Copiah County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Copiah County: 12.
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.

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NASA (1).

Deadly landslides

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Aug 29, 2005Hurricane (Typhoon), Copiah$80.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Katrina will likely go down as the worst and costliest natural disaster in United States history. The amount of destruction, the cost of damaged property/agriculture and the large loss of life across the affected region has been overwhelming. Catastrophic damage was widespread across a large portion of the Gulf Coast region. The devastation was not only confined to the coastal region, widespread and significant damage occurred well inland up to the Hattiesburg area and northward past Interstate 20. This hurricane has changed life as we know it across the Gulf Coast region which will take many years to return to normal.Hurricane Katrina was a very large and powerful storm…

2. Jun 18, 2023Hail$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to the size of tennis balls fell in Crystal Springs. Several vehicles were damaged in the area.

3. Feb 5, 2004Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Five to seven inches of rain fell across Copiah county on February 5th. This heavy rain flooded 5 businesses, dozens of county roads and damaged 4 bridges across the county.

4. Feb 12, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense downburst occurred in the Gallman Community as a line of thunderstorms move through Copiah County. Several trees were blown down and part of a mobile home was heavily damaged. The most significant damage occurred to the Advanced Auto Warehouse. Here, a large portion of the roof was torn off and nearly 20 vehicles were damaged. Winds were estimated around 90 mph.

5. Feb 15, 2016Tornado$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado began along Highway 51 just southwest of Wesson. As it tracked northeast, it snapped many hardwood trees. It also caused roof damage to Wesson Attendance Center as well as downing trees that fell on employee cars. As the tornado continued across the southern end of Beauregard, it continued to down trees with one falling on a house. Another house had minor roof damage. As the tornado passed south-southeast of Sand Hill, it became more intense with numerous trees snapped along Beauregard Road. The worst damage occurred on Sand Hill Road, where a home was obliterated. This is where the tornado reached its most intense point and winds reached 130 mph. Another home suffered…

6. Jun 18, 2023Hail$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant hail damage occurred near Georgetown. Hail larger than the size of golf balls broke through a wind shield in the area.

7. Jun 18, 2023Hail$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to the size of golf balls fell in Gallman. Wind-driven hail broke the windows of a home along US Highway 51.

8. Jun 25, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense downburst occurred in Wesson where 80 to 90 mph winds were experienced. Four businesses were damaged, one had some of the roof torn off, and 4 homes were damaged. A couple vehicles were damaged as well. Numerous trees were blown down along with 8 power poles snapped. Many streets were blocked by downed trees and debris. One person was injured from the storm.

9. Nov 20, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Swath of damaging straight line winds occurred across the city of Hazlehurst. Numerous trees were downed and vegetation damaged. Some structures received mostly minor roofing damage. Maximum winds were estimated at 70 miles per hour.

10. Feb 11, 2010Heavy Snow, Copiah$600,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Between 4 and 6 inches of snow was reported across Copiah County, with 6 inches reported in Georgetown.

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

107°FAug 30, 2000

All-time low

2°F2 times, most recently Jan 21, 1985

Warmest night

82°FAug 11, 2023

Coldest day

18°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

7.38 inApr 6, 2003

Snowiest day

6.0 inFeb 13, 1960

Hottest year

2023mean 68.8°F

Coldest year

1979mean 62.4°F

Wettest year

197992.75 in

Driest year

200734.82 in

Snowiest season

9.1 in1959-60

Station Jackson International Airport (USW00003940), 296 ft elevation, 34.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1963 to October 25, 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 USW00003940.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.