Petal

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 Forrest County, the county that contains Petal.

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 Forrest County, the county that contains Petal.

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 Forrest County, the county that contains Petal.

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 Forrest County.

Mapped by NASA (2).

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. Aug 29, 2005Hurricane (Typhoon), Forrest$750 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. Feb 10, 2013Tornado$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado started along Highway 589, where some limbs and small trees were blown down. It became intense rather quickly, producing significant damage as it moved through the West Lake Serene area. The tornado reached its maximum intensity in the area around and just southwest of Oak Grove High School where maximum winds were estimated at 170 mph, which is EF-4 strength. There was a brick home in a subdivision southwest of the high school, just west of old Highway 11, that was completely leveled with all interior and exterior walls down, and a fair amount of large debris was blown downstream. Additionally, very high end timber damage occurred in this location with a number of…

3. Jan 21, 2017Tornado$9.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado began along Purvis-Oloh Road, about 5 miles west northwest of Purvis. It tracked northeast across portions of Lamar County causing mainly tree damage, uprooting and snapping softwood and hardwood trees. It caused some minor to moderate structural damage as well. The tornado crossed Old Highway 11, continuing to cause mainly tree damage, although at least a few structures were also damaged. The tornado began to gain strength as it reached Slade Road, where some homes received roof damage. As the tornado crossed Sullivan Kilrain Road, additional homes received significant roof and structural damage, especially on Carter Circle and Tatum Camp Road. Comprehensive…

4. Mar 12, 2001Tornado$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm produced a tornado that moved out of Walthall County into Marion County, about two miles west of Kokomo. The tornado traveled five miles to a point three miles eastnortheast of Kokomo. The next tornado touched down about two miles east of Columbia and traveled six miles to a point seven miles eastnortheast of Columbia. The next tornado touched down nine miles eastnortheast of Columbia and traveled into Lamar County to a point four miles northeast of Oak Grove. The final tornado produced by the supercell in the Jackson NWS County Warning Area touched down in the northwest part of the city of Hattiesburg and traveled across northern sections of Hattiesburg…

5. Mar 18, 1996Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to the size of golfballs fell over this area. Many windows were broken as well as roofs and cars being damaged.

6. Mar 18, 1996Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Baseball size hail damaged many automobiles and roofs of houses and broke out many windows. Hail completely covered the ground and lasted up to two hours.

7. May 11, 2019Flash Flood$1.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several roads across southern Forrest County were flooded including portions of Old Highway 49 between Brooklyn and Maxie. A few roads were also washed out including Churchwell Road, Tower Road, Entrekin Road, Worth Nall Road, and Bud Myers Road.

8. Mar 3, 2008Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado touched down at Camp Shelby and snapped or uprooted numerous trees, and downed several power lines along the short path. Twelve buildings, mostly barracks, were damaged. Several buildings had the roofs severely damaged with one roof nearly completely torn off. Several walls of the barrack buildings collapsed where the roof support was lost. A hummer was turned over and windows were blown out of several other vehicles. Maximum wind speed was 110 mph.

9. Jun 5, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were blown down across the city of Hattiesburg blocking many of the roads and highways. Winds heavily damaged twenty-five homes and twenty-five mobile homes. Forty-five people were injured and two people were killed. The two fatalities were both in automobiles which ran into falling trees or the trees fell on them.

10. Apr 6, 2025Tornado$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Tornado touched down east of I-59, snapping trees and causing damage to a billboard sign near the interstate. The tornado traveled northeast, causing shingle damage to roofs and uprooting trees between Eatonville Rd and Monroe Rd. Tornado cross Leaf River, where it reached EF-2 intensity of 115 mph and total width of 400 yds. EF-2 damage found west of HWY 11 near Pierce Construction where 2 homes sustained roof damage. Both homes had a significant portion of their roofs missing. Two RVs where also overturned with numerous trees snapped and uprooted. Tornado crossed HWY 11 and damaged a single wide mobile building and large construction building at Dunn Roadbuilders. The tornado…

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

108°F3 times, most recently Aug 15, 2007

All-time low

3°F2 times, most recently Dec 24, 1989

Warmest night

83°FJun 22, 1904

Coldest day

18°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

9.20 inJun 5, 1928

Snowiest day

10.0 inJan 1, 1964

Hottest year

1911mean 68.1°F

Coldest year

1940mean 62.2°F

Wettest year

194980.61 in

Driest year

195433.89 in

Snowiest season

10.0 in1963-64

Station Laurel (USC00224939), 225 ft elevation, 23.6 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1891 to October 28, 2026; 88.5% 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 Forrest 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 USC00224939.
• 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.