Sanford

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 Seminole County, the county that contains Sanford.

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 Seminole County, the county that contains Sanford.

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 Seminole County, the county that contains Sanford.

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. Sep 10, 2017Tropical Storm, Seminole$543 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Category 3 Hurricane Irma made landfall near Naples during the late afternoon of September 10. Irma then moved northward across west-central Florida during the overnight period while weakening to a Category 1 hurricane approximately 80 miles west of Sanford. A long duration of damaging winds occurred across Seminole County, with a period of gusts to minimal hurricane force. The highest measured sustained wind was recorded at the Orlando/Sanford Airport ASOS (KSFB; 55 mph from the southeast at 0151LST on September 11) and the highest measured peak gust was 75 mph from the southeast at 0231LST. A preliminary damage assessment from the county listed 5,130 affected residential and…

2. Sep 28, 2022Flood$241 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall totals averaging between 12 to 14 inches, with locally higher amounts of up to 16 inches were reported, resulting in widespread street, urban, and poor drainage flooding. County officials reported significant residential flooding in homes along both the Little and Big Econlockhatchee Rivers near Oviedo, as well as Howell and Gee Creeks in Winter Springs. An on-site survey, combined with county areal photography, confirmed major flooding along the Little Wekiva River, with water entering numerous homes along Little Wekiva Rd. in the Spring Oaks subdivision of Altamonte Springs. See separate entry for details on the significant (flash) flooding event which affected the…

3. Aug 13, 2004High Wind, Seminole$47.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Charley made landfall over southwest Florida as a category four hurricane with estimated sustained wind speeds of 150 mph. Moving north northeast at about 25 mph Charley crossed central Florida maintaining hurricane intensity through Osceola, Orange, Seminole, and Volusia counties. In Osceola County, widespread power outages and damage were reported, mostly to roofs, pool enclosures, awnings, weak buildings, and mobile homes. Much of the damage was due to the thousands of trees blown down. The greatest damage occurred in northwest Osceola County as the eye wall passed over the communities of Poinciana, Kissimmee and St. Cloud. Dozens of planes and numerous hangars were…

4. Feb 23, 1998Tornado$30.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Seminole County category F3 tornado was produced by the same supercell that produced the Winter Garden tornado. It initially set down near Longwood and moved northeast at 45 mph. The tornado passed through several neighborhhoods in the southeast portion of Sanford killing 12 people in mobile homes and injuring 70. It continued northeast and crossed into Volusia County 5 miles east of Sanford. The near 200 mph winds of the tornado damaged or destroy 625 structures.

5. Jul 1, 1998Wildfire$30.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The excessive heat and lack of rain that existed over east central Florida for much of June and July resulted in wild fires beginning in June and spreading over huge areas of Volusia and Brevard counties in late June and early July. Wild fires were also reported in Orange and Seminole counties. Hundreds of firefighters were called in from all over the Nation to help battle the fires. No major population centres were threatened but a huge battle was waged to keep the fires out of the towns of Mims and Scottsmoor. Residents of the area suffered may days of breathing heavy smoke that significantly reduced visibility. At one point Interstate 95 was closed through northern Brevard and…

6. Oct 9, 2024Flood$27.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Seminole County Emergency Management reported significant urban, street, and low-lying flooding as a result of 4 to 8 inches (southeast) 8 to 12 inches (northwest) of rain in association with Hurricane Milton. A period of very heavy rainfall rates associated with the core of the storm led to flash flooding during the overnight period (Oct 9 - 10).||The heavy rain that fell as a result of the storm also led to a long-term river flood event along the St. Johns with the river near Geneva entering major flood on Oct 14, peaking at 10.15 feet on Oct 15. At Deland, the river rapidly rose to major flood stage on Oct 11, peaking at 5.49 ft on Oct. 14.

7. Oct 7, 2016Tropical Depression, Seminole$15.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   As major Hurricane Matthew passed east of the Space Coast during the morning of October 7, winds gusted to tropical storm force for over 12 hours across Seminole County. One death was directly related to the hurricane. An 86-year old man in Casselberry was struck by a door that swung open during the storm. He later died at a nearby hospital. Initial damage assessments indicates 631 properties affected in some way and an additional 17 with major damage and 93 with minor damage. Damage to residences and businesses was mainly due to falling trees and branches. Initial property damage estimated at $15 million. Up to 70,000 customers were without power at the height of the storm.

8. Sep 4, 2004High Wind, Seminole$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The center of category 2 Hurricane Frances reached the Florida East near Sewall's point in Martin County early on September 5th but began spreading hurricane force wind gusts across most of Central Florida by 11 pm on September 4th. Frances entered Central Florida moving west northwest at 7 mph and maintained hurricane strength as it crossed the east half of the Florida Peninsula. Frances was downgraded to a tropical storm in the afternoon on the 5th when it was about 50 miles east of Tampa Bay. In Okeechobee County, little direct observational wind data is available, but wind estimates from the Hurricane Research Division show sustained hurricane force winds over most of the…

9. Sep 26, 2004Strong Wind, Seminole$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   As the center of Hurricane Jeanne crossed Okeechobee County and moved into west Central Florida, wind gusts to near 80 mph crossed the county. No direct wind or pressure observations were available in the county from Jeanne. Winds gusting to hurricane force damaged and destroyed residences and mobile homes, damaged roofs and out buildings. Damage estimates were near $10 million. In Osceola County gusts to hurricane strength damaged and destroyed residences with an estimated $11 million in damage. Agricultural damage, mainly to citrus, was $8 million. Orange County was also hit hard by the rain bands on the north side of Hurricane Jeanne. Extensive damage to residences, businesses…

10. Mar 10, 2025Tornado$3.9 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    The circulation touched down at approximately 9:35 AM EDT near the southeastern edge of Wekiwa Springs State Park where it produced mainly vegetative damage in the form of downed oak and pine trees, with peak winds of 80 to 90 mph. The tornado continued on a northeast trajectory where it crossed a wooded area of the state park and into the Wingfield Reserve subdivision of Longwood. Here, more trees were downed in the vicinity of Alvarado Ct and Wingfield Dr due to winds of 80 to 85 mph.||More substantial damage was noted in the Whispering Winds subdivision where a significant number of oak trees were downed and snapped by EF-1 winds of up to 100 mph. Several residential structures…

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

101°F2 times, most recently Jun 6, 2024

All-time low

22°FDec 13, 1962

Warmest night

83°FAug 7, 2024

Coldest day

40°F2 times, most recently Jan 9, 2010

Wettest day

9.42 inSep 29, 2022

Hottest year

2015mean 75.1°F

Coldest year

2010mean 70.6°F

Wettest year

200272.05 in

Driest year

200030.75 in

Station Orlando Sanford Airport (USW00012854), 49 ft elevation, 2.0 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1945 to October 27, 2026; 92.1% 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.

Declarations for Seminole 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 USW00012854.
• 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.