Madison County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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 (1).

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. Jan 26, 2009Ice Storm, Madison$16.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Upper level disturbances passing through the Southern Plains resulted in precipitation development north of a stationary arctic front located in North Texas. Freezing rain began across the area during the early afternoon hours of the 26th and became more widespread and heavy through the afternoon and evening hours. The heaviest icing and most widespread power outages and tree damage occurred across portions of Washington, Madison, Benton, and Carroll Counties where one to two inch accumulations were reported. At the height of the storm, 75 percent of electric customers were without power in Benton County and nearly 100 percent were without power in Carroll County. Some remote,…

2. Apr 21, 1996Tornado$1.0 million
3. Aug 8, 2013Flash Flood$450,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads were flooded and closed across the southern portion of the county. Significant damage to roads and bridges occurred due to the flooding.

4. Apr 27, 2016Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado destroyed several outbuildings, damaged homes, snapped or uprooted numerous trees, and blew down power poles. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 100 to 110 mph.

5. Mar 25, 2015Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado developed northwest of Clifty, where it severely damaged three chicken houses and damaged a home. It moved east-northeast damaging an additional chicken house, several homes, and snapped trees along Highway 127. The tornado then damaged a mobile home, another chicken house, and trees as it crossed Highway 23. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 95 to 105 mph.

6. Jan 29, 2013Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado destroyed several barns and outbuildings, damaged a couple homes, and snapped or uprooted numerous trees, and blew down power poles. Several cows were killed by flying debris at a farm where several barns were destroyed. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 105 to 115 mph.

7. Apr 22, 2004Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several rounds of thunderstorms during the April 20s caused periodic flash flooding over much of Madison County. For the 72 hour period ending 7 am cdt April 24, Huntsville and St. Paul received 6.57 and 6.35 inches of rain respectively. Numerous roads were flooded and as much as $100,000 damage was done to them. Some homes in the Witter area were also flooded. However; the most major event occured around 645 am cdt on the 24th. A pickup truck containing 4 occupants stalled in high water over a bridge crossing Hock Creek 5 miles southwest of Huntsville. A 3 year old girl and a 2 year old boy were swept away in the flood waters and died. The woman driving the truck and another…

8. Nov 28, 2001Ice Storm, Madison$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Surface High Pressure built into the region from the north supplying the cold air at the surface. An upper level storm system out of the southwest supplied the lift for the precipitation. Ice accruals of 1/2 to 1 inch were found across the region. The ice also extended across into Adair County Oklahoma. The ice brought down trees and utility lines/poles across the area. The ice track was fairly narrow due to colder air aloft farther north and west that supported frozen precipitation instead of freezing precipitation.

9. Oct 13, 2014Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado destroyed a couple outbuildings, damaged the roofs of several homes, uprooted numerous trees, snapped several hardwood trees, and blew down numerous large tree limbs. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 95 to 105 mph.

10. Jun 17, 2000Flash Flood$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy rains caused numerous roads to wash out countywide. One bridge washed out near Witter.

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

110°F2 times, most recently Aug 3, 2011

All-time low

−20°FFeb 16, 2021

Warmest night

83°FAug 5, 2011

Coldest day

2°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

7.45 inSep 26, 1996

Snowiest day

14.6 inFeb 9, 2011

Hottest year

2024mean 61.8°F

Coldest year

2014mean 55.4°F

Wettest year

199075.01 in

Driest year

196321.03 in

Snowiest season

33.0 in2009-10

Station Fayetteville Drake Field (USW00093993), 1,237 ft elevation, 23.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1949 to October 26, 2026; 99.3% 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 USW00093993.
• 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.