Charlottesville

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 Charlottesville city, the county that contains Charlottesville.

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 Charlottesville city, the county that contains Charlottesville.

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. Sep 18, 2003High Wind, Albemarle$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   By 9 pm on September 18, a rain band associated with Isabel had set up over the Shenandoah Valley and showers were training southward into the Blue Ridge Mountains on the east side of Augusta County. The rain gauge located at Upper Sherando had recorded over 6 inches of rain and more was to come. County officials quickly began evacuations of homes downstream. In all 350 people in the South River area would be evacuated and 21 of those ended up being by boat. Water flowed down the Black Creek at 60 mph washing out the bridge and several hundred feet of asphalt along Route 608. Four spillways to dams flooded causing damage but none of them failed. There was $125,000 damage to the…

2. May 13, 2000Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado moved across the northern portion of the city and damaged several trees and structures and injured 1 person.

3. Jan 14, 2006High Wind, Albemarle$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Scattered trees and powerlines down countywide.

4. Mar 5, 2007Wildfire, Albemarle$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Albemarle County Fire-Rescue Officers reported about a half-dozen fires were caused by downed power lines. No injuries were reported and many of the fires were quickly contained, however one farm building off Old Lynchburg Road burned.|

5. Jun 23, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A warm front, combined with another potent (for the season) upper-level disturbance, set the stage for strong to severe thunderstorms across the western piedmont and central Shenandoah Valley during the afternoon and evening. Severe weather, mainly in the form of thunderstorm winds, was confined to Albemarle and Nelson Cos. Heaviest damage was noted in the Charlottesville area, where dozens of trees and large limbs fell, several onto cars and a few onto homes. Another severe storm, containing estimated winds gusts between 60 and 80 mph, mangled tree branches and split other trees in two in Maurertown along local route 625. One of the trees fell onto a home, causing minor…

6. Jun 29, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong upper-level disturbance passed through the region in a northwest flow aloft. Extremely hot and humid conditions caused high amounts of instability. The upper-level disturbance triggered a line of thunderstorms that moved through the area. Due to the high instability, thunderstorms caused widespread wind damage.

7. Aug 25, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines downed, damage to cars and homes from fallen trees

8. Jan 7, 1996Blizzard, Albemarle$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An historic winter storm, known as the "Blizzard of '96", crippled all of northern Virginia during the first full weekend of January. In general, snow totals ranged from 20 inches on the coastal plain (VAZ052>53; 055>057) to over 3 feet at the higher elevations of the central and northern Shenandoah Valley. To complicate matters, winds gusting in excess of 35 mph produced drifts of 4 to 7 feet, except over 10 feet in the mountains. The storm produced the largest statewide storm totals since the "Megalopolitan Storm" of February 11th, 1983. Numerous 24-hour accumulation records were shattered at airports from southwest Virginia through New England; Washington/Dulles airport (IAD;…

9. Jun 6, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$18,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees were downed. One person was injured when a tree fell onto a car on Old Ivy Road. Two others were seriously injured when a tree fell onto a car on Sherwood Rd.

10. Apr 15, 2007High Wind, Albemarle$15,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The public reported several trees down and roof damage at a home and neighboring building at Via Lane north of White Hall, VA. Virginia Department of Transportation reported numerous road closures due to downed trees and power lines across the county.

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

106°FJul 8, 2012

All-time low

−6°FJan 17, 1982

Warmest night

88°FJul 21, 1957

Coldest day

10°FFeb 18, 1979

Wettest day

9.21 inOct 5, 1972

Snowiest day

11.0 inJan 29, 1966

Hottest year

2023mean 60.7°F

Coldest year

1967mean 54.9°F

Wettest year

200368.68 in

Driest year

198814.90 in

Station Charlottesville Albemarle Airport (USW00093736), 631 ft elevation, 7.1 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1955 to October 27, 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 Charlottesville city.

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 USW00093736.
• 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.