Madison County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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), Madison$250 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. Apr 6, 2003Flash Flood$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Continued heavy rains dumped 7 to 12 inches of rain over a large portion of Madison county. This extremely heavy rain flooded numerous streets and roads. Numerous businesses, apartment complexes and homes sustained significant flood damage.

3. Nov 24, 2001Tornado$12.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A violent tornado touched down about six miles west-southwest of the city of Madison. The touchdown point of the tornado was just south of the Fairfield subdivision, which is a large, well built subdivision of mostly brick homes. Numerous houses were seriously damaged or destroyed as the tornado, as much as one half mile wide, moved across the subdivision. Several houses in the subdivision in the direct path of the tornado were blown off of their foundations. One 25 year old woman was killed, and a pregnant woman was critically injured as the tornado destroyed their houses. The baby of the pregnant woman was delivered at the hospital and died shortly after birth. After the storm…

4. Apr 4, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant straight line winds moved across southern Madison County. Numerous trees and several power lines were blown down with some trees down on vehicles. Ten to fifteen homes suffered minor to major damage in the Densmore Subdivision. Wind gusts were estimated between 80 and 90 mph.

5. Apr 6, 2003Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Baseball to golfball sized hail broke windows and caused major roof damage to numerous homes.

6. Mar 13, 2005Lightning$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a 13,000 sq ft mansion just NW of Madison, on Bozeman Road, and caused a fire which burned the home to the ground.

7. Mar 4, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The gust front associated with a severe thunderstorm produced widespread damage across southern Madison County. In Flora, the steeple was blown off the Jones Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, and a woman was injured and hospitalized when a tree fell onto her home and caused eight of her ribs to be broken while in her bed. Additional minor structural damage occurred in Flora. Dozens of homes across the county received damage from wind and from trees falling onto them, and several roads were closed due to fallen trees. Roofing and structural damage occurred to buildings and homes around the Gluckstadt area, including some busted windows and air conditioning units due to wind driven…

8. Aug 24, 2022Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant flooding across Canton. Many homes flooded along with numerous vehicles flooded as well. Many roads and streets were also underwater.

9. Aug 2, 2022Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding along with some significant flooding occurred across the Canton area due to heavy rainfall. Radar estimated rainfall of 5 to 8 inches fell in and to the north of Canton. Numerous streets were flooded with multiple cars stalled or partially submerged in flood waters. Water also entered several buildings and homes.

10. Mar 13, 2005Hail$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    A small swath of golf ball sized hail fell just west of Ridgeland. This hail damaged many roofs and broke numerous windows. Additionally, dozens of cars were dented and marred.

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, 13.2 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.
• 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.