Allentown

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 Lehigh County, the county that contains Allentown.

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 Lehigh County, the county that contains Allentown.

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 Lehigh County, the county that contains Allentown.

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.

Mapped landslides

Landslides mapped in Lehigh County.

Mapped by NASA (1).

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. Sep 1, 2021Flash Flood$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flash flooding occurred in Lehigh County with many road closures. There was flooding along numerous waterways in the county, including the Lehigh River and Little Lehigh Creek.

2. Aug 11, 2001Flash Flood$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Slow moving thunderstorms with torrential downpours caused flash flooding in Salisbury and Upper Saucon Townships in southeastern Lehigh County. Flooding of Main Street businesses resulted in about 10 million dollars in damage. Doppler Radar storm total estimates were between 6 and 8 inches. No serious injuries were reported.

3. Sep 18, 2004Flash Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The remnants of Hurricane Ivan interacting with a slowly moving cold front caused widespread very heavy rain to fall during the first half of the day on the 18th in Lehigh County. Storm totals average around 5 inches and caused widespread poor drainage, creek and river flooding throughout the county. Hardest hit were the city of Allentown, Lower Macungie and Macungie Townships. It was estimated that 85 homes, 31 businesses and five public buildings and structures were damaged. The preliminary damage estimate was five million dollars. The Lehigh River at Walnutport (Northampton County) was above its 8 foot flood stage from 904 a.m. EDT on the 18th through 102 a.m. EDT on the 19th.…

4. Oct 29, 2012High Wind, Lehigh$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Post Tropical Storm Sandy caused an initial estimate of $20 million dollars in damage in Pennsylvania and directly or indirectly caused 15 deaths across the state. Most of the damage in the eastern part of the state was wind related as wind gusts reached as high as 81 mph. Some moderate creek flooding occurred in the southeast part of the state and record tidal flooding occurred along the tidal Delaware River. Hundreds of roads were closed because of downed trees and major transportation in and out of the region was halted for two days and only slowly returned starting on the 31st. PECO Energy which serves customers in southeastern Pennsylvania, broke their all-time outage record…

5. Jan 7, 1996Blizzard, Lehigh$2.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Blizzard of '96, the second coined "STORM OF THE CENTURY" of this decade brought record breaking snow to most of Southeast Pennsylvania and paralyzed the region for several days, caused most municipalities to exceed their annual snow budgets during this one storm, caused several building collapses and caused directly or directly 42 deaths and countless injuries. Six persons died of hypothermia, 4 in Philadelphia, 1 in Delaware County and 1 in Lehigh County. Some were homeless persons, but one woman in Allentown accidentally locked herself out of her home. Twenty-nine persons suffered heart attacks and died while shoveling snow, using snowblowers or trying to walk in the deep…

6. Sep 6, 2008Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF1 tornado with maximum wind gusts of about 95 mph touched down in East Allentown. The tornado damaged about 50 homes and the Louis E. Dieruff High School which was closed until September 10th. About 100 trees were damaged or destroyed. The tornado touched down between North Ortt Street and East Cedar Street behind the Lehigh Valley Christian High School on Oswego Street. It proceeded to move west paralleling East Cedar Street and reached its maximum strength around North Kearney Street where EF1 damage started. The high school was within the path of the strongest part of the tornado. The tornado started to weaken just before it crossed North Irving Street and lifted around…

7. Sep 18, 2003High Wind, Lehigh$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tropical Storm Isabel produced strong power outage producing winds, moderate tidal flooding along the Delaware River and stream flooding in Chester County. Isabel made landfall as a hurricane near Drum Inlet, North Carolina around 100 p.m. EDT on the 18th and weakened as it tracked farther inland. At one time in its life cycle, it was a powerful Category 5 hurricane when it was north of the Leewood Islands. Winds gusted up to 60 mph in Eastern Pennsylvania and downed countless numbers of trees, tree limbs and power lines. It was the worst outage on record for PECO Energy in southeastern Pennsylvania. About 572,425 of its customers lost power. This exceeded the outages that…

8. Jul 29, 2007Lightning$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A lightning strike at about 930 a.m. EDT and the ensuing fire badly damaged the Whitehall Township municipal building. Heavy rain that also fell exacerbated the damage. More than 150 firefighters assisted in extinguishing the blaze. The roof of the building (a 20 foot by 30 foot section) partially collapsed and damaged several administrative offices, computers and phones. Some records burned. A state of emergency was declared. Damage to the building was estimated as much as one million dollars. No serious injuries were reported.

9. Jun 27, 2006Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several days of heavy rain throughout the Delaware River Basin culminated with flash flooding of smaller streams during bursts of heavier rain during the night of the 27th and minor to moderate flooding along the Lehigh River. Sporadic periods of heavy rain started on the 23rd, but the most widespread and heaviest rain fell from the night of the 27th into the morning of the 28th. Event totals in Lehigh County averaged five to nine inches, but storm totals exceeded ten inches in the headwaters of the Lehigh River in the Poconos.Governor Ed Rendell declared a disaster emergency in the state on the 28th. In Eastern Pennsylvania approximately 5000 homes, apartments and businesses were…

10. Jan 19, 1996Flood, Lehigh$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    The combination of snowmelt from the previous week's two storms, unseasonably warm temperatures and an additional one to two inches of rain caused the flash flooding of almost every small stream and significant roadway flooding the afternoon and early evening hours on the 19th. Major flooding of the larger streams and rivers in Pennsylvania continued through the 21st. The flooding caused three deaths, all in Montgomery County, three injuries and about $50 million dollars in property damage. All of Pennsylvania was declared a disaster area and extra public assistance was given to Northampton, Bucks and Monroe Counties, the hardest hit counties in the Southern Poconos and Southeast…

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°FJul 3, 1966

All-time low

−15°FJan 21, 1994

Warmest night

79°FJul 15, 1995

Coldest day

2°FJan 19, 1994

Wettest day

8.71 inOct 8, 2005

Snowiest day

30.2 inJan 23, 2016

Hottest year

2012mean 54.6°F

Coldest year

1967mean 49.0°F

Wettest year

201171.72 in

Driest year

198029.82 in

Snowiest season

75.4 in1995-96

Station Allentown Lehigh Vly International Airport (USW00014737), 385 ft elevation, 4.2 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1948 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 Lehigh 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 USW00014737.
• 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.