Aiken County

Every recorded tornado

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

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Sep 27, 2024Tropical Storm, Aiken$43.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread tree and power line damage throughout the county. Falling trees caused damage to structures across the county. At least 1323 homes sustained some level of damage including 35 destroyed and 326 with major damage. South Carolina Forestry estimated 4.3 million dollars in timber loss. Most of the county was without power for an extended period of time. Many roads were closed, some for an extended period. NWS storm survey estimated maximum wind gusts around between 80-100 mph based on how widespread the damage was, especially near the Savannah River. A mesonet site in the town of Aiken recorded a max sustained wind of 48 mph and max gust of 72 mph. Areas of flooding occurred…

2. Apr 10, 2009Tornado$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The supercell coming out of Richmond county GA spawned another tornado in Aiken county that did widespread damage. Many homes and business were severely damaged. Numerous trees and powerlines were down and there were around a dozen minor injuries. The tornado tracked along hwy 278. There was also one indirect death of a man who crashed trying to avoid trees on the highway and was killed.

3. Jul 10, 2012Lightning$550,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Aiken Standard reported lightning started a fire that destroyed the Hayden Baptist Church in Couchton.

4. Apr 6, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   ASOS recorded a gust to 55 mph from a passing thunderstorm.

5. Jun 3, 2013Flash Flood$340,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Aiken dispatch reported several roads had to be closed around the Clearwater Lake area due to wash outs. Two apartment complexes also had to be evacuated due to water level rising up to 4 feet in the bottom apartments.

6. Feb 24, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$240,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Sheriff and SKYWARN spotters reported numerous trees and powerlines down from North Augusta to Graniteville. Some trees were down on homes and other homes suffered minor damage from the winds.

7. Feb 24, 2012Tornado$240,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   NWS storm survey confirmed an EF2 tornado touched down north of Wagener near the Aiken/Lexington county line. A two story home that was built up off the ground was destroyed and a brick home was severely damaged. Other homes also suffered damage. Many trees were down as well.

8. Jul 31, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$140,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   EM reported many trees down around N. Augusta. Several trailers were damaged on Tigerlilly Drive and Dafodill Lane from trees falling onto them. Several homes on Yardly Drive also had trees fall onto them. A well secured radio tower was bent over as well.

9. Nov 16, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$120,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense microburt took down trees and powerlines and overturned two mobile homes twice. Damage also occurred to a garage/workshop and other outbuildings.

10. Jun 9, 2015Lightning$78,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Aiken County Sheriff reoprted a home on Virginia Hill Court caught fire due to a lightning strike.

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

108°F2 times, most recently Aug 10, 2007

All-time low

−1°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

81°FJun 24, 1944

Coldest day

24°F2 times, most recently Dec 23, 1989

Wettest day

7.30 inSep 3, 1998

Snowiest day

8.0 in2 times, most recently Feb 12, 2010

Hottest year

2017mean 67.7°F

Coldest year

1981mean 61.4°F

Wettest year

196466.04 in

Driest year

201028.61 in

Snowiest season

14.4 in1972-73

Station Augusta Bush Field Airport (USW00003820), 134 ft elevation, 16.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1944 to October 26, 2026; 99.8% 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 USW00003820.
• 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.