Harford County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Sep 18, 2003Tropical Storm, Harford$12.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   On September 18, 2003, Hurricane Isabel made landfall on the North Carolina Coast. Its huge wind field was already piling water up into the southern Chesapeake Bay. By the time Isabel moved into central Virginia, it had weakened and was downgraded to a tropical storm. Isabel's eye tracked well west of the bay, but the storm's 40 to 50 mph sustained winds pushed a bulge of water northward up the bay and its tributaries producing a record storm surge. The Maryland western shore counties of the Chesapeake Bay and along the tidal tributaries of the Potomac, Patuxent, Patapsco and other smaller rivers experience a storm surge reached 5 to 9 feet above normal tides. In many locations,…

2. Sep 16, 1999Flash Flood$2.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   High water closed 557 roads, 40 bridges washed out; 15 injuries

3. Aug 27, 2011Tropical Storm, Harford$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hundreds of trees and power lines were down across the county. Numerous trees fell onto houses.

4. Oct 29, 2012High Wind, Harford$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts of 60 mph were measured. Scattered trees were down throughout the county, along with scattered power outages.

5. Apr 22, 2023Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A line of severe thunderstorms produced an EF0 tornado along its leading edge as it passed over Fork, Fallston and western Bel Air Maryland on the mid-afternoon of Saturday April 22nd. The tornado was on the ground intermittently for eight minutes, but it produced a fair amount of tree damage along its nearly 7 mile path. Wind gusts where it caused noted damage were estimated 70 to 75 miles per hour along its path.||It strengthened slightly as it crossed the border into Harford County. There was numerous large branches snapped and downed power lines along Reckord Road as the tornado traveled along it. There were also 4 large trees snapped in the 400 block of Reckord Road.||The…

6. Jul 28, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hundreds of trees blew down around Pylesville and Norrisville. Trees blew down onto a house in the 1900 block of Neal Road. Numerous trees blew down along MD-136 Harkins Road, and MD-165 Federal Hill Road.

7. Jul 12, 2004Flash Flood$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A quasi-stationary boundary over the area provided a focus for shower and thunderstorm activity on the 12th. The thunderstorms produced very heavy rainfall and strong gusty winds. Baltimore and Harford Counties had downed trees and power lines. Portions of southern Harford County were drenched from the heavy down pours, especially Aberdeen and Harve de Grace. Several roads and streets were completely covered by high water. Route 40 between Aberdeen and Harve de Grace was closed for several hours. The Union Hotel in Port Deposit sustained significant flood damage. Over 20 homes were damaged, mostly by basement flooding. At least 32 people were rescued from stranded cars and flooded…

8. Aug 7, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dozens of trees blew down near Hickory, including one onto a house trapping a resident on Glendale Lane. Trees blew down onto wires bringing down a power pole near the intersection of MD-543 North Fountain Green Road and Prospect Mill Road.

9. Jul 29, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dozens of trees, branches and wires blew down in the Edgewood area, including several onto cars and houses.

10. Apr 18, 2002Lightning$400,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Two homes were damaged by a lightning fire.

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 10, 1936

All-time low

−13°FFeb 28, 1934

Warmest night

82°F2 times, most recently Jul 24, 2011

Coldest day

9°FFeb 9, 1934

Wettest day

10.11 inJun 22, 1972

Snowiest day

18.0 inFeb 19, 1979

Hottest year

2007mean 57.3°F

Coldest year

1926mean 51.6°F

Wettest year

200955.74 in

Driest year

193024.00 in

Snowiest season

55.0 in2009-10

Station Aberdeen Phillips Field (USW00013701), 57 ft elevation, 8.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1919 to October 28, 2026; 89.4% 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 USW00013701.
• 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.