Portage County

Every recorded tornado

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

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 11, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$4.1 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…

2. May 22, 2011Tornado$1.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado entered Portage County from Wood County at 6:20 pm CDT (1720 CST) mainly over farmland. The twister continued to snap trees (DI 28, DOD 4) and overturn agricultural irrigation systems. About six miles south of Plover, a nearly half-mile long row of power poles were bent over (DI 24, DOD 3). The tornado crossed Interstate 39 at Coddington Road two miles west of Keene. The tornado grew to nearly 700 yards wide as it passed just north of Keene and heavily damaged a farmstead. A silo was damaged and barn flattened (DI 1, DOD 6). Several outbuildings were also damaged or destroyed. Along the path, at least two dozen irrigation systems were overturned and damaged (resulting…

3. Sep 23, 2010Flash Flood$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain fell across Portage County, causing rivers and streams to overflow their banks, washing out roads and damaging homes and businesses. Much of the county had in excess of 4 inches of rain. The highest recorded total was 5.65 inches at Stevens Point. County crews sandbagged several roads in the northwest part of the county. The flooding caused minor damage to 36 homes and 2 businesses and major damage to 1 home.

4. Jun 22, 2002Flash Flood$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An east to west stationary front across central Wisconsin was the focus for the development of thunderstorms. Heavy rain occurred across that part of the state during the night of June 21-22 as thunderstorms trained over the area for several hours. Over 5 inches of rain fell during a 3 hour period across the affected areas. An unofficial gage near Biron (Wood co.) recorded 10.30 inches in 12 hours.A trailer park in Stratford (Marathon co.) had to be evacuated due to high water, and basements were flooded in some homes in central Wisconsin. Several bridges were out due to the flooding and roads were washed out in numerous locations. One township in Marathon county had 40 miles of…

5. Jul 19, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$530,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread thunderstorms wind damage occurred in the Stevens Point and Whiting areas. There were pockets of more significant damage from downtown Stevens Point south to Whiting. Hundreds of trees were blown down or had broken branches and limbs. Stevens Point lost $108,000 worth of city-owned trees in the storm. One home was destroyed, 8 were heavily damaged and 72 sustained minor damage from the storm. The storm left 17,000 customers without electrical power.

6. Jun 12, 2017Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall caused significant urban flooding near downtown Stevens Point. Several underpasses were impassable. At least two roads were damaged when rain washed out culverts. There were at least 15 homes impacted by the heavy rain.

7. May 3, 2020Dust Storm, Portage$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds of 30 to 40 mph caused dust and dirt from a nearby farmers field to be lifted into the air, reducing visibilities to near zero across a small portion of Interstate 39 and Coundy D north of Plainfield. There was a multiple car accident of 30 to 35 cars on north and southbound lanes of Interstate 39 and the interstate was closed through the early evening hours. The cars were either severely damaged or totaled.

8. Jul 19, 2011Flash Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain in Stevens Point caused flash flooding on the UW-Stevens Point campus, at St. Michaels Hospital and at the County Courthouse and submerged cars on some streets. A low crossing under a railroad bridge in Stevens Point remained closed for much of the next day while the water slowly drained.

9. Jun 23, 2004Tornado$200,000
   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…

10. Mar 15, 2019Flood$105,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Runoff from rainfall and snow melt combined to flood roads and low-lying areas, mainly in and around Park Ridge, Plover, Bancroft and Almond. The runoff also caused flooding of other low-lying and poor drainage areas. The Village of Plover's wastewater system was inundated with water and there was also considerable road and yard flooding in the village. Four homes sustained minor flood damage, and some roads were also damage by the flooding and required repairs after the water receded. A county-wide state of emergency was declared on March 14th and the City of Park Ridge also declared a state of emergency that same day.

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 14, 1936

All-time low

−48°F2 times, most recently Feb 11, 1899

Warmest night

80°F2 times, most recently Aug 9, 1914

Coldest day

−20°FFeb 3, 1996

Wettest day

5.01 inAug 19, 1947

Snowiest day

18.0 inJan 21, 1917

Hottest year

1931mean 50.2°F

Coldest year

2014mean 40.6°F

Wettest year

201945.36 in

Driest year

194820.53 in

Snowiest season

79.5 in1921-22

Station Stevens Point (USC00478171), 1,079 ft elevation, 3.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 23, 2026; 99.6% 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 USC00478171.
• 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.