar 16, 2016Lightning$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning is believed to be the cause of a fire that caused substantial damage to a home near Sturgeon Bay. The damage total is an estimate.

7. Jun 25, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous thunderstorms packing winds over 60 mph swept across much of central and east-central Wisconsin late on June 24 and into the early morning hours of June 25. Door county was particularly hard hit, as thunderstorms hit a park and campground west and south of Sturgeon Bay. Three people suffered minor injuries at a camping resort south of Sturgeon Bay as winds at least 75 mph knocked over camping trailers and trees. Another person was injured at Potawatomi State Park as a tree fell on his tent. Three barns were destroyed, over 20 houses sustained damage, and the grandstand at Door County Fair Park was damaged. A little later in the morning, lightning struck a house in the…

8. Apr 13, 2018Winter Storm, Door$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The highest reported snowfall totals in Door County were 31.6 inches near Carlsville, 25.0 inches near Ephraim, 24.8 inches near Baileys Harbor, 20.5 inches in Sister Bay, and 20.2 inches near Forestville.

9. Sep 5, 2014Flash Flood$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall flooded basements, resorts, and campgrounds, and damaged roads in the Sister Bay, Fish Creek, and Baileys Harbor areas. In excess of 6 inches of rain in Baileys Harbor caused nearly every home there to sustain a backup from the sewage disposal plant. Flood waters damaged documents at the Ephraim Historical Society. The flooding also washed out shoulders of several roads in the area.

10. Nov 10, 1998High Wind, Door$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An intense area of low pressure moved across the Midwest on November 10, producing very high winds, rain and snow across the region. The low, which tracked from central Iowa to western Lake Superior, resulted in record minimum pressures in Iowa and Minnesota and an unusually widespread high wind event across Wisconsin. The strong winds lasted for much of the day.The high winds caused one fatality and an injury in the area, both in Door county. A 67 year old Door county woman died a week after being blown down by a strong gust of wind. Her head hit the concrete ground, causing the fatal injury.Trees, street signs and power poles were damaged or destroyed by the strong winds across…

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

105°FJul 13, 1936

All-time low

−29°F5 times, most recently Jan 17, 1982

Warmest night

80°FJul 30, 1917

Coldest day

−15°F2 times, most recently Feb 3, 1996

Wettest day

4.57 inAug 25, 1910

Snowiest day

17.0 inApr 14, 2018

Hottest year

1998mean 48.8°F

Coldest year

1917mean 39.5°F

Wettest year

201950.11 in

Driest year

192516.99 in

Snowiest season

118.8 in1908-09

Station Sturgeon Bay Experiment Farm (USC00478267), 699 ft elevation, 2.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1905 to October 21, 2026; 99.7% 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 USC00478267.
• 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.