Oak Ridge

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 Anderson County, the county that contains Oak Ridge.

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.

The drought index is for Anderson County, the county that contains Oak Ridge.

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 Anderson 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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Feb 23, 2019Flood$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Portion of Dairy Pond Road closed. All told, Emergency Management estimated about $600,000 in flood damages across Anderson County from the overall event.

2. Jul 3, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several reports of trees blown down by severe thunderstorm wind gusts across Oak Ridge with Facebook pictures of multiple trees down. Multiple trees are on houses. Small hail also occurred during the severe winds.

3. Nov 10, 2002Tornado$213,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F2 tornado produced a damage path 75 yards wide for a distance of 5.5 miles from near Briceville to Medford. The Medford community received the brunt of the damage, which was concentrated along Highway 25W, Leinart Road, Bryant Circle and Old and New Clear Branch roads. In all, 32 homes were damaged while 3 were totally destroyed. In addition, 9 mobile homes were damaged.

4. Jul 3, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large tree, blown down by severe thunderstorm winds, landed on a home in Oliver Springs, resulting in severe damage to the home.

5. Jul 5, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A 100 year old elm tree fell onto a home which resulted in damage to the home's deck, back room, and the roof over the kitchen.

6. Apr 3, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees were reported down across the county although the greatest concentration of tree damaged was in the vicinity of Lake City. Also Lighthouse Marina on Norris Dam sustained damage to the docks and boats.

7. Feb 14, 2003Flood, Anderson$58,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Four day rainfall totals of two to eight inches fell across east Tennessee, with the highest amounts occurring across the Cumberland Plateau and adjacent valleys areas. This rainfall combined with a melting snowpack (reports of up to a foot in the higher elevations) to produce widespread flooding of rivers and streams with numerous mudslides also reported (one notable mudslide pushed an apartment complex off its foundation in Knox County). The Powell, Clinch and Holston rivers measured the most significant rises with Claiborne, Rhea and Knox counties reporting the most significant damage.

8. Jul 21, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large oak tree weighing approximately 70 tons fell on a three bedroom home as a result of thunderstorm wind gusts caving in a section and cracking the walls and foundation.

9. Jun 24, 2011Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An NWS storm survey reported an EF-1 tornado touched down 6 miles east of Oak Ridge. It formed near the Bull Run Fossil Fuel Plant then traveled northeast toward near Etmore Road just east of Oak Ridge. It had a path length of 1.5 miles and a path width of 80 yards. The max winds of 90 mph downed numerous trees and produced slight roof damage on 3 homes.

10. May 26, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$40,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thirty to forty trees were reported down on highway 95 in south Oak Ridge.

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 28, 1952

All-time low

−17°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

81°FAug 8, 1998

Coldest day

10°F3 times, most recently Dec 22, 1989

Wettest day

7.45 inAug 10, 1960

Snowiest day

12.0 inMar 9, 1960

Hottest year

1998mean 61.6°F

Coldest year

1976mean 54.4°F

Wettest year

200378.18 in

Driest year

195837.43 in

Snowiest season

41.4 in1959-60

Station Oak Ridge Atdd (USW00003841), 1,019 ft elevation, 4.5 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1948 to November 30, 2025; 94.5% 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 Anderson 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 USW00003841.
• 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.