Martinsville

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.

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

The drought index is for Martinsville city, the county that contains Martinsville.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 10, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds blew trees down all across the City of Martinsville. One tree fell on an occupied airport cab from Greensboro, NC. The car was totaled, however the male driver escaped only with a concussion. There were no passengers. Power lines were also brought down across the city.

2. May 18, 2018Flash Flood$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads were flooded across the City of Martinsville and several homes were flooded. The roof of a department store partially collapsed due to the weight of water. A local state of emergency was declared by the City Council in the aftermath due to the massive cleanup required. Local sources stated that 4 to 5 inches of rain fell in approximately one hour.

3. Jul 31, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms during the late afternoon of the 31st produced damaging winds.Thunderstorm winds in the City of Martinsville blew over numerous large trees, blocking many roads and downing powerlines. Felled trees caused damage to many residences and other structures. A woman suffered non-life threatening injuries when a tree was blown down onto her house. Thunderstorm winds downed trees in Boonesboro, Appomattox, Madison Heights, 1 foot diameter trees in the City of Lynchburg, 1 to 11/2 foot diameter trees in Elon, large trees in Bassett, and large trees 5 miles southeast of Martinsville.

4. Feb 5, 2010Winter Storm, Henry$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Moderate to heavy snow moved into the county during the early morning hours on the 5th. The snow turned to a mixture of rain, freezing rain, and sleet during the afternoon, before ending as snow late at night into the day on the 6th. Snowfall accumulations of 5 to 7 inches were reported, with the highest amounts in the northwest parts of the county. Roadways became slick, with many reports of vehicles sliding off roads across the state. ||The wet snow was heavy enough to bring down trees and power lines throughout the city of Martinsville. At one point about 62 percent of Henry county residents were without power, with transmissions and substations going down. Most residents…

5. Apr 16, 2007High Wind, Henry$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees were blown down countywide. Some of these trees downed powerlines in the process. At one point, 6000 electric customers in Henry County were without power. In the town of Ridgeway, a tree fell onto a house causing damage. In Martinsville, the wind blew part of the roof off a business.

6. Mar 2, 2018High Wind, Henry$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds downed around 50 trees in the county and within the City of Martinsville with some of these trees caused damage to three homes. Also, one downed tree fell on a car. One large tree blocked a lane of U.S. 220 for a period of time in the City of Martinsville. A downed power line sparked a brush fire in Martinsville as well. Immediately after the damage, around 7500 customers were without electrical power. Damage values are estimated.

7. Oct 11, 2018Strong Wind, Henry$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong wind gusts estimated to be in the 25 to 35 mph range were common during the passage of Tropical Storm Michael. The highest measured gust from Blue Ridge Airport (KMTV) was 31 mph, however the AWOS was not reporting for much of the day and may have missed stronger gusts. Hundreds of trees were reported down across the county, with some landing on homes, trapping their occupants inside. In addition, numerous power lines were blown down, resulting in several power outages across the county.

8. Sep 17, 2018Flash Flood$79,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Martinsville City was included as part of the Presidential Major Disaster declaration with significant damage to roads and other structures. The time of occurrence is based on the highest runoff from the CREST hydrologic model.

9. Jun 29, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds blew around 100 trees down around the City of Martinsville. Many power lines were brought down by the falling trees. Damage values are estimated.

10. Jul 27, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous trees and power lines were blown down across the community of Martinsville. One tree fell onto a home, while another fell onto a car. Two businesses on Memorial Boulevard near Starling Avenue, as well as some vehicles parked nearby, where damaged. The roof of a business was blown off by strong winds. Several cars were damaged by flying debris at an auto dealership. A small shed was also damaged by strong winds.

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°FAug 2, 1942

All-time low

−7°F3 times, most recently Feb 21, 2015

Warmest night

78°FAug 28, 1943

Coldest day

16°F3 times, most recently Jan 19, 1994

Wettest day

6.40 inOct 15, 1954

Snowiest day

19.0 inMar 13, 1993

Hottest year

1939mean 59.2°F

Coldest year

1976mean 53.8°F

Wettest year

201872.95 in

Driest year

198032.45 in

Snowiest season

42.5 in2009-10

Station Martinsville Fltr Plt (USC00445300), 780 ft elevation, 1.5 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1937 to October 27, 2026; 98.9% 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 Martinsville 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 USC00445300.
• 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.