Chesterfield County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Aug 23, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   DOT reported several trees and road signs blow down on SC hwys 59 and 59 west to northwest of Chesterfield.

2. Aug 12, 2004Tornado$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F1 tornado touched down near Teal Mill Pond and continued to the Technical College just west of Cheraw. Several homes and mobile had moderate damage. One mobile home was severely damaged. Several business near Cheraw had minor to moderate damage. Several out buildings were destroyed along with a couple of camper trailers. A power substation also sustained moderate damage causing power outages in the area. Numerous trees and powerlines were down.

3. Jul 28, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several homes sustained minor damage on the east side of Chesterfield including trees down on them. A farm on hwy 9 also had minor damage from the winds.

4. Sep 15, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   EPD reported scattered trees and powerlines down. 150K in damage was done to residential and business areas.

5. Aug 21, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Sheriff reported trees down in Cheraw... some on vehicles and some on homes.

6. Aug 21, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency Manager reported trees down around the county and in the town of Chesterfield. Some trees fell on vehicles and a few on homes. A garage door was ripped off a building and blown 300 yds away. Street flooding also occurred.

7. Jul 28, 2005Lightning$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a home on Tavern Branch Road taking out the TV's, satellite, and computer.

8. Jul 1, 2012Hail$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Public reported golfball size hail on the north side of Cheraw.

9. Jul 1, 2012Hail$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   SKYWARN spotter reported golfball size hail on the northwest side of Cheraw covering the ground.

10. Sep 27, 2024Tropical Storm, Chesterfield$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Many trees and power lines down. Some roads closed. Sections of the county without power. A few structures damaged by falling trees. Maximum wind gust recorded at a RAWS station in Carolina National Wildlife Refuge was 40 mph. Areas of flooding with a USGS gage north of McBee measuring 3.95 inches of rain. One person died from a medical emergency while emergency communications were down.

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°FJul 23, 1952

All-time low

−9°FFeb 14, 1899

Warmest night

83°FAug 28, 1903

Coldest day

14°FFeb 14, 1899

Wettest day

10.75 inSep 16, 2018

Snowiest day

16.0 inFeb 26, 1914

Hottest year

2019mean 65.6°F

Coldest year

1969mean 57.9°F

Wettest year

201872.45 in

Driest year

200129.72 in

Snowiest season

19.0 in1935-36

Station Cheraw (USC00381588), 150 ft elevation, 15.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 4, 2026; 96.6% 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 USC00381588.
• 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.