Iron County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Iron 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 12, 2002Flood, Iron$1.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rapid snowmelt and heavy rain sent the Montreal River out of its banks, flooding three houses and five businesses in Hurley. The snowmelt and rain caused numerous creeks and streams to flood. Seventy percent of Iron County's roads were closed due to high water.

2. Aug 27, 2013Lightning$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A thunderstorm struck a house in Iron County in northwest Wisconsin early in the morning on August 27th.

3. Jul 27, 2010Tornado$160,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado likely began on the southern tip of Big Island. Aerial photographs taken by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources showed evidence of tornado damage on smaller islands over the western part of the flowage between the Turtle Dam and Springstead Landing. These islands had large sections of trees completely destroyed - either snapped or uprooted, and the aerial photographs revealed trees laying across one another in a cross-hatched pattern, in a few cases at 90 degree incidence angles. ||Substantial tree damage began occurring near Springstead Landing and east into a small neighborhood near the intersection of Flowage Rd. and Franks Ln. A stand of large trees…

4. May 18, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$15,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Part of a roof was ripped off a house along with part of a wall attached to a screen porch blown down. Approximately 10 trees as large as a foot and a half to two feet in diameter were down along with a pine tree that was snapped.

5. Jul 17, 2011Lightning$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning hit a shed and the shed caught on fire. The shed was located on Fisher Lake road in Mercer WI.

6. Jul 27, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were blown down along Murray Landing Road.

7. Oct 26, 2010Strong Wind, Iron$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The strong wind gusts produced scattered power outages county-wide.

8. Jul 27, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major severe weather episode occurred across northwest Wisconsin, with thunderstorms producing tornadoes, high winds, and large hail. A significant squall line with embedded supercells moved into northwest Wisconsin from Minnesota, with one particular storm producing three tornadoes in Ashland and Iron Counties. The Turtle Flambeau Flowage area of Iron County was hit the worst, with several injuries at a campground, massive tree damage, and structural damage occurring. Another area of major damage occurred in the Drummond and Delta areas, as down burst winds caused structural damage and destroyed hundreds of trees.

9. Aug 13, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were blown down in the Oma community.

10. Aug 13, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous trees and power lines were blown down.

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

104°FJul 13, 1936

All-time low

−41°F2 times, most recently Jan 17, 1982

Warmest night

80°FJul 21, 1901

Coldest day

−22°FJan 19, 1994

Wettest day

6.72 inJul 21, 1909

Snowiest day

22.1 inDec 10, 2009

Hottest year

1931mean 46.4°F

Coldest year

1917mean 35.3°F

Wettest year

201353.37 in

Driest year

190717.75 in

Snowiest season

301.8 in1996-97

Station Ironwood (USC00204104), 1,430 ft elevation, 8.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1901 to October 27, 2026; 99.5% 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 USC00204104.
• 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.