Taliaferro County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 22, 2000Ice Storm, Taliaferro$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…

2. Jun 12, 2001Flash Flood$125,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Taliaferro County Emergency Management Director reported that several roads were flooded. A car was even washed off the road. Damage was caused to culverts and erosion weakened some road surfaces requiring repair. Unofficial reports of 10 inches of rain were received from Crawfordville.

3. Jan 25, 2004Ice Storm, Taliaferro$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An extensive and formidable wedge of cold air associated with a back door cold front invaded the area during the late morning and afternoon of the 25th and moved west toward the Alabama border by the morning of the 26th. The wedge of cold air remained in place until a cold front moved the persistent wedge of cold air out of the area during the morning hours of the 27th. Temperatures within the wedge area ranged from the upper 20s in northeast Georgia near Danielsville and Homer to around freezing in Atlanta and surrounding areas. In general, all areas north and east of a line from Dahlonega, to Atlanta, to Milledgeville were below freezing during this period. Meanwhile, several…

4. Jan 28, 2005Winter Storm, Taliaferro$50,000
   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. Sep 11, 2017Tropical Storm, Taliaferro$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

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

6. Jan 28, 2000Ice Storm, Taliaferro$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…

7. Sep 6, 2004Strong Wind, Taliaferro$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong wind damage, associated with Tropical Storm Frances, is listed below, in alphabetical order by county for those counties that "strong wind" criteria was either met or assumed to have been met.Banks: The Banks County News of Homer reported that several trees and power lines were down throughout the county. Three large pine trees were down on Carson Segars Road, blocking the road. (Estimated Damage: $7,000)Bartow: The Bartow County 911 Center reported that three trees and power lines were down around the county. (Estimated Damage: $5,000)Carroll: The Georgian Newspaper of Carrollton reported that several trees and power lines were down across the county. Several power outages…

8. May 24, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$12,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Taliaferro County Emergency Manager reported numerous trees blown down along I-20 near mile marker 150.

9. May 20, 2008Hail$8,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Taliaferro County 911 Center relayed reports of golf ball-sized hail from the western part of the county.

10. Apr 3, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$6,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The Taliaferro County Emergency Manager reported several trees blown down near the intersection of Highways 22 and 44.

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°FJun 29, 2012

All-time low

−4°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

79°F4 times, most recently Aug 11, 2007

Coldest day

18°FJan 30, 1966

Wettest day

9.93 inJun 4, 1967

Snowiest day

8.7 inMar 24, 1983

Hottest year

2016mean 65.0°F

Coldest year

1968mean 59.7°F

Wettest year

196471.39 in

Driest year

195428.61 in

Snowiest season

10.6 in1982-83

Station Athens Ben Epps Airport (USW00013873), 784 ft elevation, 36.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1944 to October 28, 2026; 99.9% 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 USW00013873.
• 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 November 1, 2026.