Fond du Lac County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Jul 18, 1996Tornado$39.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A violent tornado struck the village of Oakfield at about 1815CST after it touched down 4 miles WNW of the village. During its approach on Oakfield it intensified to a F3 rating. When it tore through the village it intensified to a F4, but along its path 1 to 4 miles east of the village it intensified to F5 strength (estimated 265 mph winds). In this span 4 homes were completely swept clean off their foundations and a couple automobiles became airborne missles for a distance of about 400 feet. The core width of the most intense damage was about 150 to 200 yards, although at times, some secondary damage was observed in a 400 yard wide path.Oakfield residents heard local sirens…

2. Aug 28, 2018Thunderstorm Wind$7.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A swath of widespread tree and crop damage across the southern portion of the county. Sections of trees and crops completely flattened. Various roads closed due to fallen trees. The widespread wind damage and tornadoes caused structural damage to hundreds of homes, with affected damage to 200 homes, minor damage to 100 homes, major damage to 10 homes, and one home destroyed. One business sustained minor damage.

3. Jun 23, 2004Tornado$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado was a continuation of the tornado that moved through the southern part of the city of Markesan (Green Lake Co.). It entered Fond du Lac County just south of Lake Maria Road, about 4.7 miles SW of Alto. It moved east-southeast on a line toward Waupun at F3 strength (estimated 175-200 mph), and actually merged with the Lake Maria tornado that moved east out of extreme southeastern Green Lake County. The merger took place just east of a dogleg/bend of Oak Grove Rd., about 2.2 miles SSW of Alto. The civil Town of Alto reported that 19 residential homes had major damage and 1 was destroyed. One business had major damage. Fourteen farms were affected with a tally of 8…

4. Jun 8, 2008Flash Flood$4.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains resulted in flash flooding across much of western Fond du Lac County. Water depths on road surfaces reached 3 feet or more and there were gravel washouts. Some farm fields remained flooded into early July. The breakdown for residential home losses were: 4000 minimally affected, 2100 with minor damage, 125 with major damage, and 15 destroyed (total of $3.87 million for home losses). The breakdown for business losses were: 35 with minor damage (total of $242 thousand). Crop losses were estimated at $9 million. Public sector damage was about $772 thousand. There were several roads and bridges that sustained damage.

5. Jun 1, 2004Flood, Fond Du Lac$4.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Scattered to widespread heavy rains across south-central and southeast Wisconsin during the period of June 9-12, 2004 kept many rivers and streams at or above flood stage for a good part, or most of the month. Monthly rainfall totals generally ranged from 4 to 7 inches across south-central and southeast Wisconsin, with some scattered spots in Sauk, Columbia, Dodge, Walworth, Racine, and Kenosha Counties picking up 7 to 9.5 inches, or 50 to 100% above normal. In some cases, stretches of some rivers actually went above flood stage in May, 2004. Refer to flood and flash flood events in May, 2004, for additional information. During June, 2004, the high water levels kept much of the…

6. May 31, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   During the early morning hours of Sunday, May 31st, southcentral and southeast Wisconsin experienced an unprecedented, widespread downburst wind event known as a "derecho." Incredibly powerful, hurricane-force straight-line winds, with peak gusts of 100 to 128 mph tore through 12 counties in this part of the state, while another 8 counties had peak gusts of 60 to 80 mph. Residents noted that the strongest winds only lasted a minute or two, but gusty winds hung on for 15 to 30 minutes. Meteorologically, a solid squall line developed in southern Minnesota and gathered strength as it raced east with a translational speed of 50 to 60 mph across southcentral and southeast Wisconsin.…

7. Jun 23, 2004Tornado$1.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado was a continuation of the tornado that moved east from the Lake Maria area of extreme southeastern Green Lake County. It maintained its F3 strength (175-200 mph) and moved east along Marshview Rd, only to merge with the F3 tornado moving east/southeast out of the Markesan area of southeast Green Lake County. The merger took place just east of a dogleg/bend of Oak Grove Rd., about 2.2 miles SSW of Alto. The civil Town of Alto reported that 8 residential homes had major damage. Four farms were affected with a tally of 8 ag-buildings/homes with minor damage, 19 with major damage, and 16 destroyed. Crop damage was severe. Public sector damage (roads/bridges) was about…

8. Sep 2, 2002Tornado$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado, rated as F1 with winds of about 78 to 87 knots (90 to 100 mph) damaged three, large, cover-all, dairy barns. Severe damage was noted on the western-most barn. In addition, some trees were uprooted or had limbs ripped off. The three barns were part of Fond du Lac's largest dairy farm. Luckily, only one of the 1400 dairy cows was injured.

9. Nov 10, 1998High Wind, Fond Du Lac$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Screaming high winds raked all of southcentral and southeast Wisconsin's counties for about 17 hours, resulting in widespread damage to thousands of trees, homes, businesses, power poles, power lines, street lights, road signs, billboards, fences, flagpoles, barns, sheds, crops, boats, cars, trucks, campers, trains, airport hangers, and airplanes. Four people were killed, and 14 people were injured. Estimated monetary damages were $10.31 million to property and $1.625 million to crops. The sustained southwesterly winds of 30 to 40 mph gusted to 60 to 70 mph, with isolated locations having gusts to around 80 mph. These relentless winds eventually caused about 125,000 customers to…

10. Jun 17, 1996Flood, Fond Du Lac$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Long duration rains of 3 to 5 inches county-wide since the day before resulted in the Rock river going above flood stage in the Waupan area. Two to 3 inches of that rain fell in a 6 hour period ending 0500CST in the Fond du Lac city area. Resident basement and business flooding was reported county-wide, as well as some soil erosion and crop damage. Sandbagging took place around the city of Fond du Lac.

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

111°FJul 13, 1936

All-time low

−41°FJan 30, 1951

Warmest night

81°F2 times, most recently Jul 14, 1995

Coldest day

−17°F2 times, most recently Jan 18, 1994

Wettest day

6.83 inSep 10, 1986

Snowiest day

14.0 inDec 3, 1990

Hottest year

1931mean 52.2°F

Coldest year

2014mean 41.4°F

Wettest year

201840.49 in

Driest year

194920.62 in

Snowiest season

78.8 in1928-29

Station Fond Du Lac Wwtp (USC00472839), 750 ft elevation, 2.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 19, 2026; 97.1% 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 USC00472839.
• 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.