Vernon County

Every recorded tornado

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

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NASA (5).

Deadly landslides

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 27, 2018Flash Flood$28.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain across the northern portion of Vernon County produced significant flash flooding. Over 200 people were evacuated in Coon Valley because of severe flooding along Coon Creek where U.S. Highway 14 and State Highway 162 were closed. All access into Coon Valley was cut off because of mudslides, washouts and closed roads. Numerous homes were severely damaged with basement walls blown out or had water several feet deep on the first floor. Much of Ontario was covered in flood waters from the Kickapoo River and Brush Creek with almost every business along Garden Street, State Highway 131 and the east end of Main Street sustaining damage. It was estimated that around 75% of the…

2. Aug 18, 2007Flash Flood$28.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash floods and mudslides were reported across the county, with numerous county roads closed and impassable. Areas significantly impacted were from around Stoddard to Viroqua. At least 79 people were evacuated below local dams. Mudslides were especially dangerous along Highway 35 on the west end of the county washing away some homes and closing the highway for quite sometime. Railroad tracks were also damaged knocking over one set of rail cars that had hazardous material stored.||Over 1,100 people applied for FEMA assistance including 33 businesses in the county.

3. Apr 14, 2026Hail$26.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Destructive hail up to baseball sized and strong winds in Westby right before 5pm on April 14th resulted in widespread damage across the entire town and surrounding areas. Roughly 1100 residences in this area sustained roof, window and siding damage with many vehicles having significant damages as well.

4. Sep 22, 2016Flash Flood$8.9 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain caused flash flooding to occur across much of Vernon County. One person was killed near Victory when a mudslide caused a home to slide down a hillside very early in the morning of the 22nd. Numerous other houses were damaged by rocks, debris and floodwaters in Victory when a culvert used to divert water around town became blocked. In and around De Soto, two people had to be rescued from flood waters and 15 people were evacuated from a trailer park. The flood waters also covered State Highway 35. Flooding along Coe Hollow Creek prompted officials to evacuate Sidie Hollow Park but not before one person had to be rescued. Flood waters from the Kickapoo River flooded the…

5. Aug 28, 2018Flood$6.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Runoff from heavy rain created historic flooding along the Kickapoo River in Viola. The river established a new crest of record at 23.72 feet, which was over 9 feet above the flood stage.

6. Aug 28, 2018Flood$4.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Runoff from heavy rain created historic flooding along the Kickapoo River in Readstown. The river established a new crest of record at 23.17 feet, which was over 12 feet above the flood stage. The flooding continued into early September.

7. Jun 1, 2000Flash Flood$3.5 million
   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.…

8. Aug 19, 2007Flood$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding continued along many creeks, streams and rivers. Law enforcement officials reported numerous roads and bridges were either washed out or still under water. All or portions of highways still closed included Highway 35 from Stoddard northward, as well as Highway 131 from Viola to La Farge and from the intersection of Highway 56 and 82 to Viola.

9. Jun 7, 2008Flash Flood$2.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Vernon County sheriff department received numerous calls about water over roads and backed up drainage areas. In fact, law enforcement officials indicated flooding was worse than the flood of August 18-19 2007. Numerous earthen dams in the county had to be monitored for failure, including the Yttri-Primmer Dam that was heavily damaged. Highway 162 had mudslides over it and was closed in sections. At peak, 113 roads were closed across the county.

10. Aug 19, 2007Flash Flood$2.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Car washed away at County Road P and Spring Coulee Road, but people escaped.

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°F2 times, most recently Jul 14, 1936

All-time low

−42°FJan 15, 1963

Warmest night

83°FJul 27, 1931

Coldest day

−20°FFeb 9, 1899

Wettest day

9.23 inAug 19, 2007

Snowiest day

17.0 inMar 13, 1997

Hottest year

1931mean 50.6°F

Coldest year

1924mean 40.8°F

Wettest year

200753.09 in

Driest year

193919.23 in

Snowiest season

77.0 in2007-08

Station Viroqua (USC00478827), 1,255 ft elevation, 3.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 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 USC00478827.
• 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.