Outagamie County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 27, 2026Tornado$22.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An NWS Damage Survey team confirmed a tornado touched down around 11:56 AM CDT in Appleton in urban southern Outagamie County. The tornado developed just north of Wisconsin Avenue, partially tearing the roof off houses and several businesses on Wisconsin Avenue consistent with EF0 damage and winds of 85 mph. The tornado strengthened south of Wisconsin Avenue to EF1 by collapsing exterior walls to a warehouse building east of North Perkins Street with winds of 110 mph. The tornado continued producing EF1 damage to warehouses, retail buildings and strip malls as it continued south to College Avenue. The tornado strengthened to EF2 south of College Avenue near South Perkins Street by…

2. Aug 6, 2013Tornado$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado formed near Highway 41 northwest of Appleton and moved east across northern portions of Appleton, Kimberly and Kaukauna. The tornado caused some roof damage to the Northland Mall (DI 11, DOD 2) and caused roof and window damage to two small retail buildings (DI 8, DOD 3 and 4). The storm then knocked over four wood electrical poles (DI 24, DOD 2 and 3) and uprooted or heavily damaged hundreds of trees in a nearby neighborhood (DI 27, DOD 2 and 3; DI 28, DOD 2 and 3). Although the houses in the area sustained relatively minor wind damage directly, fallen trees caused considerable collateral damage to roofs, siding and vehicles. The tornado exited Outagamie County about…

3. Jun 23, 2004Tornado$6.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms that developed ahead of a strong cold front that moved through Wisconsin produced severe weather in the central and east central parts of the state during the evening. A line of thunderstorms tore the roof from a barn, downed numerous trees and power lines and blew a pickup truck into a ditch as the storms moved through the Wood county communities of Vesper, Nekoosa, and Wisconsin Rapids. Glass fragments caused a minor injury to one of the occupants of the pickup truck. The storms also produced 7 minutes of dime size hail 1 mile east of Wisconsin Rapids. The storms also damaged several buildings 4 miles west of Stevens Point (Portage co.), downed trees in Saxeville…

4. Apr 10, 2011Tornado$6.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A fast moving tornado touched down in the southwest side of Kaukauna near County Road CE at 8:43 pm CDT (1743 CST). The tornado cut through the center of a subdivision as it moved north-northeast to near the Fox River before lifting off the ground. Seven homes were destroyed, 24 homes and four businesses sustained major damage, and 160 other homes sustained minor damage. Several houses lost large sections of their roofs (DI 2, DOD 6) in the hardest hit area of the city. The average path width was 125 yards.

5. Jul 20, 2010Hail$6.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Golf ball size hail near Appleton damaged nearly 1,000 vehicles and at least 200 homes. Many of the homes sustained significant damage as the hail damaged roofs and siding.

6. Sep 2, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$5.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds, with gusts estimated to 80 mph, downed thousands of trees and knocked out power to 20,000 customers in Appleton alone. Around 200 homes sustained at least minor damage, including one that was destroyed. More than 60 businesses also sustained damage. A semi-trailer was blown over near US-41 and US-10.

7. Apr 17, 2026Flood$4.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread low-land flooding occurred in Outagamie County, resulting in considerable flood damage along the Wolf River and Embarrass River to 52 homes and $4.6 million of damage. Evacuations occurred in the towns of Shiocton and New London for multiple days. Power and gas in these areas were shutoff as flood waters impacted many homes and businesses.

8. Jun 11, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   During the late evening of June 11th a large thunderstorm complex, including a bow echo, moved across central and east central Wisconsin. Winds exceeded 70 mph across the area, resulting in thousands of downed trees and damage to homes and businesses. What made the storm particularly significant was the sustained strong winds causing more damage than typically experienced with a single severe wind gust. In Oshkosh, winds of 45 to 70+ mph were recorded for 45 minutes, veering from west to north during that span. The high winds and rough water knocked over dozens of sailboats on Lake Winnebago, sinking at least one. The storms knocked out power to at least 100,000 customers. The…

9. Aug 6, 2013Tornado$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado that struck Waupaca County at 12:24 am CDT entered Outagamie County about a mile south of New London at 12:25 am CDT. The tornado damaged or uprooted several hundred trees (DI 27, DOD 3 and 4; DI 28, DOD 3 and 4) along the path, many falling on houses in a two block area of Hortonville, causing considerable roof and siding damage. The average path width in Outagamie County was approximately 100 yards.

10. Aug 6, 2013Tornado$1.5 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Another fast-moving tornado developed within a line of severe thunderstorms and moved east-southeast across the Fox Valley. The tornado caused significant damage to several outbuildings and barns (DI 1, DOD 6 and 7) and flattened sections of mature corn fields. The roof of a power substation was damaged (similar to DI 9, DOD 5) southwest of Freedom. The average path width of the tornado in Outagamie County was 150 yards. The tornado moved into Brown County near Highway 41, 1.8 miles northwest of Wrightstown, at 12:48 am CDT.

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

107°FJul 13, 1936

All-time low

−32°FFeb 20, 1929

Warmest night

82°FJul 9, 1912

Coldest day

−20°FJan 18, 1994

Wettest day

5.44 inSep 4, 2026

Snowiest day

18.2 inMar 16, 2026

Hottest year

2024mean 49.5°F

Coldest year

1917mean 40.7°F

Wettest year

201949.03 in

Driest year

197620.33 in

Snowiest season

83.7 in2010-11

Station Appleton (USC00470265), 792 ft elevation, 2.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 23, 2026; 98.9% 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 USC00470265.
• 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.