Richland County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NASA (1).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Aug 18, 2007Flash Flood$8.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous state highways and county roads were closed and impassable due to flood waters. An estimated 75 percent of the county roads were affected including Highway 80 that was impassable with bridges buckled. Highways 56 and 58 were also impacted. At least a dozen boat rescues were needed from homes and cars. The town of Rockbridge was basically underwater. A 51-year old was swept off a bridge on Highway 60 near the intersection of Highway 80 on his way to Muscoda from Mill Creek.

2. Aug 18, 2005Tornado$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Six tornadoes affected southwest Wisconsin, which was part of an all-time one day record of 27 tornadoes hitting the state. The first tornado touched down briefly just west of Centerville (Trempealeau County). The only damage reported with this tornado was several trees knocked down just north of Highway 35 along County Road G. A second and stronger tornado occurred just north of County Highway KK, or just west of Esofea (Vernon County). There was tree, agricultural and structural damage. A moblie home, which was on cement blocks, was completely destroyed. The occupant of the mobile home was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. Another residence sustained minor damage, with…

3. Sep 22, 2016Flash Flood$2.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding along a branch of Camp Creek sent three feet of water into a house east of Viola. Flooding along Fancy and Marshall Creeks caused roads to be closed near Gillingham. State Highway 56 was closed east of Viola due to flooding along Camp Creek and County Highway C was closed near Yuba because of flooding along the Pine River. A total of 3 homes were destroyed by the flooding with another 72 damaged.

4. Jun 8, 2008Flood$2.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Travel across Richland County was very difficult due to ongoing flooding. Numerous roads were closed, including Highways 131, 56 and 80, as well as County Roads C, F, Q, E, and U.

5. Jun 8, 2008Flood$2.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Kickapoo river at Viola reached a record crest of 21.25 feet around 5 a.m. on June 9. The previous record crest of 21.0 feet occurred on July 1, 1978. Flood stage is 14.0 feet. Water was over bridge railings on the bridges.

6. Jun 7, 2008Flash Flood$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water was reported over several roads, including County Road I and Highway 58.

7. Aug 19, 2007Flash Flood$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The fire department building was under water and Highway 80 buckled north of Century Farm Road.

8. Aug 28, 2018Flood$610,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding along the Kickapoo River prompted some water rescues in Viola. Water was 12 to 18 inches deep in the fire station and was flowing over the upper rail of the State Highway 131 bridge.

9. Jun 1, 2000Flash Flood$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms produced excessive rainfall across southwest Wisconsin during the night of May 31 into the morning hours ofJune 1. Amounts of 3 to 6 inches were common with localized amounts of over 7 inches. In fact, an observer in Victory (Vernon County) recorded 7.25 inches of rain in three hours, breaking the previous three-hour record of 6.29 inches set in Fennimore (Grant County) on August 5, 1951. Numerous roads were closed due to high water and one vehicle was swept away in Muscoda (Grant County) when the driver attempted to cross about one foot of moving water. Property damage estimates totaled around 6 million dollars, with crop damage estimated at 2.4 million dollars.…

10. Sep 3, 2018Flash Flood$336,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Runoff from heavy rains caused numerous streams across Richland County to go out of their banks. The flooding caused several roads to be closed including U.S. Highway 14, State Highways 56, 58, 80 and 131 along with numerous county and township roads.

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

102°F3 times, most recently Jul 6, 2012

All-time low

−53°FJan 30, 1951

Warmest night

80°FJun 30, 2026

Coldest day

−15°FJan 17, 1982

Wettest day

5.19 inJun 22, 2013

Snowiest day

13.2 inMar 5, 1959

Hottest year

2012mean 50.8°F

Coldest year

1951mean 42.5°F

Wettest year

201943.10 in

Driest year

195816.22 in

Snowiest season

63.3 in1958-59

Station Lone Rock Tri County Airport (USW00014921), 715 ft elevation, 14.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 26, 2026; 86.1% 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 USW00014921.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.