Columbia County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 8, 2007Wildfire, Columbia$10.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning strikes on Saturday night, May 5th, ignited two 11 acre and 21 acre fires on Bugaboo Island in the southern Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (southwest of Stephen Foster State Park). On the 8th through 10th high winds around large coastal low pressure system quickly resulted in extreme fire spread in southern Ware and Clinch counties in Southeast Georgia (The Georgia Bugaboo Scrub Fire). The fires combined and raced southward toward Baker and Columbia counties in north Florida becoming the Florida Bugaboo Scrub Fire. Due to close proximity to large populated areas, most significantly Lake City, Florida the fire generated large media attention and became the dominant…

2. Mar 7, 2008Tornado$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   National Weather Service Storm Survey of the tornado track indicated most damage was EF1 scale with a small area of EF2 damage near NE Denver Street opposite a large field. Numerous Trees and power lines were snapped or blown over by the storm. Truck and trailers were also blown over in an industrial park. Nineteen homes were destroyed, twenty-one suffered major damage, and twenty had minor damage. Two businesses were destroyed with six suffering major damage. One female fatality occurred when a tree went through her mobile home. A male indirect fatality occurred when trying to connect a power generator. The mesocyclone which spanned this tornado was tracked across Taylor,…

3. Mar 1, 1998Flood, Columbia$2.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Total flooding related to El Nino, More than 2800 homes and more than 175 businesses destroyed.

4. Sep 7, 2014Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding caused numerous road closures and flooded approximately 5-6 homes. One flooded home was located at SW Fedora Way, and residents used canoes and kayaks to travel streets. There was about 1 foot of standing water inside the home. Portions of Interstate 10 near mile marker 296 were closed due to flooded roads. Columbia City Public Works installed pumps at the intersection of Nightshade and Broadleaf Drives due to flooded roads and water nearing homes. Portions of State Road 47 just south of Watson Road were covered in several inches of standing waters. |Radar estimated about 8-13 inches between Lake City and Columbia, just south of Lake City. The cost of property…

5. Jun 25, 2012Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   At 7:26 am the park service reported a 24-hour rainfall total of 4.1 inches about 2 miles east of Lake City. At 9 am on 6/25, law enforcement reported eastbound Interstate 10 at mile marker 301 was closed due to high flood waters. At 9:15 am that morning, law enforcement reported U.S. Highway 41 southbound was closed near Interstate 10 due to flood waters. At 9 pm, law enforcement reported Interstate 10 eastbound at mile marker 301 was closed due to standing flood waters. At 8:16 am on 6/26, a co-operative observer reported a 24 hour rainfall total of 8.77 inches in Lake City. On 6/28 at 3:57 pm, the public reported a monthly rainfall total of 27.55 inches with 19.99 inches…

6. Sep 6, 2014Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A survey revealed flash flooding caused a home off of SW Edward Terrace was flooded out (about 2 inches of water in the home) with sewage in the backyard. This occurred around 7 am. Around 6 am, a retention pone was flooded out and surrounded several homes off of SW Nightshade Drive about 3 miles NE of the city of Columbia. Around the same time, another retention pond off of Fall Court surpassed bankfull and flooded a garage. Several inches of flood water covered roadways throughout Columbia county. The cost of damage was unknown, but a value was estimated for the event to be included in Storm Data.

7. Aug 9, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$55,000
8. Aug 9, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
9. Apr 27, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tree was blown down onto a single-wide mobile home destroying much of the home along NW Klondike Glen. The family was displaced. The cost of damage was estimated but officially unknown. The time of damage was based on radar data.

10. Jun 29, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$35,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Columbia county EM reported a large tree snapped at the trunk and fell onto a single wide mobile home in Deer Run Mobile Home Park. The mobile home sustained considerable damage with a whole section of roof and walls completely collapsed. No one was inside the home during the event.

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°FJun 4, 1918

All-time low

6°FFeb 13, 1899

Warmest night

82°F2 times, most recently Jun 23, 1944

Coldest day

31°F3 times, most recently Jan 22, 1985

Wettest day

8.77 inJun 26, 2012

Snowiest day

1.0 inFeb 15, 1895

Hottest year

1945mean 72.4°F

Coldest year

1988mean 66.1°F

Wettest year

196482.59 in

Driest year

190829.83 in

Station Lake City 2 E (USC00084731), 195 ft elevation, 6.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1892 to October 26, 2026; 94.8% 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 USC00084731.
• 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.