Rockingham County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Rockingham County: 2.
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. Mar 20, 1998Tornado$34.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorms during the afternoon hours on the 20th produced two tornadoes, damaging winds and hail to golf ball size.A supercell thunderstorm produced two tornadoes in North Carolina and a third one just over the Virginia border. The first tornado developed near Pine Hall in Stokes County around 314 PM EST and traveled northeast about 1.5 miles before dissipating around 317 PM EST. This small F1 tornado broke out windows, lifted a car off the ground, tore the roof off a house, damaged several mobile homes and toppled trees. The second tornado developed one mile southwest of Mayodan around 325 PM EST and traveled to the northeast about 12 miles before dissipating about…

2. May 5, 2017Tornado$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A thunderstorm produced an EF1 Tornado on the east side of Eden. The tornado was on the ground for approximately six minutes producing damage to trees, at least 25 residential structures, and a minimum of nine commercial structures. The tornado lifted just shy of the North Carolina and Virginia state boundary. Estimated wind speeds peaked around 110 miles per hour.

3. Apr 15, 2018Tornado$2.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down southeast of Greensboro in Guilford County shortly after 4:00 PM EST. This tornado later entered Rockingham County about one mile southeast of Haw River near Chrismon Road at 4:25 PM EST. The tornado damaged numerous buildings, outbuildings, and barns. At least twenty homes and farms suffered damage, while one house and two mobile homes were completely destroyed. The Oak Haven Event Center in downtown Ruffin also sustained damage. Countless trees were snapped or uprooted. Estimated maximum wind speeds were 110 MPH. Seven people were injured, including a father and a seven-year-old son who were critically injured in their moving car when it struck a…

4. Oct 11, 2018Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   At least ten roads were reported flooded across Rockingham County and a water rescue was undertaken on Stoneville Road near Stoneville.

5. Jul 4, 1997Lightning$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A lightning strike during the evening hours on the 4th started a fire that caused about 1.5 million dollars to the Eden Yarns.

6. Jul 13, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   In advance of an approaching cold front, thundestorms developed. Some of these storms became severe producing damaging winds and large hail. The severe winds ranged generally between 60 and 75 mph with numerous reports of large trees down. A 100 year old, 50 foot tall, with a 3 foot diameter trunk oak tree and a 40 foot tall sycamore tree in Yadkin County was among this lot. In locations of Rockingham, Stokes, and Yadkin Counties some of the downed trees fell on houses and vehicles. The hail that fell ranged from penny to nickel size.

7. May 6, 2022Tornado$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The EF-1 tornado touched down in a wooded area just southwest of Sunset View Road, and proceeded northeast producing discontinuous damage along it's path. The tornado dissipated and lifted near the intersection of Crutchfield Road and U.S Highway 29 Business. The majority of direct damage consisted of numerous mature trees either snapped or uprooted, although several homes sustained significant damage due to trees falling on them. One barn sustained minor damage due to roofing material being blown off by the storm.

8. Jul 25, 2018Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A sinkhole formed and the road was badly damaged along North Carolina Route 135/311 where heavy rain occurred and runoff flowed across the road. The flooding was aggravated by a water main break under the road. Damage estimate per NC DOT. A water rescue also occurred where one person was stranded in a vehicle that was halfway submerged near the intersection of MacGregor Lane and River Road.

9. Jun 2, 2006Lightning$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A lightning strike on Friday afternoon derailed the Rockinham County 911 Center and caused $500,000 worth of damage. The strike damaged phones, computers, switchboards and other circuits.

10. Jun 17, 1997Lightning$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorms during the evening hours on the 17th produced damaging lightning.Lightning started a fire which destroyed a 162 year old church 3 miles south of Eden. One fire fighter suffered minor injuries while fighting this fire. A fire started by lightning destroyed the Arts and Crafts Building at the Rockingham Opportunity Center in Wentworth. Another fire started by lightning slightly damaged a barn 2 miles southwest of Oregon Hill.

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

103°F2 times, most recently Aug 19, 1988

All-time low

−9°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

77°F5 times, most recently Jun 25, 2025

Coldest day

9°FJan 11, 1982

Wettest day

6.64 inSep 18, 2024

Snowiest day

11.5 inDec 10, 2018

Hottest year

2024mean 60.6°F

Coldest year

1966mean 54.6°F

Wettest year

201869.21 in

Driest year

200132.37 in

Snowiest season

34.0 in1965-66

Station Reidsville 2 Nw (USC00317202), 890 ft elevation, 4.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1962 to October 27, 2026; 97.5% 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 USC00317202.
• 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.