Meridian

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 Lauderdale County, the county that contains Meridian.

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 Lauderdale County, the county that contains Meridian.

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 Lauderdale County, the county that contains Meridian.

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.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

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. Aug 29, 2005Hurricane (Typhoon), Lauderdale$450 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Katrina will likely go down as the worst and costliest natural disaster in United States history. The amount of destruction, the cost of damaged property/agriculture and the large loss of life across the affected region has been overwhelming. Catastrophic damage was widespread across a large portion of the Gulf Coast region. The devastation was not only confined to the coastal region, widespread and significant damage occurred well inland up to the Hattiesburg area and northward past Interstate 20. This hurricane has changed life as we know it across the Gulf Coast region which will take many years to return to normal.Hurricane Katrina was a very large and powerful storm…

2. Apr 7, 2003Flash Flood$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several rounds of thunderstorms dumped 5 to 10 inches of rain across most of Lauderdale county. Widespread street flooding occurred with numerous county roads flooded and even washed out.

3. Dec 16, 2000Tornado$2.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F2 tornado caused major damage in the Marion and Dalewood Shore Lake communities, northeast of Meridian. Two houses and thirteen mobile homes were destroyed. Eleven houses and twelve mobile homes received major damage. Thirty-three houses and twenty-two mobile homes received minor damage. Three businesses were destroyed and one business had minor damage. Thousands of trees were blown down or snapped off, and numerous power poles and power lines were also downed. Seventeen people were injured, including one in critical condition.

4. Apr 24, 2003Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several rounds of thunderstorms and continued heavy rain caused significant flooding in Meridian. Several roads were covered with one to two feet of water. Many creeks were well out of their banks with a few buildings having water in them. Several roads and bridges were damaged. The high water caused portions of roads to be washed out.

5. Feb 2, 2016Tornado$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado began southwest of Collinsville near Honeysuckle Drive. It caused damage to numerous homes in this subdivision, mainly to roofs. The tornado then tracked northeast through other subdivisions along Magnolia Road, again causing roof damage that ranged from minor shingle damage to roofs completely destroyed. The tornado also caused extensive damage to a mobile home along Magnolia Drive. As the tornado crossed Highway 494, it caused additional roof damage to a home as well as lifting a mobile home. As the tornado crossed a subdivision along Collinsville Circle, it caused additional roof damage with some extensive. As the tornado tracked near Highway 19, it caused extensive…

6. May 4, 2021Thunderstorm Wind$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A line of severe thunderstorms with 60-80mph winds moved through Lauderdale County on the afternoon of May 4th. These winds resulted in a swath of extensive damage across the county with numerous trees and power lines downed. In addition, at least 50 homes received damage and the roof of an apartment complex was blown off. The ASOS at Meridian Key Field measured a 61mph gust while the ASOS at Naval Meridian measured a 65mph gust.

7. Feb 5, 2020Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This long track tornado affected the counties of Jasper, Clarke and Lauderdale. This tornado began in Jasper County south of Bay Springs along County Road 9, where it snapped several softwood trees and some minor peeling of the tin roof of a home also occurred. It progressed northeast and crossed MS Highway 15 where it snapped a few softwood trees. As the tornado moved northeast to County Road 17, it began to ramp up in intensity as it caused a fire tower to bend and pulled the cement foundation several feet out of the ground. Additionally, it destroyed a nearby trailer, a nearby barn and caused some minor damage to the roof of a one-story home. The tornado continued its…

8. Feb 11, 2010Heavy Snow, Lauderdale$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Between 4 and 5 inches of snow fell across Lauderdale County, with 5 inches reported in Lauderdale.

9. Jan 1, 2010Cold/Wind Chill, Lauderdale$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An fatality occurred in the county do due hypothermia. A 68 year old male was found in an unheated house in the Zero community. An elderly woman was also a fatality that occurred in an unheated home in the county.

10. Jul 10, 2005Hurricane (Typhoon), Lauderdale$800,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Hurricane Dennis made landfall during the afternoon of July 10th near Navarre Beach Florida as a category 3 Hurricane. The storm moved north-northwest across Southwest Alabama and then into East-Central Mississippi and finally across Northeast Mississippi during the overnight hours. Wind gusts over tropical storm force were common across areas east of a line from Starkville to Newton to Hattiesburg. These winds caused several hundred trees to uproot or snap and took down numerous power lines. Additionally, a total of 21 homes or businesses sustained minor to major damage from fallen trees or gusty winds. Here are a few locations with the strongest measured wind gusts:Meridian (Key…

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

107°FJul 14, 1980

All-time low

0°FJan 12, 1962

Warmest night

79°F5 times, most recently Aug 12, 2023

Coldest day

16°FJan 10, 1962

Wettest day

7.99 inDec 25, 1973

Snowiest day

14.0 inDec 31, 1963

Hottest year

2016mean 67.5°F

Coldest year

1976mean 61.0°F

Wettest year

197379.03 in

Driest year

195435.34 in

Snowiest season

18.6 in1963-64

Station Meridian Key Field (USW00013865), 289 ft elevation, 5.0 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1944 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 Lauderdale 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 USW00013865.
• 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.