Cherokee County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NC GS (10), USGS Conterminous (3).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Mar 2, 2012Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-2 tornado with maximum wind speeds around 120 mph produced a damage path|21.5 miles long and 400 yards wide. The tornado track extended across almost the entire county and damaged the northern part of Murphy. The storm destroyed five homes and five businesses. The number of structures affected totaled one hundred eighteen. In Murphy, a Feed Store and two rows of commercial storage units were destoyed. Also, a shopping strip with a Sherwin-Williams store suffered heavy damage. ||Surprisingly there were no injuries reported despite the heavy damage and long track.

2. May 6, 2003Flash Flood$1.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Creeks out of banks, low spots flooded, and roads closed countywide.

3. Jul 21, 2022Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple roads inundated. Multiple structures flooded. Some roadside washouts. For the Marble flash flood event, damages were estimated to be at least $1,000,000, with $750,000 of that going to road repair, and the remainder toward properties.

4. May 7, 1998Tornado$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornadic thunderstorm moved east out of Polk County Tennessee into Cherokee County. It damaged several houses and a campground before finally dissipating.

5. Jul 21, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees were reported down across the county.

6. Jul 4, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several trees and powerlines were reported down across the county with a concentration noted in the western part of the county.

7. May 2, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Law enforcement reported mobile home blown into road and trees down throughout county.

8. Oct 17, 2006High Wind, Cherokee$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and powerlines down across the highest elevations.

9. May 20, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several trees and power lines were reported down one mile west of Murphy.

10. Sep 28, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous trees were reported down across the western third of the county.

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

100°F2 times, most recently Jul 2, 2012

All-time low

−16°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

89°FMay 28, 1879

Coldest day

3°FFeb 20, 1879

Wettest day

10.50 inMar 16, 1880

Snowiest day

15.0 inJan 1, 1877

Hottest year

2012mean 59.7°F

Coldest year

1981mean 53.7°F

Wettest year

198981.94 in

Driest year

201633.34 in

Snowiest season

22.9 in2010-11

Station Murphy 4ESE (USC00316001), 1,600 ft elevation, 3.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1873 to October 26, 2026; 96.4% 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 USC00316001.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.