Richmond County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Richmond County: 0.
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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Sep 17, 2018Flood$21.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Torrential rainfall of 10 to 15 inches caused widespread flooding across the county. Additional rainfall upstream resulted in major flooding at the Blewett Falls Dam along the Pee Dee River. Flooding damaged approximately 160 structures throughout the county, destroying 25 and resulting in over $21.8 million in property damage. Crop damage was at least $30 million. Numerous streets and roads were reported flooded.

2. Oct 29, 2020Strong Wind, Richmond$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Frequent wind gusts of 40 to 55 mph resulted in scattered to numerous trees and power lines down across Richmond County, including some on homes. Numerous customers lost power in Richmond County as a result of the strong winds.

3. Sep 30, 2022Tropical Storm, Richmond$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Frequent wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph resulted in scattered to numerous trees and power lines down across Richmond County, including some on homes. Numerous customers lost power in Richmond County as a result of the tropical storm force wind gusts.

4. Sep 13, 2018Tropical Storm, Richmond$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Frequent wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph resulted in numerous trees down across Richmond County, including on homes, cars, power lines and damage to structures. Numerous customers lost power in Richmond County as a result of the tropical storm force winds.

5. May 3, 2003Hail$250,000
6. May 14, 2012Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   At approximately 12:55 pm a weak and very brief tornado touched down in a forested area about 8.5 miles southwest of Rockingham and produced a small area of tree damage which included uprooted and snapped pine trees. The next area of damage along the discontinuous damage path was about one-tenth of a mile to the northeast of the first touchdown. Much of the damage in this area was minor and included roof covering and shingle damage and broken tree limbs. There was a small area of enhanced damage that included numerous snapped and downed trees, a carport that was lifted and tossed approximately 250 yards, a small tin and aluminum framed garage that was leveled and significant…

7. Apr 13, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees and power lines were reported down through the county, including in Rockingham where a structure collapsed.

8. Aug 31, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A downburst hit the Rockingham Dragway. The wind destroyed the scoreboard and a large outbuilding.Torrential rainfall also created localized flooding.

9. Oct 11, 2018Tropical Storm, Richmond$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tropical storm wind gusts downed multiple trees and caused minor wind damage and scattered power outages.

10. Feb 7, 2020Strong Wind, Richmond$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous trees and power lines were reported down across 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

108°FAug 9, 2007

All-time low

−6°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

83°FAug 21, 1983

Coldest day

19°FMar 2, 1980

Wettest day

7.80 inOct 8, 2016

Snowiest day

13.0 inDec 11, 1958

Hottest year

2017mean 64.8°F

Coldest year

1988mean 57.8°F

Wettest year

196472.98 in

Driest year

200131.68 in

Snowiest season

14.5 in1958-59

Station Hamlet (USC00313784), 350 ft elevation, 4.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1950 to July 31, 2026; 95.8% 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 USC00313784.
• 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.