Petersburg Borough

Population 3,394 (2025) 2,901 sq mi

Petersburg Borough has 10 weather events in the National Weather Service record since 1950.

Hazard fingerprint for Petersburg Borough Tornado: 0th percentile. Tropical: 0th percentile. Wildfire: 0th percentile. Flood: 0th percentile. Hail & wind: 0th percentile. Heat: 0th percentile. Cold: 0th percentile. Winter: 5th percentile. TORTROPFIREFLOODSEVEREHEATCOLDWINTER

Hazard fingerprint Each spoke is this county’s percentile among U.S. counties where that hazard occurs. How it is computed

At a glance

The record for Petersburg Borough in eight numbers. Each links to its section below.

Federal disaster declarations

3

Most recent: Severe Storm, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, 2021

Details

Tornadoes

No tornado is recorded here in the Storm Prediction Center database, which begins in 1950.

Hurricanes and tropical storms

No tropical storm or hurricane has tracked within 100 miles since records began in 1851.

Wildfire and smoke

No large wildfire has been mapped here since satellite mapping began in 1984.

Smoke overhead

Smokiest year

2019: 22 days

Heavy smoke on 7 days in 2019, the most of any year.

Last 10 years

5.7 days a year

Medium or heavy smoke, 2016 to 2025.

2025

0 days

Medium or heavy smoke. 4 so far in 2026.

Days with medium or heavy smoke overhead, by year 2011: 0 2012: 0 2013: 3 2014: 1 2015: 2 2016: 0 2017: 1 2018: 4 2019: 22 22 2020: 3 2021: 3 2022: 2 2023: 18 2024: 4 2025: 0 201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Days each year on which a satellite-traced plume of medium or heavy smoke covered the county’s population centre, 2011 to 2025.
  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.

Floods and flood insurance

No federal flood insurance claims are recorded for this county.

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

River crests

Most severe crest

December 1, 2020

Falls Creek near Petersburg, 24.48 ft

1.98 feet above the 22.5 ft flood stage; moderate flooding by today’s categories.

Most recent moderate or major crest

December 1, 2020

Falls Creek near Petersburg, 24.48 ft

Moderate flooding.

Highest river crests above flood stage
Dec 1, 2020Falls Creek near Petersburg24.48+1.98Moderate
Sep 22, 2023Falls Creek near Petersburg23.84+1.34Minor
Nov 1, 2020Falls Creek near Petersburg23.71+1.21Minor
Sep 26, 2017Falls Creek near Petersburg23.61+1.11Minor
Aug 12, 2023Falls Creek near Petersburg23.41+0.91Minor
Sep 20, 2019Falls Creek near Petersburg22.71+0.21Minor
Sep 30, 2022Falls Creek near Petersburg22.39−0.11Action
Oct 1, 2021Falls Creek near Petersburg22.39−0.11Action
Dec 14, 2017Falls Creek near Petersburg21.62−0.88Action

River gauges

River gauges and their highest listed crests
Falls Creek near Petersburg22.524.48 ftDec 1, 20200
  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.

Drought

NOAA’s county drought index covers the lower 48 states only.

Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis and landslides

2 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles since 1900; the largest was magnitude 4.3 in 2013.

8

Magnitude 2.5+ inside the county since 1973

52

Magnitude 3+ within 50 miles since 1973

2

Magnitude 4+ within 50 miles since 1900

0

Magnitude 5+ within 50 miles since 1900

Largest within 50 miles

April 29, 2013

Magnitude 4.3

60 km ENE of Thoms Place, Alaska; 48.7 miles away, 8.3 miles deep.

Most recent, magnitude 3 or more

August 20, 2024

Magnitude 3.0

103 km NNE of Hobart Bay, Alaska; 40.1 miles away.

Earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles, by year 1973: 0 1974: 0 1975: 0 1976: 0 1977: 0 1978: 0 1979: 1 1980: 0 1981: 0 1982: 0 1983: 0 1984: 0 1985: 0 1986: 0 1987: 0 1988: 0 1989: 12 12 1990: 0 1991: 0 1992: 3 1993: 0 1994: 3 1995: 2 1996: 0 1997: 0 1998: 0 1999: 0 2000: 1 2001: 0 2002: 4 2003: 2 2004: 2 2005: 3 2006: 2 2007: 0 2008: 1 2009: 1 2010: 1 2011: 2 2012: 1 2013: 1 2014: 1 2015: 0 2016: 0 2017: 1 2018: 0 2019: 1 2020: 2 2021: 4 2022: 0 2023: 0 2024: 1 2025: 0 19731978198319881993199820032008201320182023
Per year, 1973 to 2025.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

Earthquakes of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles
Apr 29, 20134.348.78.360 km ENE of Thoms Place, Alaska
Sep 6, 20044.228.93.171 km ENE of Wrangell, Alaska
  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 county boundary (or inside the county).
  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.

Tsunamis

Highest water recorded

Aug 10, 2025

19.7 ft, Harbor Island, Se Ak

From Tracy Arm, AK.

On record

3 tsunamis

Since 1927.

Tsunamis recorded here
Aug 10, 2025Tracy Arm, AK19.730
Mar 28, 1964Prince William Sound, AK, M9.23.010
Oct 24, 1927Se. Alaska, AK, M7.1—10
  1. Places where NOAA's Global Historical Tsunami Database records a tsunami's water arriving, with the greatest height it reached above sea level at the time. Only tsunamis NOAA rates probable or definite are counted. Heights from eyewitness accounts and tide gauges are mixed, and older events are less completely recorded.

NOAA NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Volcanoes within 100 miles

Volcanoes within 100 miles
Duncan Canal1.1Very low49
Edgecumbe82.1Moderate3,182
Tlevak Strait-Suemez Island82.9Very low164
  1. U.S. volcanoes within 100 miles, from the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. The threat category is the USGS 2018 National Volcanic Threat Assessment, which ranks volcanoes by how hazardous their past eruptions were and how many people and how much infrastructure lie near them. It is not a forecast of eruption.

USGS Volcano Hazards Program, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Mapped landslides

2,456

Landslides mapped, probable or better

61

With a recorded date

3

Source inventories

Mapped by USDA-FS AK Tongass (2,423), AK DOT (28), NASA (5).

  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.

Severe weather and other events

10 events in the National Weather Service record, 10 of them since 1996.

0

Hail reports, 1 inch or larger

0

Hail, 2 inches or larger

0

Damaging gusts, 58 mph+

7

Winter weather events since 1996

0

Heat events since 1996

0

Cold events since 1996

  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.

Weather records

No weather station within 40 miles has the 30 years of complete, current records this section needs.

Federal disaster declarations

3 since 1953. The most recent: Severe Storm, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, February 17, 2021.

Federal disaster declarations
Feb 17, 2021Mud/LandslideSevere Storm, Flooding, Landslides, and MudslidesMajor disasterDR-4585-AK
Apr 9, 2020BiologicalCovid-19 PandemicMajor disasterDR-4533-AK
Mar 13, 2020BiologicalCovid-19EmergencyEM-3446-AK

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.

How this compares

Where Petersburg Borough stands among 30 counties in Alaska and 3,143 in the United States.

Ranks
Tornadoes since 19500——
Tornadoes rated F3/EF3 or stronger0——
Tropical cyclones within 50 mi0——
Hurricane-strength passes within 50 mi0——
Wildfire acres since 19840——
Flood insurance claims0——
Flood insurance paid$0——
Disaster declarations316 / 303,124 / 3,143
Flood events since 19960——
Hail and wind events since 1996319 / 303,129 / 3,143
Winter storm events since 1996719 / 302,899 / 3,143
Reported damage since 1996$0——
River crests at major flood stage0——
High tide flooding days a year, last 10 years0.0——
Months in severe drought since 18950——
Medium or heavy smoke days a year, last 10 years5.76 / 303,048 / 3,143
Earthquakes M4+ within 50 mi since 1900228 / 301,151 / 3,143
Earthquakes M2.5+ in the county since 1973823 / 30377 / 3,143

Neighbouring counties

Neighbouring counties
Hoonah-Angoon Census Area0000
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area0000
Wrangell City and Borough0000

Sources and vintage

Every number on this page comes from these public records.

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Tsunamis NOAA NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database.
  • Volcanoes USGS Volcano Hazards Program, U.S. volcanoes and 2018 threat assessment.
  • 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.