Towns County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 22, 2000Ice Storm, Towns$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. Nov 11, 2016Wildfire, Towns$879,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   On November 11th a human caused wildfire erupted along the border between Towns and Rabun Counties. Before the Rocky Mountain wildfire was declared contained on December 15th it had consumed 1,851 acres in the eastern portion of Towns County. In total, this wildfire burned nearly 25,000 acres of Chattahoochee National Forest and state and private forest land in Georgia and Tennessee. More tham $11 million federal dollars was expended fighting this wildfire, nearly $900,000 in Towns County alone.

3. Sep 16, 2004Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Georgia Emergency Management Agency, along with local newspaper, reported major and extensive flooding throughout the county. The Hiawassee River flooded the Enchanted Valley Resort. Many residents in the area had water up to the doors of their homes. At least ten roads and ten bridges in the county were washed out by flood waters.

4. Sep 16, 2004High Wind, Towns$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High wind damage, associated with Tropical Storm Ivan, is listed below, in alphabetical order by county for those counties that "high wind" criteria was either met or assumed to be met.Banks: The Banks County News of Homer reported widespread damage to trees and power lines throughout the county. More than 73 trees were uprooted or blown down, and many roads were blocked by downed trees and power lines. One home and an unoccupied camper were damaged when trees fell on them and a power line fell on a vehicle while traveling on a county highway. (Estimated Damage: $250,000)Barrow: The Barrow County News and the Gwinnett Daily Post both reported widespread damage to trees and power…

5. May 26, 2011Hail$290,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several reports of hail, ranging in size from quarters to golf balls, were received from the Towns County 911 Center and the public across the northern half of the county from near Brasstown Bald to Macedonia. WSR-88D radar data suggests that hail of at least quarter-size likely continued to the northeast corner of the county near Tate City.

6. May 20, 2006Hail$160,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The public reported quarter to golf-ball sized hail. This was the third hail storm to affect the county during the same evening.

7. Mar 29, 1997Tornado$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A brief F1 tornado touchdown knocked trees down. A mobile home was picked up onto another mobile home. The second floor of a house was gone. The length, width and damage were estimated.

8. Apr 12, 2012Wildfire, Towns$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The National Forest Service reported that a human-caused wildfire labeled Vortac burned 36 acres and resulted in $50,000 in damages.

9. Jul 3, 2013Flash Flood$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The emergency manager reported four roads west and northwest of Young Harris were closed due to flooding. Crooked Creek washed out a culvert pipe at Settlement Road and Byers Creek washed out a culvert pipe at Crisp Road. Winchester Creek flooded portions of Winchester Creek Road and Crane Creek flooded portions of Kerby Road which made them completely impassable.

10. Jan 28, 2000Ice Storm, Towns$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

100°F4 times, most recently Jul 1, 2012

All-time low

−16°F2 times, most recently Jan 21, 1985

Warmest night

75°F3 times, most recently Aug 31, 2026

Coldest day

6°FJan 21, 1985

Wettest day

5.50 inMar 11, 1952

Snowiest day

13.0 inMar 2, 1942

Hottest year

1945mean 60.1°F

Coldest year

1976mean 52.9°F

Wettest year

202082.65 in

Driest year

193535.75 in

Snowiest season

21.9 in1935-36

Station Blairsville Experiment Station (USC00090969), 1,949 ft elevation, 10.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1931 to August 31, 2026; 94.0% 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 USC00090969.
• 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.