Appling County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Appling County: 0.
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. Mar 1, 1998Flood, Appling$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Total flooding related to El Nino. More than 200 homes damaged. Flooding mainly along the St Mary's, Altamaha, and Satilla Rivers. Some areas also effect with Closed Basin flooding.

2. Mar 24, 2011Wildfire, Appling$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wildfire developed about 10 miles SSE of Surrency in Appling County. Around 5 pm EDT, a broadcast station in Savannah relayed that the fire was about 200 acres big and had destroyed 1 home and 2 barns. The cost of damage was estimated.

3. Nov 5, 2002Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Along Ben Carter Road in Whispering Pines Mobile Home Park. Three mobile homes destroyed and four damaged. Two wood frame residential structures damaged. Pine trees snapped off and twisted. Numerous power lines down.

4. Apr 27, 1997Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fifteen homes were damaged and several vehicles.

5. Sep 29, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$65,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Mobile homes were blown off their foundations and siding was ripped from the sides of industrial buildings. Twelve mobile homes were damaged, and one with major damage, because a tree fell on it. One vehicle was damaged. Large trees and power lines were blown down. The damaged was associated with the remnants of Hurricane Georges.

6. Aug 19, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Estimated 40 to 50 mph winds rolled an empty mobile home over destroying it. Unknown is home had tie downs.

7. Mar 8, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$55,000
8. Dec 24, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous large trees down in town of Baxley. Mobile home on State Road 15 4 miles south of Baxley flipped with one injured. Edsel Lewis road, 6 miles south of Baxley, closed due to tree damage.

9. Feb 22, 2003Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   One mobile home flipped over with a minor injury. EMA reports twisted tops of pine trees in nearby woods.

10. Aug 14, 2002Lightning$40,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Portion of City Hall roof blown off cause unknown suspected to have been lightning.

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

105°F2 times, most recently Jun 23, 2022

All-time low

−1°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

80°F2 times, most recently Jun 18, 1996

Coldest day

25°F2 times, most recently Jan 21, 1985

Wettest day

7.66 inApr 24, 2021

Snowiest day

4.4 inFeb 10, 1973

Hottest year

1990mean 70.1°F

Coldest year

1940mean 64.1°F

Wettest year

194764.56 in

Driest year

195426.08 in

Snowiest season

5.0 in2024-25

Station Alma Bacon County Airport (USW00013870), 191 ft elevation, 18.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1938 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00013870.
• 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.