Morgantown

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.

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 Monongalia County, the county that contains Morgantown.

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 Monongalia County, the county that contains Morgantown.

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 Monongalia County, the county that contains Morgantown.

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 Monongalia County.

Mapped by WV GS (6,354), 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. Jul 12, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$525,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees down. Numerous houses, apartments, mobile homes suffered damage from wind and floods.

2. Jul 12, 2003Flash Flood$525,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Streams flooding roadways. Numerous houses, apartments, mobile homes damaged by wind and floods.

3. Jul 8, 2003Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain began early this morning and caused considerable flooding in Monongalia county. Brookehaven and Star City Fire Depts evacuated 125 people. Flooding around Morgantown damaged 81 structures, including homes, mobile homes, businesses, and government facilities. Four businesses in Sabarton (car dealer, supermarket, shopping plaza, and window dealer) were flooded. State-owned bridge was washed out on Van Vorhis Road north of Morgantown. Three municipal water systems were damaged. The areas of Deckers Creek and West Run were especially hard hit.

4. Feb 19, 2000Flood, Monongalia$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread heavy rains of between 2.0 and around 3.5 inches fell across northern West Virginia and portions of southwest Pennsylvania on February 18th. This rain fell onto ground that was already nearly saturated from heavy rainfall a few days earlier. As a result, moderate flash flooding developed across northern West Virginia starting late on the 18th and continued into the 19th. In addition to the flash flooding along creeks and streams, this heavy rain produced flooding along the Monongahela River in Monongalia County and the Cheat River in Preston and Tucker Counties. The following are crests/flood stages in feet for river forecast locations in northern West Virginia: On the…

5. Jul 18, 1996Flash Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several areas across the county experienced flash flooding.Scotts Run flooded along SR 7 between Cassville and Osage. Numerous homes were flooded and cars swept away. One mobile home was washed into a bridge.Flash flooding also occurred along Decker's Creek in Sabraton and flooded several businesses.All tolled, 121 homes had at least minor damage and 30 private bridges were damaged.

6. Jul 13, 2010Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency management reported widespread flash flooding in and around Morgantown with numerous road closures. Up to 4 feet of water was flowing across roads in some locations with 2 feet of water reported in an equipment room on the campus of West Virginia University. A woman was rescued from her vehicle on the White Ave. bridge when her car became stranded by the flood waters of Deckers Creek.

7. Jul 25, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$125,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Law enforcement reported widespread trees and power lines down across the county, especially from Everettsville to Stewartstown.

8. Feb 11, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency management reported trees and power lines down countywide. A roof was blown off a house and a mobile home moved off the foundation just west of Morgantown.

9. Jul 6, 2008Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency management reported Beulah Rd washed away and road collapsed due to flash flooding.

10. Aug 7, 2011Flash Flood$75,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Emergency management reported flash flooding with high water flowing across roads from near Blacksville to Morgantown.

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°FJul 25, 1892

All-time low

−20°FJan 16, 1972

Warmest night

78°FJul 9, 1981

Coldest day

−4°FDec 25, 1983

Wettest day

5.01 inAug 5, 1956

Snowiest day

20.0 inMar 13, 1993

Hottest year

2024mean 57.5°F

Coldest year

1969mean 50.6°F

Wettest year

200360.91 in

Driest year

196329.53 in

Station Morgantown Municipal Airport (USW00013736), 1,226 ft elevation, 1.6 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1877 to October 27, 2026; 98.6% 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 Monongalia 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 USW00013736.
• 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.