Juneau County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Juneau County: 3.
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.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Aug 28, 2018Flash Flood$28.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Runoff from heavy rain caused extensive flooding to occur in Elroy from the Baraboo River. Between 25 and 30 homes had to be evacuated. Numerous homes had water several inches to a few feet deep in the basements. Nine homes likely will have to be torn down. Damages in Elroy totaled nearly $6.5 million. The flooding along the Baraboo River also hit Wonewoc hard causing officials to evacuate the western half of the town. Dozens of homes had water in the basements with at least 4 of them suffering collapsed walls. Flooding along the Lemonweir River near Mauston caused Interstates 90/94 to be closed in both directions and washed out a rail line that caused the eastbound Amtrak Empire…

2. May 22, 2011Tornado$4.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado entered into Juneau County southwest of Mather and then tracked northeast across the Necedah Wildlife Refuge between Mather and Finley damaging numerous trees. As the tornado approached Finley, it grew in size and was nearly a half mile wide as it crossed County Road F east of Finley. In this area, numerous trees were snapped or blown down with some of them landing on nearby homes. At a cranberry business east of Finley, all of the outbuildings and sheds were demolished and tossed into nearby fields and a loading deck platform and trucks were heavily damaged. Thick wooden power poles in this area were snapped or sheared off over a half mile long stretch. The tornado…

3. Jun 8, 2008Flood$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   High water caused problems in Elroy due to flooding along the Baraboo River and there were several mudslides. Homes along Lincoln, Lake, South Brooklyn, and Franklin streets were evacuated after the river broke its banks early Sundy afternoon, June 8th. About 16 families were displaced in Wonewoc as well. Mudslides began to occur along Highways 82 and 80.||Sections of the Elroy-Sparta State bicycle trail were also damaged and caused a closure. ||There was concern about high water in Mauston as well, especially along the Lemonweir River.

4. Jun 8, 2008Flood$2.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Evacuations were needed in many areas due to rising water levels. Numerous mudslides were also reported.

5. Apr 14, 2026Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado moved into Juneau County from Vernon County where it intensified quickly and hit a residence at EF-3 intensity, destroying the home's above ground level. As the tornado moved east, it produced significant tree damage before weakening in intensity as it approached State Road 80, where it damaged a few more homes and several outbuildings. The tornado continued northeast, dealing intermittent tree and structural damage at EF-1 intensity along its path until it dissipated just west of Overgaard Road.

6. Sep 24, 2010Flood$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Yellow, Lemonweir and Wisconsin Rivers along with their tributaries flooded, which caused road closures, evacuations, and damage to some roads, homes and businesses. People were evacuated from a campground east of Mauston along the Lemonweir River, while a dozen campers, campsites and sheds were ruined. In Necedah, water rose onto the property of several businesses, while homes on the east side of town were evacuated. Five homes and 2 businesses incurred major damage, while 14 homes and 1 business reported minor damage. Some specific road closures included County Roads G and F, and 11th Street, as well as County Roads HH and N near Lyndon Station.

7. Jun 15, 2022Tornado$775,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF1 tornado developed just to the southwest of Mauston and tracked northeast before dissipating just west of the Wisconsin River south of Castle Lake Dam. In Mauston, the tornado caused roof damage to the hospital and a restaurant, blew windows out of several vehicles near the hospital, took down several stop lights, blew over parked semis, snapped power poles and downed several trees in a mobile home park that damaged numerous homes. In Veteran's Memorial Park, stands for the baseball field were overturned with some blown across the street and the scoreboard was ripped off its posts. A tree fell on the roof of an apartment complex damaging the roof and allowing water to leak…

8. Apr 14, 2026Hail$660,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A trained spotter reported 3 inch diameter hail 5 miles southeast of Lyndon Station.

9. Jun 1, 2000Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down near Cataract (Monroe County), shearing off trees, demolishing barns and sheds, causing light structural damage to a house and tossing farm equipment and debris about 600 to 700 yards. There were no reports of injuries or deaths. This same thunderstorm produced hail as large as softballs through the Oakdale area (Monroe County) and communities southeast along the Highway 12 - Interstate 90/94 corridor. There was extensive roof, siding and window damage in and around Oakdale. Nearly every building in town had damage on the north and west facing walls. Hundreds of cars, including those traveling along Interstate 90/94, had broken windshields and sustained…

10. Aug 28, 2020Flash Flood$330,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy rain from thunderstorms caused flash flooding to occur across the southern sections of Juneau County. In and near Mauston, flood waters almost reached the entrance door to the sheriff's office and numerous roads were covered by water. Roads were closed due to high water north of Camp Douglas. In Camp Douglas, several homes were flooded with water waist high in the basements.

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

103°FJul 14, 1995

All-time low

−38°FFeb 1, 1918

Warmest night

80°FJul 14, 1995

Coldest day

−16°F2 times, most recently Feb 3, 1996

Wettest day

8.14 inAug 28, 2018

Snowiest day

14.3 inMar 8, 1946

Hottest year

2012mean 49.9°F

Coldest year

1912mean 41.5°F

Wettest year

201858.21 in

Driest year

195817.24 in

Snowiest season

89.5 in2007-08

Station Mauston 1 Se (USC00475178), 865 ft elevation, 4.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1905 to October 23, 2026; 96.5% 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 USC00475178.
• 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.