Bartow County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jan 30, 2013Tornado$60.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down just southwest of Adairsville at approximately 1112 AM EST. The tornado strengthened to high-end EF-3 in Adairsville where dozens of homes were damaged or destroyed. At least 95 structures were damaged, with 31 destroyed, 17 sustaining major damage, and 47 with minor damage. Most of the damage to homes was a result of trees falling on homes in downtown Adairsville. The worst damage was along Highway 140 where a large portion of a manufacturing plant was destroyed. One fatality occurred when a tree fell on a mobile home. Over 100 cars were overturned near exit 306 on Interstate 75.|[01/30/13: Tornado #1, County #1-2, EF3, Bartow-Gordon, 2013:001].

2. Apr 27, 2011Tornado$15.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City and the Cherokee County Emergency Management Director confirmed that a second and stronger EF3 tornado touched down approximately five miles northeast of Kingston, then tracked across extreme northwest Cherokee and into Pickens county, lifting seven miles west of Jasper. This tornado was spawned by the same thunderstorm supercell that had earlier resulted in an EF2 tornado that tracked from Cherokee county, Alabama across northwest Polk, southern Floyd, and into western Bartow county before lifting approximately four miles southwest of Kingston. The total path length of this tornado was 23…

3. Mar 15, 2008Tornado$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A storm survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia in cooperation with the Georgia State Patrol confirmed that the EF3 tornado, that originated in Polk county just east of Seney, and continued across extreme southeast Floyd county, continued into southern Bartow county. The tornado entered the county about 3 1/4 miles west-northwest of Taylorsville and finally lifted about four miles southwest of Cartersville. The tornado tracked approximately 11 miles across southern Bartow county. While no deaths or injuries were reported from the tornado in Bartow county, several mobile homes were heavily damaged and hundreds of trees and several…

4. Nov 11, 2002Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service disaster survey team and the Bartow county Emergency Management Director confirmed a 12 mile long west-east path of damage beginning on Barnsley Garden Road near Barnsley Gardens in northwest Bartow county continuing east to just south of Halls Station crossing U.S. Highway 41, then east across Pleasant Valley Road, to just east of Interstate 75 on Crowe Spring Road. The path of damage, up to 500 yards wide in some area, consisted mostly of damage caused by straight line winds with speeds of 80 to 100 mph, but there was definite evidence of tornadic damage of F2 intensity in an isolated area on Clear Creek Road. This portion of the tornado had a path…

5. Apr 10, 2009Hail$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several reports of large hail were received from the public across northern Bartow county from west of Adairsville along the Floyd county line to east of Funkhouser along the Cherokee county line. Baseball-sized hail was observed in the Adairsville area, with 2.0 inch diameter sized-hail west of Adairsville and half-dollar-sized hail near Funkhouser. Windshields of vehicles were broken by the large hail in the Adairsville area.

6. May 1, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Cartersville Daily Tribune News and emergency management personnel reported that straight line thunderstorm winds estimated at 80 to 100 mph caused widespread damage to trees, power lines, and several structures across the northern part of the county from Adairsville, to Folsom, to Pine Log, to Rydal. Some of the worst damage occurred in Adairsville where a large corporation had a large portion of its roof blown off along with roof mounted ventilation systems. Debris in the form of flying glass injured one midnight shift worker. In addition, a barn was destroyed on Georgia 140 in Folsom, at least 4 roads were blocked and closed, and at least 2,500 were left without power.

7. Feb 21, 2005Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The public reported hail ranging in size from quarters just north of Adairsville to nearly 2.0 inches in diameter in Adairsville. Extensive damage was reported to vehicles and roofs of homes in the area.

8. Jan 22, 2000Ice Storm, Bartow$980,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wintry precipitation plagued the northern third of Georgia beginning Saturday and continued into Sunday. A shallow cold airmass with single-digit dewpoint temperatures was in place over north Georgia, with temperatures in the upper 20s to lower 30s over much of the area. An upper level disturbance moved rapidly over the area in a fast zonal flow, bringing an increase in mid-tropospheric moisture. At the same time, lower level moisture spread into the area from the Gulf of Mexico. Precipitation began falling into the colder layer of air near the surface by mid-morning on the 22nd. The mixture of light rain, snow and sleet had spread from northwest to northeast Georgia by early…

9. Mar 31, 2012Hail$704,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The public reported quarter to golf ball size hail that fell for around 15 minutes in multiple locations around White. The ground and roads were covered.

10. Apr 6, 2016Hail$670,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A truck driver on I-75 at exit 288 reported hail as big as golf balls.

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°FJul 2, 2012

All-time low

−6°F2 times, most recently Jan 25, 1963

Warmest night

79°FJul 2, 2025

Coldest day

15°FDec 13, 1962

Wettest day

6.27 inSep 27, 2024

Snowiest day

1.0 inJan 16, 1965

Hottest year

2016mean 63.0°F

Coldest year

1963mean 58.3°F

Wettest year

198968.73 in

Driest year

200731.07 in

Snowiest season

1.0 in1964-65

Station Allatoona Dam 2 (USC00090181), 975 ft elevation, 6.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1952 to October 27, 2026; 86.9% 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 USC00090181.
• 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.