Bedford County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Feb 14, 2021Winter Storm, Bedford$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Freezing rain brought ice accumulations up to 1/2 inch across Bedford County, resulting in dozens of downed trees, power lines, and power poles. Some trees, power lines, and power poles fell onto homes and blocked numerous roads. Damage estimates from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency reached 1.08 million dollars.

2. May 31, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were down. Flat Creek and Hilltop areas were hardest hit. A 2-story brick home lost the front porch which was facing west at 415 Smith Chapel Rd. The damage to the home was estimated to be about $40,000. The EMA Director estimated one million dollars worth of damage to utilities because of the straight line winds.

3. Mar 15, 2025Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-1 tornado first touched down in far northwest Bedford County near Carter Crossroads on Kingdom Road. At this location, a half dozen outbuildings, storage buildings, and barns were damaged or destroyed. The tornado continued east-northeast where some minor damage occurred to homes along Longview Road. Garage doors were blown in, fences were knocked down, outbuildings were destroyed, and minor roof damage was observed. The tornado then continued into far southwest Rutherford County. Damages are a rough estimate.

4. Nov 6, 2018Tornado$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Christiana tornado first touched down in far northern Bedford County southwest of Kimmons Road at Longview Road, damaging an outbuilding and blowing down a few trees. This small but very intense tornado moved northeast and quickly increased in intensity to EF-2 as it approached the Bedford/Rutherford County line, severely damaging two homes on the south side of Kingdom Road/Midland Fosterville Road. The tornado then crossed the road into Rutherford County, where a small but well-built brick home had its roof blown off and brick walls blown in. One wall fell onto the homeowner causing minor injuries. Further to the northeast on Williams Road, one barn was heavily damaged and…

5. Feb 23, 2019Flash Flood$275,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads were flooded and closed across Bedford County, including Highway 30 between the Duck River Bridge and Sulphur Springs Road, Sevier Street, Lipscomb Street, Coopertown Road, Maxwell Chapel Road, Threet Road, Longview Road, Rattlesnake Lodge Road, McDale Lane, Blue Ribbon Parkway, and many others.

6. Jan 24, 1997Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Most of the damage from the tornado occurred in Wheel and just to the east of Wheel. 1 home was destroyed and 3 homes were damaged. Also a general store was damaged along with one mobile home. 2 mobile homes were destroyed. There were 3 minor injuries.Tornado path width and length are approximations.

7. May 20, 2025Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-0 tornado touched down near Bedford Lake Road near Shiloh, damaging trees. The tornado moved north-northeast, causing additional timber damage and damaging some farm structures along Bedford Lake Road and Hobbs Lane. The tornado then crossed into Coffee County at Sixteenth Model Road. Damages are a rough estimate.

8. May 2, 2009Flash Flood$175,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Airport Road was flooded. Newspaper also reported that a dozen other roads were closed due to high water as the result of flash flooding. Other newspaper articles reported that the Duck River in Shelbyville overflowed its banks, causing several roads to be flooded in the area and also resulting in a release of water from the Normandy Dam. Other newspaper articles reported that Fisherman's Park was completely flooded|along with portions of Riverwalk Park. A residence on Tommy Drive in Columbia did have serious damage to a recently installed chain link fence.

9. May 3, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$173,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were blown down across Bedford County. The roof was blown off the Shelbyville Times Gazette building on Depot Street and the Title Max Store on Madison Street.

10. Nov 10, 2002Tornado$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An F2 tornado struck near Bugscuffle and caused very minor injuries. A second floor was torn off 2 late model frame houses. Several houses had roofs stripped and a couple of barns were demolished. This tornado went into Coffee county. TEMA reported 5 homes destroyed, 6 damaged, one mobile home destroyed and a TVA 500 KV tower was destroyed.

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 Jun 30, 2012

All-time low

−20°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

80°FAug 8, 1987

Coldest day

10°FFeb 4, 1996

Wettest day

6.69 inAug 29, 1963

Snowiest day

9.0 inJan 1, 1964

Hottest year

2023mean 62.8°F

Coldest year

1958mean 57.1°F

Wettest year

197376.54 in

Driest year

198737.29 in

Snowiest season

28.0 in1959-60

Station Shelbyville Water Dept (USC00408246), 760 ft elevation, 2.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1951 to October 21, 2026; 94.3% 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 USC00408246.
• 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.