Newton County

Every recorded tornado

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

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), Newton$100 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$30.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several rounds of thunderstorms and continued heavy rain dumped 7 to 12 inches of rain over the northern portion of Newton county. This extremely heavy rain flooded and washed out numerous roads. Numerous homes and businesses were also flooded.

3. Jan 5, 2007Tornado$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado touched down in northwest Newton County, near the Prospect Community, and tracked north northeast into southwest Neshoba County. Four chicken houses were destroyed along with one home sustaining minor damage. This tornado moved into Neshoba County and was on the ground for another 2 miles. The total path length was 5.3 miles and was rated F1.

4. Sep 24, 2005Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This strong tornado touched down briefly on the northeast side of Newton causing significant damage to the Lazy Boy factory building. A large part of the factory roof was torn off and large pieces of metal were thrown 1/3 of a mile to the north-northwest. The iron girders within the building were bent at about 10 degrees with some failure of the roof near the center. Insulation debris was scattered all about with some pieces found 4.5 miles away along the northeast shores of Turkey Creek Lake. In fact, a 4 foot piece of metal roofing was found at the base of the dam, 4 miles north-northwest of the Lazy Boy plant. Additionally, a 1/2 ton pickup, parked next to the building, was…

5. Apr 4, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A swath of widespread and significant straight line winds moved across a large portion of central Newton county. Hundreds of trees were blown down along with many power lines. Areas in and around Decatur were hard hit and numerous homes sustained minor to major roof damage, some roofs were even blown off a couple homes.

6. Apr 27, 2011Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado started just to the south of Newton on Highway 15 near the South Main intersection. There was major tree damage here, and amazingly, the north end of a concrete bridge was lifted up, causing damage to the concrete sides, guard rails, and asphalt. The tornado then traveled east-northeast causing damage to trees and several homes. One mobile home and two wood frame houses were destroyed on Corinth Road. It then continued east-northeast crossing Highway 80, severely damaging the roofs of two homes and destroying a travel trailer. The tornado dissipated just south of I-20. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 145 mph.

7. Oct 17, 2012Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado began along Old Jackson Road east of Hillsboro. Initially the tornado tracked southeast downing multiple trees as it crossed Harrison Road and MS Highway 21. There were also a few homes with roof damage in this area and outbuildings were damaged by fallen trees. The tornado then began a more easterly course along Greer Road and began to snap and uproot several additional trees as it crossed Ephesus Road, Langsmill Road, and Russell Community Road. Along Russell Community Road multiple trees fell on structures, including one that fell through a home causing an injury. The tornado continued eastward, downing additional trees and caused minor roof damage at a residence…

8. Dec 19, 2002Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado developed in Newton County, just southwest of the city of Newton. It moved 5.5 miles northeast through the city, resulting in approximately 50 injuries and damage to numerous buildings. In all, over 150 homes and 95 businesses were either damaged or destroyed. The most extensive damage occurred near the city's Wal-Mart, which received heavy roof damage. The tornado lifted just northeast of the intersection of State Road 15 and Interstate 20.

9. Apr 17, 2022Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to the size of golf balls fell in a swath from Union to near Stratton and Little Rock.

10. Apr 28, 2014Tornado$750,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    This tornado developed just to the south of the first tornado in Newton County as that tornado was dissipating. It caused extensive tree damage and significant roof damage to several homes just west of the Decatur Country Club. It also destroyed the cart shack at the country club and caused extensive tree damage on the golf course. The tornado continued to cause tree damage of EF-1 intensity as it moved east and then dissipated before reaching Wells Road. Maximum winds were around 125 mph.

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°FJul 14, 1980

All-time low

0°FJan 12, 1962

Warmest night

79°F5 times, most recently Aug 12, 2023

Coldest day

16°FJan 10, 1962

Wettest day

7.99 inDec 25, 1973

Snowiest day

14.0 inDec 31, 1963

Hottest year

2016mean 67.5°F

Coldest year

1976mean 61.0°F

Wettest year

197379.03 in

Driest year

195435.34 in

Snowiest season

18.6 in1963-64

Station Meridian Key Field (USW00013865), 289 ft elevation, 22.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1944 to October 25, 2026; 99.8% 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 USW00013865.
• 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.