Hancock County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

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. Apr 10, 2009Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia confirmed that yet a third tornado touched down in Hancock county within a 15 minute period of time. However, this tornado was determined to be an EF3 tornado. This tornado touched down about halfway between Sparta and Culverton in east central Hancock county. The tornado was determined to have a maximum path width of 1/2 mile with maximum winds of 160 mph. Much of the damage occurred along Dunn and Hickory Grove Roads. Along the path of the tornado, one 4000 square foot site-built home was completely destroyed. The debris from the home was scattered across an area up to 400 feet…

2. Feb 18, 2009Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A storm survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia confirmed that an EF3 tornado touched down approximately five miles east-southeast of Sparta, or about three miles east of the intersection of Georgia Highway 15 and 16. The tornado then moved along a nearly eight-mile long path across far southeast Hancock county and continued into extreme southern Warren county and then into extreme northwest Glascock county. The total tornado path length was nearly 11 miles long. The maximum path width was estimated to be 500 yards with maximum winds of 140 mph. A church, two site-built homes, and four mobile homes were completely destroyed in…

3. Mar 1, 2007Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Hancock County Emergency Management Director reported that repeated heavy rain fell across much of the county from mid morning until shortly after midnight. Rainfall of six to eight inches fell across much of the county. Georgia Highway 22 and 16 were both closed. In addition, several wooden bridges were washed out. Disaster funding was provided for road and bridge repair from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the county. Estimated repair costs were in the $300,000 to $400,000 range.

4. Jan 28, 2005Winter Storm, Hancock$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A significant and fairly prolonged winter storm/ice storm affected nearly all of North and Central Georgia from the evening of Friday January 28th to late morning on Sunday January 30th. The winter storm was a result of a very strong and very cold Arctic surface high pressure system located across the Mid-Atlantic states and an upper-level disturbance moving across the region from the west. North of a line from La Grange, to Thomaston, to Sandersville, the precipitation fell mostly as a mixture of sleet and freezing rain, with typical accumulations of one-half inch glaze ice and one to two inches of sleet. Some areas in North Central and Northeast Georgia experienced significant…

5. Apr 5, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Hancock County Emergency Management Director reported that dozens of trees were down across the county, including several on homes. Several people were trapped in homes from downed trees, but no injuries were reported.

6. Mar 1, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Hancock County Emergency Management Director reported that numerous trees and power lines were down along or near Georgia Highways 22 and 16 from Devereux, to Sparta, to Culverton, to Mayfield. Fifteen homes were damaged from downed trees.

7. Jun 12, 2001Flood$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Hancock county Emergency Management Director and WAGA Television, FOX 5 of Atlanta, reported that a few roads in the county were washed out because of high water. Damage was less extensive than counties immediately adjacent to the west.

8. Jan 21, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Hancock County Emergency Manager reported numerous trees and power lines blown down on the west side of Sparta. One tree fell on and destroyed a home.

9. Sep 11, 2017Tropical Storm, Hancock$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The news media reported numerous trees and power lines blown down across the county. No injuries were reported.

10. Jan 28, 2000Ice Storm, Hancock$33,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A series of short waves in the upper air pattern produced periods of mostly light to occasionally moderate precipitation over the north half of Georgia from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon. Patchy light snow began in west central and northwest Georgia around daybreak on the 28th. There was a light dusting on the ground by mid morning from Troup to Carroll county, east to Fayette county. Due to the dry layer of air aloft, much of the precipitation evaporated before reaching the ground, so eastward progression of the area of snow was slow. By evening, a mixture of light snow, sleet and freezing rain became more widespread over west central and northwest Georgia. Although the…

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

109°FJul 12, 1930

All-time low

−7°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

86°FJul 7, 1990

Coldest day

16°FDec 26, 1983

Wettest day

8.20 inMar 5, 2025

Snowiest day

15.0 inFeb 10, 1973

Hottest year

1990mean 66.8°F

Coldest year

2010mean 59.9°F

Wettest year

202494.29 in

Driest year

195426.45 in

Station Monticello (USC00095988), 518 ft elevation, 39.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1891 to June 30, 2026; 85.0% 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 USC00095988.
• 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.