Lamar County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Aug 29, 2005Hurricane (Typhoon), Lamar$400 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. Feb 10, 2013Tornado$13.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado started along Highway 589, where some limbs and small trees were blown down. It became intense rather quickly, producing significant damage as it moved through the West Lake Serene area. The tornado reached its maximum intensity in the area around and just southwest of Oak Grove High School where maximum winds were estimated at 170 mph, which is EF-4 strength. There was a brick home in a subdivision southwest of the high school, just west of old Highway 11, that was completely leveled with all interior and exterior walls down, and a fair amount of large debris was blown downstream. Additionally, very high end timber damage occurred in this location with a number of…

3. Mar 12, 2004Flash Flood$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   On March 12, 2004, at approximately 1235 PM CST, the Big Bay Lake dam, on Bay Creek failed. This lake is located 11 miles west of Purvis Mississippi on Bay Creek Road in Lamar county. Big Bay Lake was 1100 acres and held nearly 3.75 billion gallons of water. This lake was emptied in a little over 2 hours. The original earthen dam was 57 feet high. Beneath the dam is Bay Creek which flows into Lower Little Creek about 1 mile south of the dam. Lower Little Creek flows west into Marion county and then into the Pearl River 9 miles south of Columbia.The most catastrophic damage occurred within the first 5 miles below the dam along Bay Creek and Lower Little Creek. The first major…

4. Mar 12, 2001Tornado$4.5 million
5. Mar 31, 2025Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado touched down near Jefftown Road and Hwy 13 in Marion County. The tornado started of small causing some minor tree damage near the starting point. The tornado then traveled northeastward through the forest before crossing Beach Road. There was noticeable tree damage along Beach Road. The tornado the started to gain strength as it approached Sistrunk Road and the Marion/Lamar County line. This is where the damage started to increase some with snapped softwood trunks and some minor damage to a home. The tornado then peaked in just across the county line in Lamar County along Johnson Road and Vernon Gibson Lane. This is where the tornado grew to a width of 300 yards wide…

6. Nov 15, 2006Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This strong tornado touched down to the southwest of Sumrall and tracked east northeast across northern Lamar County and then into a small portion of extreme northwest Forrest County before dissipating. Approximately 25 homes were damaged, 16 of those suffering major damage or total destruction. The worst damage was along Old Salt Road, where a wood frame home on a concrete block foundation was totally destroyed, with the foundation cleared and the remnants of the home displaced dozens of yards away. A minivan was picked up and thrown/rolled a distance of approximately 150 yards, landing on top of a tractor and totally destroyed. Some large trees at this location were snapped at…

7. May 11, 2019Flash Flood$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several roads were flooded or washed out around the Lumberton area. Additionally water covered over portions of US Highway 11, nine culverts were washed out, and the shoulder was washed out along a 100 foot section of Gum Pond Road.

8. Apr 14, 2007Flash Flood$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Locally heavy rainfall, around 3 inches in 1-2 hours, caused extensive flooding in an area of West Hattiesburg. Nine homes were flooded along with several roads under water. Due to the high water, several people had to be evacuated.

9. Apr 4, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A swath of damaging thunderstorm winds affected the central and southern portions of Lamar County. One home was severely damaged on Sailfish Circle with part of the roof torn off. Five other homes in the area sustain minor damage. Four businesses sustained minor damage in the area. A power pole was blown down and the eaves of an office building were damaged along U.S. Highway 98.

10. Sep 27, 1998High Wind, Lamar$800,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Hurricane Georges made landfall on the Mississippi coast, near Oceans Springs, during the morning of Monday, September 28th. Sustained winds were 100 mph. It drifted slowly north across southeast Mississippi that day and weakened to tropical storm strength by late that afternoon. By tuesday afternoon, the weakening tropical system had pushed into western Alabama. High winds associated with the storm reached well inland as wind gusts of 50 to 70 mph were common across southern portions of central Mississippi. Rainfall amounts were heavy with many stations reporting 5 to 8 inches. The combination of high winds and a rain-soaked ground led to many downed trees and power lines,…

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

113°FJun 7, 1915

All-time low

4°F2 times, most recently Jan 21, 1985

Warmest night

83°FAug 2, 2022

Coldest day

19°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

13.70 inApr 7, 1983

Snowiest day

5.1 inDec 12, 2008

Hottest year

2023mean 71.2°F

Coldest year

1988mean 63.4°F

Wettest year

196195.90 in

Driest year

196339.98 in

Snowiest season

5.5 in2017-18

Station Columbia (USC00221865), 150 ft elevation, 23.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1903 to September 4, 2026; 95.1% 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 USC00221865.
• 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.