Bradford County

Every recorded tornado

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

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

   Tropical moisture continued to stream northward into northeast Pennsylvania ahead of a frontal system which slowly moved westward into the eastern Great Lakes by Tuesday morning the 27th. By Tuesday evening another more substantial area of heavy rain moved into the eastern half of Bradford County as the front moved back east and combined with a low pressure system moving up the eastern seaboard. This additional rainfall caused massive flash flooding by 5:50 pm EDT Tuesday through Wednesday at 3 pm EDT. Hardest hit areas were mainly in the eastern half of the county, including Sayre, Athens, Ulster, Sheshequin, Windham, LeRaysville, Herrick, and Stevens. Total damage was estimated…

2. Jan 19, 1996Flash Flood$21.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The most disastrous flood event in more than twenty years struck northeast Pennsylvania from the early morning of the 19th to the evening of the 21st. Significant widespread flooding of streams, rivers, homes and businesses, streets and highways, woodlands, and farmland occurred as a result of rapid snowmelt and nearly simultaneous storm runoff. Every county in northeast Pennsylvania experienced road closures due to washouts, mudslides, and failed, damaged, or weakened bridges. Evacuation of one hundred thousand to one hundred and ten thousand people was ordered at 11 PM on January 19th in Luzerne County (including much of Wilkes-Barre). The Susquehanna River at Wilkes-Barre was…

3. Sep 17, 2004Flash Flood$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain with amounts of 3 to 7 inches fell from the 16th to the 18th. The rain was due to remnants from hurricane Ivan. All creeks and streams went out of their banks causing major problems. Early on the 18th more than half of the roads in the county were closed, prompting a state of emergency to be issued. River flooding also occurred along the entire length of the Susquehanna River. 50 homes, 5 businesses, and dozens of roads and bridges were damaged. At least 20 water rescues occurred.

4. Sep 7, 2011Flood$15.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Record flooding occurred along the Susquehanna River near Sayre and Athens, PA between September 7th and September 12th, 2011. The river crested at 26.67 feet at 4:15 PM on September 8th as determined by a USGS high water mark survey.

5. Jun 27, 2006Flood$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Waverly/Sayre gage is located at the point where the Susquehanna River makes its final turn out of New York State into Pennsylvania. It is also 5 miles north of the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chemung Rivers at Tioga Point. The gage serves the communities of Waverly in New York and the Athens/Sayre region in Pennsylvania. The Cannon Hole neighborhood and the Village of Barton were severely flooded. To quote the Star-Gazette of Elmira, New York, Thursday July 3rd, 2006 "Cannon Hole residents, living unprotected and sometimes only yards from the Susquehanna River, are used to dealing with floods every so often. They mop up, wring things out, wash things off and move on…

6. Sep 7, 2011Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Major flooding occurred along the Susquehanna River near Towanda, PA. The river crested at 30.52 feet on September 8, 2011 at 10:45 AM.

7. Jul 26, 2015Flash Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Spotters reported torrential rainfall of 2 to 4 inches in less than 90 minutes on this day. This led to widespread flash flooding of rural roads, and in the local towns and villages over a small part of central Bradford county. Water was a few feet deep on some village streets, and rushing flood waters also destroyed culverts on several area roads.

8. Sep 7, 2011Flash Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Catastrophic flash flooding occurred along Route 187. Numerous roads, homes and bridges were severely damaged. A road collapsed from the flooding.

9. Apr 26, 2011Flash Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Bradford County experienced significant flash flooding on the overnight period of April 26th into April 27th. The bulk of the damage was roadway related with most townships in the county reporting at least some flooded roads. Some bridges suffered damage, as well. The township with the greatest damage was Troy, with over $1 million in damages. One home in North Towanda had significant structural damage with a wall collapse due to the flash flooding. Other homes only reported basement flooding or other minor damages.

10. Sep 7, 2011Flash Flood$2.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Catastrophic flash flooding occurred in Bradford county. Routes 220 and 187 and numerous county roads were closed and severely damaged. Several towns were not accessible from the flash flooding. Students were unable to leave Northeast Bradford High School and evacuations took place in several communities.

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

103°F2 times, most recently Jul 23, 2011

All-time low

−31°FJan 5, 1904

Warmest night

78°F2 times, most recently Aug 18, 1913

Coldest day

−2°FFeb 8, 1895

Wettest day

8.00 inSep 8, 2011

Snowiest day

23.0 inMar 4, 1994

Hottest year

2023mean 51.1°F

Coldest year

1904mean 45.0°F

Wettest year

199449.70 in

Driest year

199124.01 in

Station Waverly (USC00309047), 800 ft elevation, 11.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to September 29, 2026; 85.1% 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 USC00309047.
• 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.