Madison County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Madison County: 5.
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.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NASA (1), USGS Conterminous (1).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 27, 2006Flash Flood$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tropical moisture streamed northward into upstate New York ahead of a frontal system which slowly moved westward into the eastern Great Lakes by Tuesday morning the 27th. This brought an initial round of heavy rain to Madison County by Tuesday morning causing significant flash flooding in the northern portion of the county. The rain abated for a short time during the day Tuesday the 27th before another batch of heavy rain fell Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning as the front moved back east and combined with a low pressure system moving up the eastern seaboard. Total rainfall for the three day period ending Wednesday was between 4 and 8 inches. This scenario caused major…

2. Sep 7, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The derecho continued to plow towards the east from the Syracuse area into Madison county. Widespread wind damage again resulted, mainly across northern and eastern sections of the county. Several reports of large hail were also received. The line of severe storms first affected Sullivan and Oneida Townships between roughly 145 and 155 am EDT. Trees and power lines were downed throughout the area. Several automobiles in the parking lot of a convenience store in Oneida were damaged from falling trees. The storms ripped through the Lincoln, Stockbridge, and Peterboro areas from 155 am to about 205 am EDT. Numerous reports of golf ball sized hail were taken from skywarn spotters. One…

3. Apr 4, 2003Ice Storm, Madison$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A stationary front was west to east across Pennsylvania during the 3rd and 4th of April. Areas of low pressure moved along the front bringing precipitation to upstate New York. A large area of high pressure, centered over Hudson Bay Canada helped to keep cold air at the surface. The morning of the 5th low pressure moved northeast to Erie, Pennsylvania then to northeast New York that evening. A trailing cold front brought with it an end to the precipitation from west to east. Patchy freezing rain was across these counties first the night of the 3rd into the 4th. At this time the freezing rain was most widespread in Northern Oneida County. Steady widespread freezing rain started…

4. Jan 19, 1996Flash Flood$1.5 million
5. Jun 28, 2013Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Major flash flooding occurred in the Town of Stockbridge along the Oneida Creek. Numerous residents were evacuated after a levee breached.

6. Jun 28, 2013Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread and major flash flooding closed numerous roads, and forced evacuations along the Oneida Creek.

7. Sep 7, 2011Flood$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Record flooding occurred along the Oneida Creek near Oneida, NY. The river crested at 15.55 feet according to a USGS high water mark survey. The previous record crest was 15.01 feet from an event back in October of 1976.

8. Jul 8, 2014Tornado$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down in Smithfield just 2 miles to the northeast of Peterboro. This EF2 tornado with a path length of 2.5 miles and a path width of 235 yard resulted in 4 fatalities in Smithfield. Three homes were destroyed and 5 additional homes sustained significant damage.

9. Aug 30, 2004Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain caused flash flooding. Numerous roads were floods and creeks were over their banks. Parts of the city of Oneida were flooded with streets impassable. Numerous homes had flooded basements. Power was shut off to reduce the risk of electrical fire until the basements got pumped out by the fire department. Rainfall was 3 to 5 inches.

10. Jul 1, 2017Flash Flood$340,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Widespread flash flooding of most creeks and urbanized areas occurred throughout the town of Eaton. Culverts and roads were washed out in several places. Some residences experienced flooding.

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

101°F3 times, most recently Jul 17, 2012

All-time low

−26°F3 times, most recently Feb 18, 1979

Warmest night

80°FJul 5, 1999

Coldest day

−4°FJan 17, 1982

Wettest day

4.29 inJul 12, 2006

Snowiest day

24.2 inDec 30, 2025

Hottest year

2024mean 53.3°F

Coldest year

1940mean 45.1°F

Wettest year

197658.17 in

Driest year

196427.10 in

Snowiest season

192.1 in1992-93

Station Syracuse Hancock International Airport (USW00014771), 410 ft elevation, 21.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1938 to October 26, 2026; 99.9% 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 USW00014771.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.