Berks County

Every recorded tornado

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

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).

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, 2006Flood$17.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several days of heavy rain throughout the Schuylkill River Basin culminated with major flooding along the Schuylkill River from the 27th through the 29th. It was the second or third highest crest on record for the Schuylkill River in Berks County and the highest crest since Hurricane Agnes in 1972. President George W. Bush declared Berks County a disaster area. Sporadic periods of heavy rain started on the 23rd, but the most widespread and heaviest rain fell from the night of the 26th into the morning of the 28th. During bursts of heavier rain on the 27th and 28th, flash flooding of smaller streams occurred and the ongoing flooding along the main stem rivers was exacerbated. Event…

2. Jun 22, 2001Flash Flood$15.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms with torrential downpours caused flash flooding and flooding of creeks in Berks County. The worst damage occurred in Reading where a dam broke and a couple of streets had their asphalt peeled away. Preliminary damage estimate in the county was around 15 million dollars. The county was declared a federal disaster area. Doppler Radar storm total estimates were as high as 6 to 8 inches across the northern and southwestern parts of the county. In Reading, a 20 foot earthen section of the Angelica Lake Dam collapsed. The rushing water washed away Morgantown Road (Pennsylvania State Route 10). The Wyomissing Creek flooded Museum Road. The torrents of rain peeled away the…

3. Jan 7, 1996Blizzard, Berks$4.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Blizzard of '96, the second coined "STORM OF THE CENTURY" of this decade brought record breaking snow to most of Southeast Pennsylvania and paralyzed the region for several days, caused most municipalities to exceed their annual snow budgets during this one storm, caused several building collapses and caused directly or directly 42 deaths and countless injuries. Six persons died of hypothermia, 4 in Philadelphia, 1 in Delaware County and 1 in Lehigh County. Some were homeless persons, but one woman in Allentown accidentally locked herself out of her home. Twenty-nine persons suffered heart attacks and died while shoveling snow, using snowblowers or trying to walk in the deep…

4. Oct 29, 2012High Wind, Berks$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Post Tropical Storm Sandy caused an initial estimate of $20 million dollars in damage in Pennsylvania and directly or indirectly caused 15 deaths across the state. Most of the damage in the eastern part of the state was wind related as wind gusts reached as high as 81 mph. Some moderate creek flooding occurred in the southeast part of the state and record tidal flooding occurred along the tidal Delaware River. Hundreds of roads were closed because of downed trees and major transportation in and out of the region was halted for two days and only slowly returned starting on the 31st. PECO Energy which serves customers in southeastern Pennsylvania, broke their all-time outage record…

5. Jul 27, 2004Flash Flood$2.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Repeated thunderstorms with torrential downpours caused flash flooding of streams and creeks in the southeast half of Berks County. Birdsboro Borough was hit the hardest as a flooding Hay Creek caused roadway and home damage. Damage estimates were $2.1 million dollars, more than half of it occurring in Birdsboro. It was described as the worst flooding since 1987 in Birdsboro. Other hard hit townships included Robeson, Lower Alsace, Mount Penn and Union. Doppler Radar storm total estimates reached between 5 and 6 inches. The flooding rains and streams loosened the soil and downed numerous trees which in turn caused power outages. About 7,000 homes and businesses lost power. In…

6. May 31, 1998Tornado$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A violent thunderstorm produced a swath of wind damage across the northern half of Berks County and included an eight mile long strong F3 (Fujita Scale) Tornado that devastated the borough of Lyons. Seven persons were injured (five within Lyons). About 40 homes were either destroyed or damaged in Lyons, Maiden Creek, Maxatawny and Richmond Townships. Preliminary damage estimates for the entire event were placed at $1.5 million dollars. About 10,250 homes and businesses lost power. The last homes to come back on line were in Lyons on June 3rd. This was the first tornado of that strength to occur in Southeast Pennsylvania and the Southern Poconos since the Limerick Tornado on July…

7. Sep 18, 2003High Wind, Berks$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tropical Storm Isabel produced strong power outage producing winds, moderate tidal flooding along the Delaware River and stream flooding in Chester County. Isabel made landfall as a hurricane near Drum Inlet, North Carolina around 100 p.m. EDT on the 18th and weakened as it tracked farther inland. At one time in its life cycle, it was a powerful Category 5 hurricane when it was north of the Leewood Islands. Winds gusted up to 60 mph in Eastern Pennsylvania and downed countless numbers of trees, tree limbs and power lines. It was the worst outage on record for PECO Energy in southeastern Pennsylvania. About 572,425 of its customers lost power. This exceeded the outages that…

8. Feb 16, 2003Heavy Snow, Berks$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The most powerful storm to affect Eastern Pennsylvania since the Blizzard of 1996 struck during the President's Day Weekend. Snow began falling around daybreak on Sunday the 16th in and around Philadelphia and then spread slowly north. It reached Reading around 9 a.m. EST, the Lehigh Valley during the early afternoon and the Poconos toward sunset. The heaviest snow fell in Philadelphia and its suburbs during the day into the early evening of the 16th. The snow mixed with sleet in Philadelphia and Delaware Counties from the evening of the 16th through the morning of the 17th. The heaviest snow in Berks County and the Lehigh Valley fell during the first half of the day on the 17th…

9. Jul 16, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm damaged the second and third floors as well as the roof of a toothbrush manufacturing plant in Kutztown. The roof and part of the third story wall of the plant were partially knocked down. The main stairwell in the plant was also destroyed. Elsewhere a Chinese Restaurant in the borough lost its display sign. Several trees and lines were knocked down on and around Main Street. Tree debris covered one playground set. About 5,000 homes and businesses in the area lost power.

10. Sep 16, 1999Flash Flood$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Hurricane Floyd battered Eastern Pennsylvania (especially Southeast sections around Philadelphia) on September 16th and brought with it torrential and in some places record breaking rains and damaging winds. The hurricane caused widespread flash flooding as storm totals averaged around six inches in the Poconos and Berks County, eight inches in the Lehigh Valley and from eight to twelve inches in the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. Six people died directly from the hurricane - four drownings and two persons were hit by trees. The hurricane also indirectly contributed to the death of about seven other persons. About 40 persons were seriously injured. There were hundreds of…

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

106°FJul 22, 2011

All-time low

−7°FJan 22, 2025

Warmest night

80°FJul 22, 2011

Coldest day

10°FJan 7, 2014

Wettest day

6.75 inOct 8, 2005

Snowiest day

24.6 inJan 23, 2016

Hottest year

2024mean 56.9°F

Coldest year

2003mean 51.5°F

Wettest year

201868.74 in

Driest year

201636.66 in

Snowiest season

64.7 in2002-03

Station Reading Regional Airport (USW00014712), 332 ft elevation, 2.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1949 to October 26, 2026; 92.3% 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 USW00014712.
• 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.