Marion County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Marion County: 4.
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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Aug 29, 2005Hurricane (Typhoon), Marion$300 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 15, 2022Hail$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to the size of half dollars fell near New Hope Church Road and Turnage Chapel Road.

3. Dec 23, 2014Tornado$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado first touched down just east of the Pearl River just south of Columbia. It quickly became strong and moved northeast impacting the southeast side of Columbia. The tornado remained on the ground through Marion County before lifting as it approached the Lamar County line. Numerous businesses, homes, mobile homes, a National Guard building and power poles and lines were heavily damaged or destroyed by the tornado. One well-built home was mostly destroyed and nearly reduced to a slab. This home received the highest damage rating. Extensive tree damage also occurred along the path of the storm. Maximum wind speed of this tornado was 165mph.

4. Jun 18, 1997Flash Flood$15.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Over six inches of rain fell in Columbia in a three hour period and eight and a quarter inches fell in a 24 hour period. Water entered thirty businesses in Columbia. Twevle of the business suffered major damage. Eight homes also suffered flood damage. Many roads were washed out and had to be closed.Numerous cars were under water.

5. May 26, 2008Flash Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A slow moving cluster of thunderstorms dumped 4 to 6 inches in rain across central Marion county causing the worst flooding in 10 years in and around Columbia. All the rain fell in 1 to 2 hours which flooded nearly all the streets in Downtown Columbia and several surrounding roads. Around 40 businesses suffered either minor or major flooding as 1 to 4 feet of water impacted those buildings. A tremendous amount of merchandise was damaged, varying from books to wood furniture, by the flood water. In addition to the businesses, nearly a dozen homes were flooded around town as well.

6. Mar 12, 2004Flash Flood$2.5 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…

7. Apr 15, 2022Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to the size of golf balls fell in a swath across the area from Kokomo to Foxworth to Lampton.

8. Apr 12, 2020Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado touched down near Jefferson Rd just east of the intersection with Jack Foil Rd in Walthall County. It quickly strengthened as it moved northeastward through the Hope area where it produced damage consistent with 115 mph winds. It also quickly grew in width and was roughly 1200 yd/0.67 mi wide by the time it approached Hwy 27. As it crossed Hwy 27 it continued to cause significant damage along East Sartinville Rd. The tornado was strongest as it approached James Ratcliff Rd. Two homes on this road were leveled, one being reduced to a slab. Consultation with subject matter experts including both engineers and experts in forensic tornado damage analysis supports raising…

9. Feb 11, 2024Hail$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to the size of of golf balls fell in a swath from near Foxworth to north of Columbia.

10. Oct 27, 2006Tornado$700,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    This F1 tornado touched down just to the southeast of Kokomo and tracked east northeast for about five miles. The most intense damage was near and just south of where the tornado crossed Highway 98. A service station was damaged, a cluster of several dozen trees were snapped near the base and two homes suffered moderate damage. An 18-wheel semi truck was also flipped over on Highway 98. Numerous trees were snapped and damaged over the first half of the track, then the damaged tapered to F0 damage where a few trees and limbs were blown down.

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, 0.5 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.