Decatur

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond this area.
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.

Every storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

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.

Flood insurance figures are for Morgan County, the county that contains Decatur.

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 in Morgan County, the county that contains Decatur.

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.

The drought index is for Morgan County, the county that contains Decatur.

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 city centre.
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. May 13, 2009Lightning$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a four story, 20,000 square foot house on Breeding Drive north of Hartselle. A mother and child were in the home at the time and escaped without injury, as the fire erupted and quickly spread throughout the house. Tragically, this house was burned to the ground. In addition, the blaze destroyed two antique cars.

2. Aug 17, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm produced wind damage in a swath 3 miles long and 2 miles wide. Numerous large trees were blown down. The winds produced roof damage to multiple chicken houses and outbuildings.

3. Dec 21, 2007Strong Wind, Morgan$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds knocked down severeal trees across much of Morgan county. Particularly hard hit were the Hartselle, Decatur, and Somerville communities. A roof was blown off an outbuilding at 822 Bluff City Road aprroximately 2 miles north of Somerville at 2:40 pm. Also, a roof was blown off a business at 304 2nd Avenue SE in Decatur. Most winds were sustained around 40 mph, with estimated gusts around 50 mph at times.

4. Aug 17, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Powerlines were blown down at the intersection of Highway 31 and Kayo Road in the Decatur area.

5. Dec 9, 2009Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Up to 7.12 inches of rain fell in Hartselle as reported by a CoCoRahs observer. Resulting runoff produced extensive stream and creek flooding in the Hartselle community. In many locations in the downtown area, water of 2 to 4 feet in depth was reported inundating businesses. Several roads were washed out in the Hartselle area, including Rice Road, Celia Drive, Rustic Lane, and a public street near Westwood Drive. Eighty tons of rocks were used to repair one lane on Celia Drive.||Many roads were washed out near area streams, creeks and some river branches. Over 1 million dollars worth of damage was estimated to have occurred by city officials. Also, in the Somerville area, flooding…

6. Dec 23, 1998Ice Storm, Morgan$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A winter storm brought a mixture of freezing rain...sleet...and rain to the northern half of Alabama. The northwestern quarter of Alabama was especially hard hit. The precipitation began in a narrow band across Fayette, Walker, Cullman, and Marshall counties around 2 am and then around 5am in the rest of the counties and lasted until early afternoon on the 24th. The northwestern quarter of the state saw temperatures at or below freezing for the majority of the event. Liquid equivalent precipitation ranged from one to three inches. Significant ice accumulations of one half to one inch were common across the area. Numerous trees were down across every county. Significant power…

7. Jun 15, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The rear flank downdraft from a large steady state supercell produced straight lined wind gusts between 65 and 75 mph across much of southern and central Morgan county. The damage path from the storm began just over the border in Lawrence county along CR 431 north of Caddo, where several trees were blown down. The damaging winds then spread southeast into southern portions of Decatur and Priceville. Numerous trees were reported down along this portion of the path and some damage to structures occurred. A gust to 75 mph was reported east of Hartselle on Highway 67 S. Damage to structures included: an automobile dealership sign blown down in the southern portions of Decatur and…

8. Apr 4, 2011Lightning$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning sparked a fire at the Bellview Baptist Church on Old Moulton Road. The fire destroyed the education building and fellowship hall. Lightning data from the NCDC Severe Weather Data Inventory correlated the location and time of the strike.

9. Dec 8, 2009Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three to six inches of rainfall caused widespread flash flooding across Morgan county and closed numerous roads across the county. Especially hard hit were areas along a line from Massey to Hartselle to Lacey Springs. Isolated higher amounts occurred in the extreme southwestern portions of the county. ||Extensive flash flooding occurred in the Hartselle community, pushed into area businesses and home in the downtown area. Several roads were damaged and closed across the county. Some roads affected included: Rice Road, Celia Drive, Rustic Lane, and a public street near Westwood Drive.||At least one water rescue was needed in the Somerville community, where a car was swept off Gum…

10. Apr 27, 2011Tornado$400,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The tornado briefly crossed rural areas of Northwest Morgan County. High resolution MODIS satellite imagery combined with aerial surveys show a well-defined path of tree/vegetation damage between 1/2 and 3/4 mile wide indicative of low end EF-3 wind speeds of around 140 MPH. Just before crossing the Tennessee River into Limestone County, this tornado may have done some unconfirmed structural damage to a few buildings in an Industrial Park area along Mallard Fox Dr NW and Independence Ave.

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°FJun 29, 2012

All-time low

−11°F2 times, most recently Jan 21, 1985

Warmest night

79°F2 times, most recently Aug 9, 2010

Coldest day

9°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

9.07 inDec 22, 1990

Snowiest day

15.7 inDec 31, 1963

Hottest year

2016mean 65.0°F

Coldest year

1976mean 58.2°F

Wettest year

198973.58 in

Driest year

200728.65 in

Snowiest season

24.1 in1963-64

Station Huntsville Intnl Airport (USW00003856), 623 ft elevation, 12.6 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1958 to October 26, 2026; 99.8% 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.

Declarations for Morgan County.

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.

• 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 USW00003856.
• 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.