Scotland County

Every recorded tornado

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

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Sep 17, 2018Flood$5.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Torrential rainfall of 15 to 20 inches caused widespread flooding across the county and throughout the Lumber River basin. Flooding damaged approximately 168 structures throughout the county, resulting in over $5.4 million in property damage and at least $30 million in crop damage. Numerous roads were flooded all throughout the county.

2. May 3, 2003Hail$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail from golfball sized to dime sized covered the ground, clogging storm drains.

3. Oct 8, 2016Flash Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall of 8 to 10 inches caused widespread flash flooding across the county. Numerous roads were closed due to flooding. Numerous homes and businesses were flooded as well. Flooding damaged approximately 294 structures throughout the county, resulting in $3.0 million in property damage.

4. Oct 29, 2020Strong Wind, Scotland$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 Scotland County, including some on homes. Numerous customers lost power in Scotland County as a result of the strong winds.

5. Sep 13, 2018Tropical Storm, Scotland$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Frequent wind gusts of 50 to 70 mph resulted in numerous trees down across Scotland County, including on homes, cars, power lines and damage to structures. Numerous customers lost power in Scotland County as a result of the tropical storm force winds.

6. Sep 30, 2022Tropical Storm, Scotland$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 Scotland County, including some on homes. Numerous customers lost power in Scotland County as a result of the tropical storm force wind gusts.

7. Oct 8, 2016High Wind, Scotland$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Frequent wind gusts of 50 to 70 mph resulted in numerous trees down across Scotland County, including on homes, cars, power lines and damage to structures. Numerous customers lost power in Scotland County as a result of the high winds.

8. Sep 5, 2019Tropical Storm, Scotland$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Frequent wind gusts of 35 to 55 mph resulted in scattered to numerous trees and power lines down across Scotland County, including some on homes. Numerous customers lost power in Scotland County as a result of the tropical storm force winds.

9. Jun 26, 2010Lightning$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Auto Recyclers was destroyed by a fire when lightning struck the business.

10. May 11, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$175,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A microburst began just west of Scotch Meadows Country Club near Fairway Drive and continued east for almost 2 miles before dissipating at Hasty Road. The microburt knocked down numerous trees which resulted in minor structural damage to 3 homes east of the Country Club. As the microburst progressed east it also destroyed 2 barns at a horse farm.

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°F3 times, most recently Jul 1, 2012

All-time low

−3°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

80°FJul 29, 2025

Coldest day

20°FJan 20, 1994

Wettest day

10.30 inSep 17, 2018

Snowiest day

9.0 inMar 3, 1980

Hottest year

2023mean 65.8°F

Coldest year

1996mean 60.4°F

Wettest year

201870.19 in

Driest year

195124.56 in

Snowiest season

16.0 in1979-80

Station Laurinburg (USC00314860), 210 ft elevation, 2.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1946 to October 27, 2026; 96.5% 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 USC00314860.
• 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.