Stanly County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Stanly 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$3.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall of 6 to 8 inches caused widespread flooding across the county. Combined with additional rainfall upstream, the rainfall caused all-time record major flooding along the Rocky River near Norwood. Flooding damaged approximately 142 structures throughout the county, destroying 3 and resulting in over $3.63 million in property damage and at least $20 million in crop damage. Numerous roads were flooded all throughout the county. The Rocky River overflowed the Highway 52 bridge and reached the base of the Plank Road bridge.

2. Sep 29, 1999Tornado$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A second tornado, spawned by another thunderstorm, dropped a tornado 6 miles west of Albemarle. It destroyed a modular home, then did serious damage to the roof of a church. Several large trees were also taken down in the area. This was near the community of Lambert. The tornado then produced sporadic tree and roof damage on its way to the southern part of Albemarle. Several businesses were then heavily damaged and a lock and store facility was destroyed. The tornado then apparently dissipated.

3. Jun 13, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread trees and power-lines were blown down throughout the county. Albemarle had the most extensive damage from trees blown down on homes, several of which went through homes and mobile homes. Approximately 70 homes were damaged. There were at least three injuries and many residents displaced from their homes.

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

5. Sep 30, 2022Tropical Storm, Stanly$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

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

6. Feb 6, 2020Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 110 mph touched down west of Albemarle. A discontinuous damage path started along Flint Ridge Road approximately two mies southwest of Millingport. The damage there consisted of a double-wide manufactured home that had the roof completely removed and shifted off of its foundation. A large storage outbuilding at the same location was completely destroyed. In addition, there was a long and narrow patch of substantial tree damage consisting of both uprooted and snapped hard and softwood trees. This type of damage was noted in numerous locations along Biles road. The tree damage continued east of Biles Road after crossing Millingport Road.…

7. Sep 15, 2018Tropical Storm, Stanly$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Frequent wind gusts of 30 to 50 mph resulted in numerous trees down across Stanly County, including on homes, cars, power lines and damage to structures. Numerous customers lost power in Stanly County as a result of the tropical storm force winds.

8. May 3, 2003Hail$200,000
9. Jun 29, 2013Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads were closed due to high water flowing across them. In addition, sections of a couple of roads were washed away due to the flooding, including Pole Running Road near Bridge Road and Nelson Mountain Road between Harkey Road and Lockwood Road. Also, a bridge on Old Mill Road was damaged due to high water. This flash flood warning was replaced with a flood warning as the flooding persisted.

10. May 11, 2019Tornado$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The tornado touched down near Plank Rd, just west of the intersection with Aldridge Rd. Large branches were broken and small trees were snapped on the northern side of Plank Rd. The tornado then moved southeast into the town of Cottonville, where |large trees were uprooted and snapped. At the intersection between Plank Rd and Hardy Rd, the tornado appeared to reach maximum intensity, with numerous trees uprooted and some trees snapped at the trunk. The tornado then continued east along Hardy Road, with minor structural damage noted to farm outbuildings consistent with EF-0 damage. It then lifted and dissipated, as no further significant damage was evident.

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

109°FJul 28, 1940

All-time low

−7°FJan 28, 1940

Warmest night

80°F2 times, most recently May 29, 1941

Coldest day

20°FDec 30, 1917

Wettest day

9.32 inOct 11, 1990

Snowiest day

18.0 inMar 2, 1927

Hottest year

1990mean 63.8°F

Coldest year

1997mean 57.5°F

Wettest year

200373.91 in

Driest year

198629.28 in

Snowiest season

23.5 in1935-36

Station Albemarle (USC00310090), 610 ft elevation, 6.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1911 to September 30, 2026; 92.6% 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 USC00310090.
• 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.