Choctaw County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Choctaw County: 2.
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.

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.

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 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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 27, 2011Tornado$8.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado was already on the ground as it moved out of extreme northeastern Clarke County Mississippi into northern Choctaw County Alabama approximately 4 miles to the southwest of the community of Yantley. The tornado then remained on the ground as it moved east across the entire width of extreme northern Choctaw county, before exiting the county by crossing the Tombigbee river north of the|community of Oakchia. The tornado nearly paralleled County Road 32 as it moved east across the county, producing EF-3 damage. Considerable tree damage was noted along the entire path, with many trees snapped off above ground level in a 500 yard wide path. Extensive damage to homes and other…

2. Apr 15, 2011Tornado$5.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado touched down just west of Highway 17 near the Red Springs area, and quickly intensified as it moved southeast of Butler towards the Tombigbee River. National Weather Service ground and aerial surveys shows a 600 yard wide path of trees snapped just above the ground or uprooted, with several homes either damaged or destroyed along the path across the Ararat Road, Dansby Road, and County Road 43. Several homes either had large sections of their roof removed with several mobile homes damaged or completely destroyed. The tornado continued east across the Tombigbee River into Marengo County Alabama. The Alabama Forestry Commission estimates timber losses along this tornado…

3. Apr 16, 2015Flash Flood$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Major flash flooding occurred in the town of Gilbertown due to nearly 10 inches of rain that fell in a short duration. There were 10 businesses and 8 homes that experienced major flooding damage. Numerous wash outs also occurred on roads and bridges in and around Gilbertown.

4. Apr 15, 2011Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Baseball size hail caused damage to the Georgia Pacific Paper Plant northeast of Pennington. Numerous automobiles around the facility suffered significant damage with numerous windshields and sunroofs knocked out.

5. Jan 21, 2017Tornado$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado first touched down on Clark Road near Gilbertown and continued 15 miles to the northeast to the Choctaw and Marengo County line. The tornado then crossed the Tombigbee River and continued into Marengo County. A total of 24 structures were damaged by the tornado along its path. 4 residences were completely destroyed, 2 of which were mobile homes with the other 2 homes having no attached foundation. 2 other mobile homes were destroyed by downed trees. Another 20 structures experienced varying degrees of damage, some of which included major roof damage. The EF-2 intensity damage was located on Chapel Hill Road, Wimberly Road, and Pleasant Hill Road. 4 people were injured…

6. Dec 28, 2018Flash Flood$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive flash flooding occurred across the central and northern portions of Choctaw County due to a large swath of 6 to 10 inches of rain. Some of the harder hit areas included the Yantley and Jachin communities along Highway 10, along with the Mosley Bridge Road area near Gilberton. In total, around 20 roads were flooded, with more than 10 damaged. 5 homes and 3 businesses also suffered flooding damage. In total, there was over $600,000 in infrastructure damage, including damage to roads, railroads, and water utilities.

7. Jul 22, 1997Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains from hurricane Danny moved into Choctaw county during the early morning hours of Monday. Several streams came out of their banks by 700 am. Rainfall totals for the two days was around 15 inches. This caused extensive flooding along the Okatuppa and Bogueloosa creeks which drain through most of the central and south parts of the county. Most of the roads from Lisman to Butler to Gilbertown had to be closed until the water had drained. The flooding continued through the day on Monday and subsided during the early morning hours on Tuesday. Heavy rains again developed over the county Tuesday morning and warnings had to be reissued. The same two creeks again came out of…

8. Jun 5, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A line of severe thunderstorms moved across the county from west to east between 1015 pm and 1045 pm. Trees and power lines were blown down throughout the county. The worst damage was in the south part of the county along County Road 3 near the small community of Aquilla. Trees blocked the county road for several hours and some of the trees fell on homes. No injuries were reported.

9. Apr 15, 2011Hail$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Baseball size hail caused significant damage to automobiles and various other properties. Several cars had windshields knocked out.

10. Apr 15, 2011Tornado$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Tornado crossed from Clarke County, Mississippi and continued northeast crossing near Lisman. The tornado continued northeast crossing Highway 17 just north of Jachin before lifting. Several trees and power lines were snapped off or blown over by the tornado along the path. Major structural damage to a home was reported by Emergency Management in Lisman.

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

107°FJul 14, 1980

All-time low

0°FJan 12, 1962

Warmest night

79°F5 times, most recently Aug 12, 2023

Coldest day

16°FJan 10, 1962

Wettest day

7.99 inDec 25, 1973

Snowiest day

14.0 inDec 31, 1963

Hottest year

2016mean 67.5°F

Coldest year

1976mean 61.0°F

Wettest year

197379.03 in

Driest year

195435.34 in

Snowiest season

18.6 in1963-64

Station Meridian Key Field (USW00013865), 289 ft elevation, 36.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1944 to October 25, 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.

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.

Neighbouring counties

• 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 USW00013865.
• 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.