Holmes County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Holmes County: 5.
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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 24, 2010Tornado$60.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado continued northeast into rural southern Holmes County, causing intense tree damage and damaging or destroying a number of rural residences. The damage across this area was in the EF3 range. As the tornado moved by the Franklin Community, in rural Holmes county, it again reached EF4 intensity. It completely destroyed two brick homes and heavily damaged or destroyed a number of other homes. The tornado then crossed Interstate 55, causing significant tree damage and blowing a number of vehicles off the road. As the tornado approached the area just south of Durant and crossed US Highway 51, it narrowed and reached one of its weakest points. One fatality occurred in Holmes County.

2. Jun 10, 1997Flash Flood$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Over six inches of rain fell in Lexington in a little over three hours. The heavy rain caused Bear creek to over flow and flood much of the town of Lexington. Forty five business were affected by the flooding and thirty of these suffered major losses. As many as 300 homes had water damage.

3. Apr 30, 2017Tornado$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This strong tornado started several miles west of Pickens off Highway 432 and tracked Northeast for roughly 23 miles. The tornado impacted areas west of Goodman, Holmes County State Park and a direct hit on the town of Durant. The tornado was very wide and was roughly 1.2 miles wide at its widest point. Across the entire path, thousands of trees were damaged/uprooted/snapped. Hundreds of power poles and power lines were down as well. The large majority of structures that were damaged were indicated by minor to moderate roof damage with singles/siding torn off to partial loss of decking. Multiple structures were more heavily damaged by trees falling on them. Some of the more…

4. Jan 10, 2008Tornado$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado started with a narrow path of scattered downed trees near Shady Lane Road. The damage intensified as it approached Highway 17. Here tree damage became much more intense with hundreds of trees snapped and uprooted. One home had a portion of its roof ripped off. The tornado intensified and reached its maximum intensity and width between Highway 17 and U.S. Highway 51. Hundreds of trees were snapped and uprooted, some of them hardwoods that were snapped off except for a few large limbs and partially debarked. Several mobile homes were obliterated and two homes of wood frame and concrete block construction had nearly all of the outer walls collapsed along with total roof…

5. Apr 4, 2001Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A significant flash flood event occurred due to training of strong thunderstorms across the county for much of the day. The storms caused flooding damage to approximately 110 houses, and numerous businesses were flooded. The Holmes County Emergency Management office was flooded. A number of roads received flooding damage. One bridge was washed out.

6. Aug 29, 2005Hurricane (Typhoon), Holmes$1.0 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…

7. Oct 16, 2006Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain between five and ten inches fell across all of Holmes County during the late afternoon and evening hours of October 16th. This heavy rain caused many roads and farm fields to become flooded by several feet of water. Numerous mud slides occurred along the bluffs and some roads had sections washed out. High water marks were noted by debris across the landscape. Some homes were flooded in the Tchula and Gwin Communities.

8. Dec 9, 2008Tornado$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado initially touched down and tracked northeast through the area south of Yazoo City. At this point, the tornado was narrow and weak, with only relatively minor tree damage observed. As the tornado crossed Highway 16 on the east side of Yazoo City, it became wider and stronger. Several homes and businesses sustained roof damage along Highway 16 and Old Benton Road, and numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. The tornado maintained this strength for a number of miles as it moved northeast, snapping, splintering and uprooting a number of hardwood and softwood trees as well as downing powerlines. The tornado weakened somewhat as it crossed into Holmes County, before…

9. Apr 27, 2011Tornado$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado started near the intersection of State Hwy 433 and Hebron Rd southwest of Lexington. A couple of trees were snapped at the point. The tornado continued northeast across Hwy 17 where a few trees were snapped. The tornado continued northeast where it caused significant damage to a couple of mobile homes on Arenia Mallory Rd along with several trees and a few power poles snapped. The tornado crossed Hwy 12 where it caused some roof damage to a business along with numerous snapped trees. The tornado continued northeast to Doe Rd and this is where it reached its widest point. Hundreds of hard and softwood trees were snapped along with 3 wooded high tension poles. The…

10. Mar 22, 2022Tornado$600,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    This tornado tracked from along Ebenezer Pickens Rd where a shed was destroyed and debris strewn downstream. A travel trailer was also lofted and thrown across the roadway. The damage near this location was consistent with an EF-1 rating. The tornado continued northeast across I-55 where trees were downed. Progressing then through the city of Goodman, the tornado produced widespread tree damage as well as destroying numerous outbuildings. Roofing damage was significant across a variety of|building types including on the campus of Holmes Community College. Within Goodman, the tornado reached its maximum intensity with winds estimated at 110 mph. It continued northeast of this…

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

106°F2 times, most recently Aug 15, 2007

All-time low

−4°FFeb 3, 1951

Warmest night

81°F3 times, most recently Jul 8, 2024

Coldest day

12°FJan 10, 1962

Wettest day

8.07 inSep 20, 1958

Snowiest day

6.0 inMar 22, 1968

Hottest year

2023mean 67.8°F

Coldest year

1976mean 60.0°F

Wettest year

198979.97 in

Driest year

196532.31 in

Snowiest season

8.7 in1950-51

Station Greenwood Leflore Airport (USW00013978), 140 ft elevation, 28.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 25, 2026; 98.7% 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 USW00013978.
• 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.