Forest County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Apr 10, 2011Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado developed about 3.5 miles southeast of Argonne and moved northeast into Florence County. The storm uprooted and snapped hundreds of trees, some of which fell on vacation cabins along the storm's path. The hardest hit area was several miles east of Argonne shortly after the tornado developed. A large part of the roof of a house was removed (DI 2, DOD 6). The tornado continued northeast into Florence County at 7:46 pm CDT (1846 CST). The average width of the tornado was 250 yards.

2. Jul 8, 2000Flash Flood$154,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A nearly stationary front across Wisconsin combined with upper air support and abundant moisture to produce a prolonged period of thunderstorms. A few of the storms contained high winds and hail but flooding from heavy rainfall caused the majority of the problems.The heaviest rainfall occurred in an area that extended from southern Vilas county southeast into Manitowoc county. Rainfall totals in this area ranged from 2 to 4 inches for the 24 hour period ending at 6:00 AM CST on the morning of the 8th. Flooding of roads and/or basements was reported in the area from Pelican Lake to Rhinelander (Oneida co.), around Antigo and Deerbrook (Langlade co.), Crandon (Forest co.), Keshena…

3. Jun 23, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms winds downed numerous trees and several miles of power lines blocking most of the roads in the southern Forest County town of Nashville. At least ten houses and two out buildings sustained at least minor damage from the fallen trees.

4. Jun 7, 2005Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms developed in the vicinity of a warm front that lifted north through the state during the afternoon and early evening hours. High winds downed trees, power lines and large branches in several locations in central and northeast Wisconsin and there were several reports of large hail. Winds estimated at 80 mph downed numerous trees in western Marathon county and knocked out electrical service to about 2,700 customers around Athens and Stratford. Two supercell storms that moved through southern Forest county caused significant wind damage, dropped large hail and produced a funnel cloud. Three square miles of trees in the Nicolet National Forest were heavily damaged as…

5. Apr 10, 2011Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A second tornado formed in Forest County about four miles west of Armstrong Creek at 8:03 pm CDT (1903 CST). The tornado snapped and uprooted trees and damaged two houses. One of the houses sustained significant roof damage (DI 2, DOD 4) as the tornado moved across the area. The average width was 125 yards.

6. Jun 25, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   For the second time in less than 24 hours, severe thunderstorms pounded parts of northeast and central Wisconsin, producing damaging winds and hail. The town of Rudolph (Wood co.) was hit again with winds of over 60 mph, which uprooted trees. Clintonville (Waupaca co.) was hit hard as winds uprooted numerous trees on the south side of town. Houses and barns received damage in Clintonville, as did the roof of the town's utilities office.

7. Nov 10, 1998High Wind, Forest$10,000
   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…

8. Aug 28, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds from thunderstorms tipped over a mobile home and downed many trees across the southwest part of Forest County.

9. Jun 23, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms downed numerous trees and power lines. One of the fallen trees damaged a house.

10. May 20, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines and destroyed a band stand in downtown Wabeno. The landmark band stand was in the community for more than 50 years.

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

108°FJul 13, 1936

All-time low

−42°FFeb 3, 1996

Warmest night

76°F2 times, most recently Jul 27, 1914

Coldest day

−19°FJan 18, 1994

Wettest day

8.27 inJul 8, 2000

Snowiest day

20.0 inFeb 21, 1937

Hottest year

1998mean 46.3°F

Coldest year

2014mean 36.6°F

Wettest year

201447.26 in

Driest year

198914.11 in

Snowiest season

106.0 in1938-39

Station Rhinelander (USC00477113), 1,572 ft elevation, 31.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 23, 2026; 98.5% 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 USC00477113.
• 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.