Jackson County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Jackson County: 12.
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.

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

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.

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NASA (3).

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. Mar 25, 2023Tornado$5.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Aerial surveillance provided by Jackson County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), supplemented by a ground survey of National Weather Service personnel and DeKalb County EMA confirmed an EF-1 tornado near the Flat Rock area.||The tornado touched down southwest of CR 81, north of Flat Rock near Fabius Poultry. Multiple chicken houses sustained roof damage at this location. The tornado tracked east toward CR 81 where numerous softwood trees were uprooted. The final damage point was east of Highway 117 where a possible ground scar was noted. Damage was then reported along and between Highway 71 and CR 326 to the county line. Uprooted|trees and minor structure damage was observed in…

2. Feb 17, 2022Strong Wind, Jackson$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Sustained gradient winds of 15 to 25 mph with gusts around 35 mph occurred. These winds caused some power lines to be knocked down providing outages in the county.

3. May 8, 2024Tornado$4.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down on Highway 71 in Jackson County, snapping hard and softwood trees to begin its path. The tornado continued between County Roads 425 and 322, producing minor damage to the roof of a small farm building. The tornado then overturned a camper along County Road 422 requiring hospitalization including one experiencing blunt force trauma and another being a pregnant female. Five others with minor injuries were treated on the scene. Also at this location, a well-built home was partially destroyed. A mobile home was moved off its foundation here as well, with a third of the roof of a hay barn and a horse trailer destroyed. Projectiles were found in the field across…

4. Jan 22, 2000Ice Storm, Jackson$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A light mixture of rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow started on the morning of the 22nd. Several bridges became ice covered and numerous trees received a glaze of ice. Several trees and tree limbs started breaking and falling on roads by 9:00 PM. Scattered power outages were also being reported by late evening. Very early on the 23rd, around 1:30 AM, temperatures cooled off to the point where significant icing began taking place. Numerous locations received icing up to at least one inch. Trees and power lines were downed throughout the area and many downed trees blocked roads. Numerous roads were closed, especially at higher elevations. The Alabama National Guard was activated…

5. May 8, 2024Tornado$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado snapped tree branches on Old Larkinsville Road. Scattered tree damage was observed continuing generally southeast towards Alabama Highway 35. Limited infrastructure damage was found along Highway 35 including the peeling of metal roofing and siding. Between Highway 35 and Parks Avenue, several trees were found uprooted, snapped, and with loss of limbs.

6. May 6, 2003Flash Flood$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   extensive flooding across county with over 200 homes and businesses receiving significant flood damage.

7. Apr 13, 2009High Wind, Jackson$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds between 45 and 55 mph with gusts around 65 mph downed numerous tree and powerlines. Significant damage to structures occurred from fallen trees. Particularly hard hit areas included: Scottsboro, Wannville, Stevenson, Jackson County Park. A concrete wall to a dugout at Bynum Park in Scottsboro was blown out completely by these intense winds. Several mobile homes at Jackson County Park were demolished by fallen trees.

8. Aug 17, 2010Flash Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall of totaling between 3 and 8 inches fell from near Hytop to just west of Stevenson and southward into Scottsboro. The hardest hit areas were in Scottsboro and just to its north, where between 5 and 8 inches of rainfall fell. This caused numerous roads in Scottsboro to be closed or barricaded as early as 6 am CDT. The Scottsboro airport recorded 4.59 inches of rainfall through 7 am CDT. By 740 am CDT, three feet of water was reported covering the Hardee's parking lot on Broad Street in Scottsboro. Two cars drove into a flooded ditch at this location and a walkway over the ditch was washed away.||Heavy rainfall continued in these areas through 9 am, causing extensive…

9. Jul 1, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A microburst with winds estimated to be up to 80 mph was reported on County Road 222 in the Skyline/Woodville area. Several homes experienced major damage in this location due to trees being knocked over.

10. Dec 10, 2008Tornado$300,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A tornado struck portions of central Jackson county around 1 AM CST Wednesday morning. This tornado initially snapped several cedar trees near county road 21, before toppling three TVA high voltage power line towers near Pikeville Alabama. It then rapidly proceeded northeast snapping trees, collapsing several barns, and ripping off roofs before lifting near the end of county road 34. According to Jackson County Emergency Management, the tornado and adjacent straight-line winds were to blame for up to twenty homes being damaged. Three mobile homes were destroyed and seven more were damaged. Nine barns were destroyed and three were damaged. The maximum wind speed with this tornado…

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

109°FJul 13, 1930

All-time low

−13°FFeb 12, 1899

Warmest night

80°FJul 22, 1918

Coldest day

11°FFeb 13, 1899

Wettest day

6.80 inDec 23, 1990

Snowiest day

12.0 inMar 13, 1993

Hottest year

1933mean 63.3°F

Coldest year

1901mean 56.9°F

Wettest year

202084.31 in

Driest year

200734.41 in

Snowiest season

14.7 in1939-40

Station Scottsboro (USC00017304), 615 ft elevation, 7.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1891 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.

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 USC00017304.
• 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.