Polk County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Polk 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. Apr 27, 2011Tornado$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia confirmed that the fifth tornado of the major tornado outbreak of April 27th and 28th once again entered Georgia from Alabama and affected Polk, Floyd, and Bartow counties in Georgia. This tornado was an EF2 and entered Polk county from Cherokee county Alabama. It was a long-lived well tracked supercell and was likely the same supercell which spawned the EF5 tornado that destroyed Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The tornado only tracked across a small portion of extreme northwest Polk county before moving into south west Floyd county, just south of Cave Spring. The total tornado path length…

2. Apr 9, 2019Flash Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Polk County Police Department posted video footage to social media of flash flooding over a roadway at the entrance to Cedartown High School. The flooding resulted from two to three inches of rain that quickly fell over the area, overwhelming a small creek and drainage systems in the area. Water also inundated some ball fields on the campus.

3. Mar 15, 2008Tornado$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A ground and aerial survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, GA in cooperation with the Georgia State Patrol and local emergency managers confirmed that an EF3 tornado had touched down in extreme north central Polk county, just east of the town of Seney near the intersection of Georgia Highway 101 and the Floyd county line. The tornado then tracked approximately 16 miles across extreme northeast Polk, extreme southeast Floyd, and into southern Bartow county before lifting southwest of Cartersville. The tornado had a maximum path width of 1/2 mile with maximum wind speeds estimated at 150 mph. EF3 damage was noted at three locations along…

4. Apr 11, 2013Hail$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Amateur radio operators and the public reported baseball sized hail across the Rockmart area.

5. Apr 3, 2000Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Survey of damage by NWS personnel indicated that an F1 - F2 tornado, 50 - 100 yards wide, touched down in the Potash community at approximately 2:00 am EDT near Harmony Road. The tornado traveled approximately 6 miles with the terminating point just southwest of Cedartown. The tornado snapped off and uprooted several trees at its touchdown point on Harmony Road and caused a poultry house to lean as well as blowing off some of its tin roof. Next, a house on Blair Road was severely damaged and numerous trees were felled. Further downstream, several mobile homes and numerous trees were hit on Branch Road, Cornelius Road, and Highway 278 between Cornelius Road and Berry Road. The most…

6. Jan 22, 2000Ice Storm, Polk$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…

7. Apr 8, 2006Tornado$450,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A survey conducted by the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, GA concluded that a second tornado, this one an F2, touched down one mile northwest of Rockmart and traveled to the east approximately three miles, terminating at a point around two miles east-northeast of Rockmart. Over two dozen homes along the path of the tornado were destroyed. A young child was injured at one of the damaged homes when sheet rock and rafters fell on the couch where he was sleeping. Over three dozen outbuildings were also heavily damaged or destroyed. A carport was blown off one home northwest of Rockmart and five coal cars were completely blown off a railroad track in the Rockmart area and…

8. Apr 8, 2006Tornado$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, GA, concluded that an F0 tornado had touched down four miles south of Cedartown and tracked southeast to a point five miles southeast of Cedartown. About a dozen homes were damaged along the path of the tornado, mostly from downed trees. A female at a doublewide mobile home south of Cedartown suffered a broken hand when a tree fell through the home. Several power lines were also down in the area. In addition, several outbuildings were damaged, including a greenhouse, and porches were blown off two homes five miles southeast of Cedartown. Much of the damage occurred in the vicinity of Young Farms…

9. Apr 14, 2019Hail$315,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Polk County 911 center reported golf ball size hail on Johnson Lake Road near Highway 278.

10. Jun 15, 2011Hail$311,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The Polk County 911 Center reported golf ball-sized hail near Rockmart.

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°FAug 4, 1947

All-time low

−10°FFeb 13, 1899

Warmest night

84°FJul 7, 1900

Coldest day

12°FFeb 13, 1899

Wettest day

6.45 inMar 4, 1979

Snowiest day

19.3 inMar 3, 1942

Hottest year

2016mean 64.0°F

Coldest year

1968mean 58.6°F

Wettest year

201875.36 in

Driest year

200728.41 in

Station Cedartown (USC00091732), 785 ft elevation, 4.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1896 to July 31, 2026; 86.8% 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 USC00091732.
• 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.