Cumberland

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 Allegany County, the county that contains Cumberland.

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 Allegany County, the county that contains Cumberland.

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 Allegany County, the county that contains Cumberland.

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.

Mapped landslides

Landslides mapped in Allegany County.

Mapped by NASA (4).

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. Jan 19, 1996Flood, Allegany$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   *** River Flooding ***High dew point temperatures melted most of the snow on the ground within 12 hours, with liquid water equivalent ranging from 1 to 3 inches. Snowmelt combined with 1 to 3 inches of rain (some locations received 5 inches) to produce, in some cases, catastrophic river flooding. The flooding was the worst in the region since 1985. River flooding began during the flood/flash flood event along the headwaters of the basins and continued downstream through the 22nd. Crests ranged from 3 to 21 feet above flood stage. Record flooding occurred on Wills Creek near Cumberland (MDZ002), damaging all dwellings in the town of Locust Grove. Almost all dwellings in the town of…

2. Sep 6, 1996Flood, Allegany$9.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Torrential rains associated with Tropical Storm Fran caused the rapid onset of river flooding along the headwaters of the Potomac River late on the 6th, spreading gradually southeast throughout the entire basin by early on the 10th. Crests were similar to those seen in January 1996 across the Lower main stem of the Potomac. Levels were 1 to 5 feet higher than in January across the Upper main stem of the Potomac.Western Allegany Co (MDZ002) was hit the hardest. The nearly $1 million in property damage included 14 destroyed homes, 19 with major damage, and 500 with minor to moderate damage. The damage was concentrated along the Potomac and the Georges Creek in the towns of…

3. Jan 19, 1996Flash Flood$7.0 million
4. Jun 2, 1998Tornado$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The combination of an upper-level disturbance, increasing atmospheric shear, and ample instability set the stage for a major severe weather episode across the north half of Maryland during the late afternoon and evening. The episode was highlighted by supercell thunderstorms which produced three tornadoes, numerous instances of large hail, and several downbursts.The most substantial event was a strong-to-violent tornado which caused excessive damage in western Allegany Co. The multi-vortex twister had estimated wind speeds of 210 mph - the highest in recorded Maryland history - when it ravaged a neighborhood of well-constructed single-family homes along a local plateau just north…

5. Sep 11, 2000Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads, creeks, and structures were flooded.

6. May 27, 2002Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Interstate 68 was closed by flooding and an apartment building was evacuated after Elk Lick Run overflowed.

7. Apr 19, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Allegany County 911 Call Center took over 100 calls for trees, wires, and poles down across the northern part of the county, particularly in Midlothian, Mount Savage, Barrelville, Corriganville, Little Orleans and Bellegrove. Four people were injured by a falling tree. Roof damage was reported to homes in Frostburg, and shingle damage was reported in Cumberland. Spotters across the county reported it was the worst wind they had seen from a thunderstorm since the derecho in 2012, with multiple trees and large tree limbs down on spotters' properties.

8. Oct 29, 2012High Wind, Extreme Western Allegany$452,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous tree damage due to both high winds and heavy snow occurred in the county. Downed trees and downed trees into homes and some businesses caused power outages. At the height of the storm, over 9000 were without in the entire county.

9. Oct 29, 2012High Wind, Central And Eastern Allegany$452,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous tree damage due to both high winds and heavy snow. There were downed trees and downed trees into homes and some businesses caused power outages.

10. Aug 7, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Hundreds of trees blew down near Lonaconing. Most roads in the area were impassable.

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

105°F3 times, most recently Jul 22, 2011

All-time low

−14°F4 times, most recently Jan 19, 1994

Warmest night

82°FJul 24, 2010

Coldest day

6°F2 times, most recently Jan 19, 1994

Wettest day

4.63 inSep 7, 1996

Snowiest day

21.0 inFeb 6, 2010

Hottest year

2006mean 57.0°F

Coldest year

1996mean 52.3°F

Wettest year

201867.06 in

Driest year

199126.57 in

Snowiest season

66.1 in1993-94

Station Cumberland 2 (USC00182282), 730 ft elevation, 0.7 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1974 to October 27, 2026; 98.2% 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 Allegany 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 USC00182282.
• 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.