Waupaca County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Waupaca County: 6.
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. Jun 11, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$1.4 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. Aug 6, 2013Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Another fast-moving tornado formed within a line of severe thunderstorms and raced to the southeast. The tornado struck a church, causing severe damage (DI 9, DOD 6 and 7). A large portion of the roof collapsed, causing failure of two walls. A wall on a new portion of the church was pushed in. In addition, hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted. Several homes along the path sustained damage, mainly from fallen trees. The tornado exited Waupaca County about one mile south of New London at about 12:25 am CDT. The average path width in Waupaca County was 100 yards.

3. Jun 23, 2004Tornado$915,000
   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…

4. Jul 5, 2024Flash Flood$260,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall amounts of 4 to 6 inches, combined with the failure of the Manawa Dam, caused flooding in Manawa during the late morning and early afternoon.

5. Jun 17, 2021Lightning$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a house on Highway 110 in Fremont during the late evening hours, causing it to burn to the ground.

6. Jun 26, 2016Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A weak tornado formed 4.2 miles east-southeast of Symco and traveled east just under three miles. At least a half dozen pine trees were snapped along the path and several large trees were uprooted (DI 28, DOD 3,4). Several farm outbuildings were heavily damaged, with metal from the buildings strewn downwind hundreds of yards. A manufactured home was pushed off its block foundation (DI 3, DOD 3). The tornado dissipated about 6.3 miles north-northeast of Northport. Average path width was 75 yards.

7. Jul 18, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$180,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Downburst winds estimated at 100 mph caused significant damage along a 2 mile wide by 5 mile long path. Most of the damage occurred in the Royalton, White Lake and Baldwin Mills areas. Twenty-two homes and four barns sustained damage and 40 acres of crops were destroyed. Thousands of trees, covering at least 40 acres of land, were snapped off or uprooted.

8. Jun 14, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds downed numerous trees in Iola, including some large trees that were knocked onto houses and power lines.

9. Jul 20, 2019Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado formed south of Waupaca and moved east-northeast to near White Lake. The tornado damaged siding and shingles on six homes (DI 2, DOD 2) and an apartment in a new subdivision near the Waupaca Airport. The garage door of a newer home was blown completely in, causing damage to the roof of the house (DI 2, DOD 4). Another house had a small part of its roof heavily damaged. Numerous trees were also damaged along the path. Peak winds were estimated around 90 mph.

10. Jul 20, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorm winds downed several trees at Hartman Creek State Park. A woman taking shelter in a truck was injured by a fallen tree.

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

106°FJul 14, 1995

All-time low

−35°FJan 17, 1982

Warmest night

77°F3 times, most recently Jun 23, 2025

Coldest day

−19°FJan 19, 1994

Wettest day

5.03 inAug 28, 2021

Snowiest day

17.0 inMar 22, 1955

Hottest year

1998mean 49.0°F

Coldest year

2014mean 41.1°F

Wettest year

201948.94 in

Driest year

197619.93 in

Snowiest season

82.8 in1961-62

Station Clintonville (USC00471676), 802 ft elevation, 16.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1952 to October 20, 2026; 98.4% 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 USC00471676.
• 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.