Hamilton County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Hamilton County: 11.
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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NASA (9), USGS Conterminous (1).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Mar 29, 1997Tornado$45.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   In Hamilton county...the tornado first touched down in the Tiftonia community just west of downtown Chattanooga around 1:10 am EDT. As the tornado moved due east across the southern part of the county, 50 homes were completely destroyed. Another 600 homes and one business were heavily damaged. Most of the damage was concentrated in the East Brainerd community. There, about half of the 180-unit Hickory Villa apartment complex was destroyed, and 18 of 23 townhomes of the Hickory Trace complex were destroyed. Two more apartment complexes, Hickory Valley and Ledford Apartments, were severely damaged. Around 20000 homes were without electricity after the storm. Most power had been…

2. Mar 2, 2012Tornado$28.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Harrison Tornado--Segment #1. This tornado was the strongest of the day in the southeastern U.S.--rated a strong EF3 with 165 MPH maximum winds. The tornado formed on a northward-extending peninsula in Lake Chickamauga, just north of the Booker T. Washington State Park. At this point, the tornado downed a few trees and caused some light structural damage. ||The tornado then moved ENE and crossed Waconga Bay. On the east side of the bay the tornado smashed a very large marina--Island Cove Marina--causing $6,000,000 in damage. The tornado was a strong EF1 with about 110 mph winds. The tornado track so far was about 2 miles long.||The tornado continued to strengthen as it went on…

3. May 6, 2003Flash Flood$23.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Record flooding on the South Chickamauga Creek, near record flooding on the Tennessee River. Widespread flooding, road closures, damage, evacuations.

4. May 8, 2003Flash Flood$23.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding, road closures, damage, evacuations.

5. Apr 27, 2011Tornado$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ringgold-Apison Tornado. An EF4 tornado touched down in north Georgia and continued into southeast Hamilton county, just south of Apison, Tennessee. It tracked northeast across SE Hamilton County before moving across Bradley County and into Polk County. It had a path length of 4.9 mile path length in Hamilton county and a path width of 800 yards. The 190 mph wind completely leveled several homes and an additional 150 homes were damaged. Eight fatalities were attributed directly to the tornado along with 100 injuries. Victims from Apison include a 77 year old grandmother along with her 17 year old grandson as well the 56 year old mother and 31 year old male cousin who died in their…

6. Feb 28, 2011Tornado$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF1 tornado touched down two miles north of Red Bank. The path length was 2.6 miles with an average path width from 85 to 100 yards and a maximum width of 150 yards. The maximum wind speed was 90 mph which damage at least 20 homes along with numerous trees downed by the wind.

7. Feb 23, 2019Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several homes along Hunter Road near Ooltewah took up to several feet of water. All told, Emergency Management estimated there was three million dollars in flood damages in Hamilton County for the overall event.

8. Feb 6, 2020Debris Flow$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rain-induced landslide damaged or destroyed five homes near Sunset Drive and Haven Oaks Trail. Time estimated.

9. Jun 22, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$2.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant electrical infrastructure damage in southern Chattanooga as the storm passed through southern Hamilton County. Local media cited more than 260 instances of damage to electrical wires, poles, and related power infrastructure. Damages reached over $2 million.

10. Aug 11, 1996Flash Flood$2.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy rain fell within a few hours on ground already saturated from previous rains. Seventy-seven homes, trwnty siz businesses, four public buildings, and three churches were heavily damaged in the Chattanooga suburbs of Red Bank and Hixson. Many people had to be evacuated to emergency shelters. Numerous streets were flooded stranding cars and motorists.

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

107°F2 times, most recently Jul 1, 2012

All-time low

−13°FJan 26, 1940

Warmest night

81°FJul 11, 1980

Coldest day

12°FDec 12, 1962

Wettest day

9.49 inSep 5, 2011

Snowiest day

18.5 inMar 13, 1993

Hottest year

2024mean 64.6°F

Coldest year

1969mean 57.2°F

Wettest year

199473.70 in

Driest year

196835.09 in

Snowiest season

22.7 in1992-93

Station Chattanooga Airport (USW00013882), 669 ft elevation, 4.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1938 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00013882.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.