Alpharetta

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 Fulton County, the county that contains Alpharetta.

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 Fulton County, the county that contains Alpharetta.

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 Fulton County, the county that contains Alpharetta.

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. Sep 21, 2009Flood$48.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Record and in some cases catastrophic, flooding continued to expand across the northern and western portions of the Atlanta metropolitan area as renewed rounds of showers and thunderstorms with very heavy rain tracked repeatedly over the same areas throughout the day. Portions of hundreds of roads in the county were closed from flooding and washed out bridges and/or culverts. Even the Downtown Connector, Interstate-75/85, was closed for several hours because of flooding causing major traffic backups in the area. Hundreds of homes, apartments, and businesses sustained significant flood damage. Record flooding was occurring on Peachtree Creek and Nancy Creek in the north part of…

2. Mar 14, 2008Tornado$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A ground and aerial survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia in cooperation with the Atlanta Police Department, confirmed that an EF2 tornado tracked through the heart of the city of Atlanta causing millions of dollars of damage to buildings, including several high rise business and/or hotel buildings, within the downtown Atlanta area. The tornado also resulted in one death and 30 non-life threatening injuries. The death occurred on Decatur Street across from the Martin Luther King MARTA station.||The tornado first touched down near the intersection of Simpson and Burbank Streets in the Vine City neighborhood just west of downtown…

3. Sep 21, 2009Flood$21.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fulton county emergency management personnel and USGS stream gages confirmed that major to record flooding continued across much of the county. Hundreds of homes, apartments, businesses, and roads sustained damages from flooding. A number of culverts and/or bridges were washed out and several roads were closed. Flood waters began to recede after 830 am EDT on the 22nd, however many locations, especially along the Chattahoochee River and the western border of the county, remained in moderate to major flood through 715 am EDT on the 23rd. Monetary damage from flooding continued to mount, with damage nearing $22 million during this time period.

4. Sep 16, 2004Flash Flood$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous reports were received from the Fulton County Emergency Manager, the media, and the public of extensive flooding across much of the Atlanta metropolitan area, especially the northern part of the county. Widespread flooding of roads, streets, and highways was reported throughout the county, several of which had to be closed. Many homes, businesses, property, and vehicles across the county were flooded during the event. However, major flooding was reported in many areas of the central and northern part of the county, specifically between Interstates 20 and 285. Some areas experienced catastrophic and historical flooding, with some of the worst flooding reported in nearly 100…

5. Apr 8, 1998Tornado$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado continued into Fulton county before lifting temporarily. Large trees were snapped, power lines were downed and damage occurred to buildings. Four minor injuries were reported.

6. Jul 23, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$8.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, along with public, numerous ham radio reports, and county 911 reports indicated that widespread and substantial damage was done by a thunderstorm with winds estimated at 60 to 65 mph. Hundreds of trees littered the roads and knocked down power lines across southern Fulton county, from just south of the Atlanta International Airport to the Fayette county line. Highway 279 was blocked for several hours with debris. Dozens of homes sustained roof and some structural damage as large trees, mostly pines, fell on them and two windows were damaged at one home in College Park. Six to eight vehicles were damaged along Old National Highway when large…

7. Mar 15, 2008Hail$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Fulton County Emergency Management Director observed baseball-sized hail across downtown Atlanta. Because of the extensive damage caused by the tornado the previous evening, it was hard to distinguish what damage was caused by the hail, but chards of glass were reported to have been spread across much of the downtown area. In addition, the public reported golf ball-sized hail southwest of Six Flags, just south of Interstate-20 in western Fulton county, including the area around Fulton Industrial Boulevard, and an off duty National Weather Service employee observed penny-sized hail just southeast of downtown Atlanta in the Grant Park area. An amateur radio operator relayed a…

8. Sep 21, 2009Flash Flood$4.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several USGS stream gages in Fulton county indicated that significant flooding was commencing across Fulton county, especially the central and northern portion of the county. Peachtree Creek at Northside Drive reached its flood stage of 17 feet at 353 am EDT. Nancy Creek at Rickenbacker Drive reached its flood stage of 11 feet at 444 am EDT. The Chattahoochee River near Vingings and Paces Ferry Road reached its flood stage of 14 feet at 501 am EDT. Many homes, apartments, businesses, and roads experienced at least moderate flooding by the end of this time period. The heavy rain caused some trees to fall in water logged soil, causing minor power outages in the Sandy Springs area.…

9. Apr 15, 2011Hail$4.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The public observed quarter to golf ball-sized hail near and southwest of Sandy Springs in north Fulton county. Hail as large as ping-pong balls was also observed around Roswell.

10. Apr 5, 2017Hail$4.1 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    The Fulton County Emergency Manager relayed a report from the Fire Chief of golf ball size hail in Chattahoochee Hills area around the intersection of Wilkerson Mill Road and Cascade-Palmetto Road.

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 30, 2012

All-time low

−8°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

82°FAug 8, 2007

Coldest day

15°F2 times, most recently Jan 30, 1966

Wettest day

6.68 inOct 4, 1995

Snowiest day

8.3 inJan 23, 1940

Hottest year

2019mean 66.2°F

Coldest year

1976mean 59.1°F

Wettest year

194871.45 in

Driest year

195431.80 in

Snowiest season

10.9 in1935-36

Station Atlanta Hartsfield-jackson Int (USW00013874), 1,011 ft elevation, 32.0 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1930 to October 27, 2026; 100.0% 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 Fulton 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 USW00013874.
• 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.