Lauderdale County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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. Mar 24, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$5.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A bow echo from an embedded supercell within a line of thunderstorms intensified and produced a long-lived and at times wide swath of wind damage as it entered the Shoals, including Florence and Killen, to the east central part of Lauderdale County north of Elgin. Widespread wind damage occurred in south, southeast and eastern Florence to Killen, becoming more sporadic further east. Wind speeds of 60-65 mph occurred in much of this area, with a few gusts of 80-90 mph in a few locations. One of the hardest hit locations was between Killen and Florence where the entire roof was taken off of antique mall, a sign was blown out at a church, and roofing was taken off of a fire station.…

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

   Sustained gradient winds of 20 to 30 mph gusting to between 45 and 50 mph occurred across the county. A gust to 48 mph was measured at the Muscle Shoals ASOS. These winds led to downed trees, some fell on powerlines and produced power outages.

3. Mar 24, 2023Tornado$3.9 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado touched down near the intersection of Sweetwater Avenue and Huntsville Road in southeast Florence. The tornado nearly paralleled Sweetwater Creek as it tracked northward. Along Sweetwater Creek and Sweetwater Avenue, numerous trees were uprooted and snapped and structures and small outbuildings were damaged. There was also minor room damage to a single family home. As the tornado crossed Highway 43, more trees and minor structure damage was observed near Mall Road and north of Hough Road. The tornado approached Hunter Ridge subdivision northeast of Florence and south of Saint Florian along County Road 61, removing part of a roof at the back of the neighborhood. The…

4. Apr 5, 2025Tornado$3.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Aerial UAV-drone data provided by Lauderdale County Emergency Management confirmed that an EF-1 tornado tracked from the Center Star area to near Pine Haven Shores.|The damage path began near County Road 107 and tracked east-southeast through the Bluewater Creek area. Numerous hardwood trees were uprooted, and a farm shed sustained roof damage near County Road 33. Additional uprooted trees were observed east of Bluewater Creek, extending through the intersection of Highway 101 and U.S. Highway 72. Sparse damage was noted north of U.S. Highway 72, approaching the Pine Haven Shores area, where the tornado dissipated.

5. Apr 5, 2025Tornado$3.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado crossed Wilson Lake from Colbert County and moved into the Aqua Vista community with several trees uprooted and large limbs snapped. The tornado tracked to the east-northeast. Drone imagery courtesy of Lauderdale County EMA supplemented the ground survey for areas inaccessible by roads. With this data, it was determined that the tornado then tracked north of County Road 31 where several more trees were uprooted before impacting a neighborhood off of Bull Run road. There, several houses were missing shingles and large portions of fencing. Outdoor sheds had a collapse of most walls and tree damage was also present. The tornado then crossed County Road 33, snapping and…

6. Dec 23, 1998Ice Storm, Lauderdale$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A winter storm brought a mixture of freezing rain...sleet...and rain to the northern half of Alabama. The northwestern quarter of Alabama was especially hard hit. The precipitation began in a narrow band across Fayette, Walker, Cullman, and Marshall counties around 2 am and then around 5am in the rest of the counties and lasted until early afternoon on the 24th. The northwestern quarter of the state saw temperatures at or below freezing for the majority of the event. Liquid equivalent precipitation ranged from one to three inches. Significant ice accumulations of one half to one inch were common across the area. Numerous trees were down across every county. Significant power…

7. Mar 24, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$1.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A bow echo from an embedded supercell within a line of thunderstorms intensified and produced destructive winds in a narrow swath of north and northeast Florence.|Wind speeds of 60-65 mph occurred in much of this area, with a few gusts of 80-90 mph in a few locations. Trees, power poles and power lines were taken down in multiple locations. Trees were knocked down onto multiple homes and vehicles. The Seven Points district and areas just north and northeast of the University of North Alabama campus were hit particular hard. Along this long swath, a significant number of trees, power lines and power pols were knocked down. Many residences experience minor to severe damage from…

8. May 2, 2010Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Between 2 and 4 inches of rainfall combined with 8 inches of rainfall the previous day upstream in Lawrenceburg (Tennessee), caused Shoal Creek to rise above it's banks on Sunday evening, May 2. This resulted in flooded homes near the river as the night progressed. This flooding continued and became worse through the early morning hours on Monday. The creek crested at a record 23.12 feet, before gradually receding. ||Locations at and near the Bluff View Shores and Hidden Valley community were particularly hard hit from flood waters from Shoal Creek. The force of the flowing water broke several docks with numerous boats still attached to their slips free from there cables at the…

9. Aug 17, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A barn roof was blow off and a shed damaged northwest of Anderson on County Road 510.

10. Jan 23, 2002Flash Flood$400,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A band of significant rainfall repeatedly doused parts of extreme northwest Alabama and southern middle Tennessee. Radar estimated rainfall in isolated locations as high as 6 to 8 inches, but the majority of the area received 2 to 4 inches of rain. The heaviest rain fell across Lauderdale County and into middle Tennessee. Lauderdale County reported that numerous roads were flooded and impassable. Schools were closed for the entire day. Many residents were evacuated along Shoal Creek in the Goose Shoals area and in a few other locations. One woman was stranded in her home. Colbert County also had numerous roads flooded and impassable. Schools closed at noon. Rainfall and runoff…

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°F3 times, most recently Jun 30, 2012

All-time low

−11°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

81°FJul 11, 1980

Coldest day

9°FJan 10, 1962

Wettest day

6.01 inMar 15, 2025

Snowiest day

9.0 inJan 29, 1966

Hottest year

2024mean 65.1°F

Coldest year

1976mean 58.0°F

Wettest year

197578.78 in

Driest year

194330.92 in

Snowiest season

18.5 in1967-68

Station Muscle Shoals Airport (USW00013896), 544 ft elevation, 8.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1940 to October 26, 2026; 97.7% 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 USW00013896.
• 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.