Effingham County

Every recorded tornado

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

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

   An EF2 Tornado was confirmed by a Storm Survey conducted by the Charleston, South Carolina National Weather Service Forecast Office. The Tornado touched down in Effingham county 3.5 miles northeast of Rincon, Georgia and just northwest of the Georgia Power McIntosh Plant around 944 PM EDT and traveled southeast approximately a half a mile before lifting at 945 PM EDT. This Tornado destroyed a water cooling tower, damaged another water cooling tower and several buildings, toppled two high voltage transmission towers, knocked down or uprooted several dozen trees, tossed tractor trailer cargo containers with equipment inside up to 100 yards. In addition, at the time of the survey one…

2. Mar 15, 2008Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF2 Tornado was confirmed by a Storm Survey conducted by the Charleston, South Carolina National Weather Service Forecast Office. The Tornado touched down in Effingham county 1 mile northeast of Springfield, Georgia at 934 PM EDT and traveled southeast approximately 7 miles before lifting at 943 PM EDT about 6 miles east-southeast of Springfield, Georgia. This Tornado destroyed three mobile homes, damaged three to four dozen homes, knocked down 15 high voltage transmission towers, destroyed or damaged 20 vehicles, destroyed numerous outbuildings, sheds, and barns. Five people were injured when the mobile home they were in was blown over and rolled a time or two. Another person…

3. May 14, 2006Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Car dealership estimates near 1 million dollars of damage from golf ball hail.

4. Apr 9, 1998Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Bryan County tornado crossed the county line and weakened as it moved into a less populated area. Once the tornado moved east of GA State Road 17, it lifted. There were no further reports of damage or touchdowns from the parent supercell until the F1 touchdown reported just west of Hardeeville, S.C., which is approximately 12 miles from the last report of damage in Effingham County, Georgia. There were 40 homes damaged along GA 17, about 5 miles south of Guyton. Six of these were mobile homes that were destroyed. Numerous trees were uprooted or snapped off 10 to 15 feet above the ground.

5. Apr 5, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$263,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An emergency manager reported 25 houses in the Rincon, Georgia area sustained minimal to moderate roof and siding damage. Five cars were also damaged by falling trees.

6. Mar 24, 2009Wildfire, Effingham$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   During a prescribed burn the fire spotted over a road, so a head fire was set against that thinking it would contain it. The fire blew up when the main fire met with the head fire, causing the fire to get hot and spot over another road onto private land. The total acreage burned by this entire fire was 130.80 acres. The number of acres burned outside of the prescribed burn area totaled 45.80 acres.

7. Aug 6, 2024Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An Effingham County emergency manager reported around 10 roads washed out across the county. The washed out roads were listed at the following locations: 1100 Block of Arnsdorff Lane, Springfield-Egypt Road and Tarver Pond Drive, Turkey Branch Road, Lorenzo Hurst Road, Old Louisville Road and Riverside Drive, Herbert Kessler Road and Blue Jay Road, Corinth Church Road. The 300 Block of South Ash Street was also damaged with the roadbed completely washed out.

8. Jul 9, 2017Lightning$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Effingham County dispatch reported 2 homes struck by lightning in Rincon. One house became fully engulfed and the other resulted in no major damage.

9. May 11, 2008Lightning$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a house starting it on fire in Guyton, Georgia.

10. Jun 15, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An Emergency Manager reported two 3 feet diameter oak trees knocked down on Corinth Church Road. The Emergency Manager also reported tree limbs down and a small portable shop overturned on Old Dixie highway. The Emergency Manager also reported that an anchored oil tank was overturned and a roof was torn off a barn on Bird Road.

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°FJul 20, 1986

All-time low

3°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

83°FJul 24, 1983

Coldest day

22°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

8.94 inOct 7, 2016

Snowiest day

3.6 inFeb 8, 1968

Hottest year

2020mean 70.4°F

Coldest year

1969mean 64.4°F

Wettest year

196473.17 in

Driest year

200131.64 in

Snowiest season

3.6 in1967-68

Station Savannah International Airport (USW00003822), 29 ft elevation, 12.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 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 USW00003822.
• 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.