Johnson County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Johnson County: 2.
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.

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 (1), NC GS (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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Sep 27, 2024Flash Flood$6.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Reports of water rescues in Trade were received at 8:30 am EST. By 9:30 am EST, multiple structures had been damaged by flood waters throughout Trade. Damaging flood waters occurred in Mountain City and northward through Laurel Bloomery through the morning. Employees at the Parkdale Plant between Mountain City and Midway were evacuated by helicopter. Antioch Baptist Church near Midway was completely washed away by Roan Creek, to which it was adjacent. Portions of TN 91 from Laurel Bloomery northward to the state line were washed out. Flooding hazards in the county continued into the night. Reports were received from county officials, trained spotters, social media, and broadcast media.

2. Apr 27, 2011Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A NWS storm survey reported an EF2 tornado touched down near Butler. It had a path length of 12 miles and a path width of 250 yards. The max wind of 120 mph destroyed homes and buildings and downed numerous trees. In addition, 2 women died. A 54 year old woman died in her home in the Doe Valley community and a 53 year old woman died in her home in Butler.

3. Feb 23, 2019Flood$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding in the Neva community along Mill Creek Road.

4. Jan 7, 1998Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain over several hours triggered flash flooding across these counties in northeast Tennessee.

5. Feb 14, 2003Flood, Johnson$248,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Four day rainfall totals of two to eight inches fell across east Tennessee, with the highest amounts occurring across the Cumberland Plateau and adjacent valleys areas. This rainfall combined with a melting snowpack (reports of up to a foot in the higher elevations) to produce widespread flooding of rivers and streams with numerous mudslides also reported (one notable mudslide pushed an apartment complex off its foundation in Knox County). The Powell, Clinch and Holston rivers measured the most significant rises with Claiborne, Rhea and Knox counties reporting the most significant damage.

6. Jun 3, 1998Tornado$125,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is a continuation of the tornado originating in Carter County. The tornado's path continued to be intermittent. Near the community of Pandora, numerous trees were blown down or snapped off along hillsides and in river bottoms. Some trees were 1.5 feet in diameter. One home was totally destroyed, along with a mobile home on the same lot. The house was not attached to the foundation. Debris was scattered over the hillside over several acres. Mattresses from the home were found nearly a mile away at a convenience store, and family photos were found two miles away at the home of the sister of the owner of the destroyed house. A three-horse trailer was blown approximately…

7. May 27, 1997Flash Flood$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   In the Cove Springs community, a trailer home was flooded near the hospital. In the Laurel Bloomery community, water was reported in a few homes.

8. Dec 9, 2009High Wind, Johnson$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency management personnel reported numerous trees and powerlines downed by non-thunderstorm winds countywide.

9. May 14, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and large limbs downed power lines across the county.

10. Jun 11, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous trees and power lines were reported down across the county.

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

97°F2 times, most recently Jul 1, 2012

All-time low

−24°FDec 13, 1962

Warmest night

74°FOct 10, 2017

Coldest day

4°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

4.03 inOct 16, 1964

Snowiest day

20.0 inMar 14, 1993

Hottest year

2017mean 55.3°F

Coldest year

1988mean 50.4°F

Wettest year

199061.00 in

Driest year

200835.35 in

Snowiest season

75.5 in1959-60

Station Mountain City 2 (USC00406292), 2,419 ft elevation, 2.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1956 to October 7, 2026; 87.9% 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 USC00406292.
• 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.