Clay County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Clay County: 7.
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.

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. May 7, 2003Flash Flood$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads across the county were flooded and impassable for many hours. Numerous bridges and road sections were washed away. Lineville's City Park sustained significant damage from the flood waters. One home was struck by lightning during the storms near Ashland. A subsequent fire caused major damage to the home. Many chickens and cattle were killed.

2. Sep 16, 2004High Wind, Clay$290,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hundreds of trees were knocked down countywide due to Ivan. Twenty to thirty homes sustained varying degrees of wind damage. Maximum wind gust were estimated between 55 and 65 miles an hour. Doppler radar and ground observations indicate up to 5 inches of rain fell during the tropical system. At least 20 county roads were temporarily impassable due to high water.

3. Nov 24, 2004Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado first touched down near Little Hillabee Creek and County Road 5 in far northern Tallapoosa County. The tornado snapped and uprooted numerous trees along its path until it reached the Bluff Springs Community in southern Clay County. At least 10 permanent residences suffered varying degrees of damage in Bluff Springs. Numerous out-buildings, garages and sheds were totally destroyed. Several vehicles sustained damage mainly from falling trees and flying debris. One man suffered minor injuries while inside a garage that was destroyed near Bluff Springs. The heaviest damage occurred in the vicinity of Gortney Road and CR 35. The tornado continued northeast knocking trees…

4. Apr 30, 2005Tornado$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed the tornado damage that started over extreme northern TallapoosaCounty, about 2.2 miles northwest of Goldville. It appears the tornado began at 614 AM CDT. There was F0 damage,in the form of scattered tree damage, from Vine Road just south of the Clay County line, east to near Highway 49.The damage increased to F1 damage along Highway 49, especially to the southeast of the highway. There were several dozen trees snapped and uprooted, with many signs of convergence in the pattern of fallen trees. There were a few broken windows in two houses, and one house had its carport lifted up off most of its supportcolumns. In the same area of…

5. May 7, 2003Lightning$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads across the county were flooded and impassable for many hours. Numerous bridges and road sections were washed away. Lineville's City Park sustained significant damage from the flood waters. One home was struck by lightning during the storms near Ashland. A subsequent fire caused major damage to the home. Many chickens and cattle were killed.

6. Jan 28, 2005Ice Storm, Clay$65,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong Cold Air Damming along the Southern Appalachians provided a continuous source of surface cold and dry air from the east. This colder air, in combination with an approaching storm system with abundant gulf moisture, changed the rain to freezing rain across a large part of eastern Alabama. One man was slightly injured when the vehicle he was driving slid off the road near Mt. Cheaha in Cleburne County. At least 15 additional vehicles slid off the roadways under the icy conditions. Exposed surfaces had ice accumulation to at least one half of an inch with a few locations reporting ice accumulations of around one inch. Numerous trees, tree limbs, and power lines were knocked…

7. Jul 16, 1999Lightning$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning apparently struck a home causing a fire. The fire virtually destroyed everything inside the home. No injuries were reported.

8. Feb 26, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees were blown down across the northern portion of the county.

9. Nov 24, 2001Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The start of this F1 tornado was approximately 1 mile east of SR 9 on CR 58 where a roof was torn off a barn. On Black's Chapel road near Black's Chapel, several trees were snapped off at mid-trunk. Black's Chapel itself had the steeple torn off with additional roof damage. Across the street, there was extensive damage with a barn destroyed. A path of damage extended across Ingram Road, Wakefield Road, across Foster's Bridge Road, to Monroe. Several barns were destroyed with widespread tree damage. The storm track continued northeast across Mt Moriah Road (CR 58) and crossed into Randolph County along CR 82 for about 2 tenths of a mile. The tornado appeared to have a wide path of…

10. Aug 13, 2005Flash Flood$47,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Two bridges were covered with water and were temporarily impassable. One culvert was washed out. Both of these incidents occurred within five miles of the Mellow Valley community.

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°FAug 21, 1983

All-time low

−5°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

78°F8 times, most recently Aug 17, 2010

Coldest day

14°FFeb 14, 1905

Wettest day

7.96 inMar 29, 1977

Snowiest day

11.2 inMar 13, 1993

Hottest year

2016mean 65.3°F

Coldest year

1968mean 60.3°F

Wettest year

201375.28 in

Driest year

200722.39 in

Snowiest season

13.0 in1992-93

Station Anniston Metro Airport (USW00013871), 597 ft elevation, 21.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1903 to October 26, 2026; 99.6% 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.

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 USW00013871.
• 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.