Calhoun County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Oct 3, 2015Flash Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several roads closed due to flooding including portions of HWY 6 between St.Matthews and Elloree.

2. Sep 27, 2024Tropical Storm, Calhoun$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Many trees and power lines down. Some roads closed. Sections of the county lost power. A few structures damaged by falling trees. A mesonet site in St. Matthews recorded a maximum wind gust of 43 mph before a power outage caused the site to stop reporting. NWS analysis estimated that maximum gusts were between 60-70 mph. Areas of flooding, especially in the northwestern portion of the county where a CoCoRaHS gage recorded a two day rainfall total of 9.23 inches.

3. Oct 8, 2016High Wind, Calhoun$950,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Law Enforcement reported numerous trees and power lines down closing roads throughout the county especially in the St. Matthews and Brookdale communities. Numerous trees and power lines were down as reported by SCDOT along SC-642 Dorchester Road, Wire Road, US Hwy 15, Givhan's Ferry Road and most other roadways connecting Calhoun County with Dorchester and Berkeley Counties. Tri-County Electric Cooperative reported power outages affecting 122,000 subscribers within the county. Additional reports gathered by NASA Earth Observatory published a summary from Utility Companies indicating that a combined 98 percent of customers in the county were without power at the peak of the storm.…

4. Oct 4, 2015Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   SC Highway Patrol reports roadway flooding on I-26 eastbound at mile marker 124.

5. Nov 14, 2008Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Storm survey found an EF1 touched down just southwest of Lone Star and continued northeast across Lake Marion into rural Sumter county. The most significant damage occurred near Lone Star along McCords Ferry road just south of Tinah road. At that location several homes lost portions of their roofs and numerous trees and powerlines were down. The tornado moved northeast across Broomstraw road where several outbuildings lost roofs or were destroyed.

6. Apr 22, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   EPD reports many trees down on powerlines, homes, and mobile homes in and around St. Matthews.

7. Apr 28, 2011Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   NWS Storm Survey confirmed a HAM radio report of a tornado touchdown southwest of Ft. Motte. An EF1 tornado with winds of near 100mph took down numerous trees and powerlines, damaged a farm, and rolled over a large section of a field irrigation system. Nickel size hail was also reported.

8. Apr 19, 2015Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   NWS storm survey found an EF1 tornado destroyed a mobile home on Otts Sisters Road injuring two people, damaged another, and also did minor damage to industrial facility. Numerous trees were also down along the path of the tornado.

9. Nov 16, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Storm survey found significant damage to Browns Chapel Church. The steeple was blown off, several windows were blown out from the wind getting in on the southwest side, and several trees were down. Shingles, facia, and soffett were also torn off.

10. Apr 28, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    HAM radio and storm survey found trees down, stop signs bent over, uprooted trees, powerlines down, and a home significantly damaged from a tree falling on it.

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°FAug 10, 2007

All-time low

2°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

80°FAug 15, 2007

Coldest day

21°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

9.99 inOct 10, 1990

Snowiest day

5.0 inFeb 6, 1980

Hottest year

2017mean 67.5°F

Coldest year

1968mean 61.2°F

Wettest year

196471.47 in

Driest year

195425.42 in

Snowiest season

7.0 in1979-80

Station Orangeburg 2 (USC00386527), 185 ft elevation, 13.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1953 to October 22, 2026; 97.0% 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 USC00386527.
• 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.