Union County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Union County: 1.
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. Dec 4, 2002Ice Storm, Union$11.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Freezing rain began over the extreme southern mountains of North Carolina during the early afternoon on the 4th, and had spread into the southwest piedmont by mid afternoon. Resultant damage due to ice accumulation began during the mid-to-late afternoon. The intensity of the freezing rain increased after midnight, and by sunrise on the 5th, devastating ice accumulations of 1/2 to 1 1/2 inches were observed. The hardest hit area was Charlotte metro. Hundreds of thousands lost power, and the outages lasted for as long as 2 weeks in some areas.

2. Sep 27, 2024Tropical Storm, Union$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hundreds of trees were blown down, with dozens of trees down on homes, vehicles, and power lines. Frequent gusts up 50 to 60 mph occurred, with occasional gusts of 70 mph.

3. Jul 19, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Scattered thunderstorms developed across western North Carolina during the late afternoon and a few became severe during the early evening. At least one tree fell across a house in Salisbury. Five trees were blown down across Interstate 40, blocking the lanes for a short time. Trees were downed from the east side of Monroe to Wingate. In the Waxhaw vicinity, trees were downed, some on structures and two chicken houses were destroyed, killing a number of chickens.

4. Feb 26, 2004Heavy Snow, Union$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy snow began to fall across the foothills, piedmont, and northern mountains of North Carolina during the late morning. Although snowfall intensity decreased dramatically during the early-to-middle portion of the afternoon, heavy snow redeveloped during the late afternoon, and continued into the evening and overnight hours. Scattered thunderstorms contributed to intense snowfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour from time to time, especially in the piedmont, where total snowfall of 12-22 inches occurred. The heaviest amounts occurred in the southwest piedmont, particularly in southern portions of Charlotte metro. Thousands of people were stranded on I-77 during the early…

5. Jul 5, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple trees and power lines were blown down on Franklin St and Bragg St in the city with large limbs down at Medlin Rd and Macedonia Church Rd. Other large limbs were blown down on Wolf Pond Rd near Joe Collins Rd and four trees blown down on Bruce Thomas Rd near Stack Rd. Trees fell on seven homes, with four of the homes incurring major damage.

6. Jul 20, 1998Lightning$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An isolated severe thunderstorm in Waynesville downed numerous limbs and power lines. One thousand people power lost power as well. A cluster of thunderstorms moved from northern Cleveland county, east-southeast and became severe in the eastern portions, downing numerous trees. This cluster of severe thunderstorms moved across Gaston county, continuing to down trees and some power lines and leaving 6500 people without power for a while. The storms then moved into southern Mecklenburg county, blowing down 6 trees on the southwest side of Charlotte. Intense cloud to ground lightning from these storms that became nearly stationary struck 15 dwellings ranging from apartments to…

7. Aug 20, 2009Lightning$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a large home on Pimlico Ln, igniting a fire that caused enough damage to render the home uninhabitable.

8. Apr 13, 1996Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down briefly and caused significant damage to a house, destroyed several outbuildings, damaged a mobile home, and blew down a few trees. The damage was surveyed the next day and convergent rotary wind damage was quite evident. The funnel was observed as it approached the residence.

9. Jul 21, 2009Lightning$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a home, igniting a fire that destroyed much of the structure.

10. Jul 19, 2005Lightning$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Lightning struck a home, igniting a fire which completely destroyed the structure and its contents.

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°F2 times, most recently Aug 21, 1983

All-time low

−10°FFeb 14, 1899

Warmest night

80°FJul 15, 1937

Coldest day

14°FFeb 13, 1899

Wettest day

7.72 inOct 11, 1990

Snowiest day

13.0 inJan 25, 2000

Hottest year

1921mean 63.2°F

Coldest year

1901mean 57.3°F

Wettest year

190869.07 in

Driest year

202528.32 in

Snowiest season

27.5 in1935-36

Station Monroe 2 Se (USC00315771), 540 ft elevation, 6.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1896 to October 23, 2026; 96.6% 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 USC00315771.
• 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.