Macon County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Macon County: 13.
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.

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 5, 2008Tornado$14.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thirteen people were killed, and 44 folks were injured. Most of the fatalities occurred in Williams, just northwest of Lafayette. Also, 170 homes were destroyed, and 9 homes had major damage. ||There was one indirect fatality, a male 48 years of age, due to carbon monoxide poisoning in his home from a generator on Feb. 6, 2008.||Pres. George W. Bush toured Macon County destruction on February 8th and promised relief to individuals. ||The logging industry in Macon County was hit hard. About a million dollars worth of trees were destroyed, which will take decades to replenish. It was estimated that the tornado outbreak did 10 million dollars worth of damage to trees in the state of…

2. Aug 18, 2010Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy flooding of low lying areas across the county destroyed tobacco crops that were planted in these areas. Thirty roads across the county were reported to have at least moderate damage, mainly across the eastern portion of the county, with 24 of those roads being closed. Per the wet soil conditions, several trees also fell across county roadways. Emergency officials evacuated about 50 nursing home residents from a facility close to a rising creek. Name and exact location of the creek was unknown.||Newspapers also reported that the counties highway department stated that 96 roads were damaged in the flooding, with 22 of those suffering moderate to severe damage.||All of this…

3. Feb 3, 1998Heavy Snow, Macon$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The heavy snow brought treacherous driving conditions, school closures, and widespread power outages across the eastern part of Middle Tennessee. Interstate 40 was closed at Monterey due to the heavy snow. Winds gusted to 50 mph at times during the snowstorm. The weight of the heavy wet snow, along with the strong winds, downed many trees and power lines causing numerous power outages. TEMA reported damages from the snow storm at about 5 million dollars. The report will be broken down into county/snow depth/ and related problems.Bedford / 2-4" / Widespread power outages. Bledsoe / 4-18" / Snow on ridges, widespread power outages. As much as 10-18 inches fell at Fall Creek Falls…

4. Jul 3, 2015Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Major flash flooding affected much of Macon County during the morning hours on July 3. Numerous roads throughout the county were impassable and closed due to high water, including Highway 10, Main Street, Galen Road, and Long Creek Road. Other roads were washed away and destroyed, such as Westfork Creek Road. Many homes, businesses and vehicles were also flooded, and 11 homes were destroyed by flooding in the western part of the county. 20 water rescues were also performed by emergency personnel, including two residents rescued from flooded homes in Lafayette. A CoCoRaHS observer 3.7 miles NNW of Lafayette measured 4.22 inches of rain over the 24 hour period ending at 9am on July 3.

5. Mar 31, 2023Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This narrative continues and concludes a tornado that began in far northern Trousdale County. Once this tornado tracked into Macon County near Rose Lane, property damage was found in the form of minor roofing and shingle damage along with a flipped propane tank as well as an outbuilding set on cinder blocks that was moved about 50 feet. The family that lives at the residence with the flipped propane tank had to temporarily evacuate due to a gas leak. The tornado strengthened as it approached Dixon Creek Road, and this is where the most significant damage was found with EF1 tornado damage and estimated peak winds of 95 mph. A residence here lost about 60 percent of their roof, six…

6. May 11, 2016Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant flash flooding affected much of western Macon County. Numerous roads were flooded and closed, including Green Grove Road, Williams Road, and several roads in Lafayette. Several homes were also reportedly flooded in these same areas.

7. Mar 3, 2023High Wind, Macon$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The highest measured gust in Macon County came from a spotter near Lafayette who measured a wind gust of 60 mph. Several hours of severe non-thunderstorm winds resulted in numerous damage reports, including downed and uprooted trees, downed powerlines, and roof and other property damage across all of Macon County. Damages are estimated.

8. Apr 3, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   30 to 50 homes in the Willette-Jennings Creek area had light to moderate damage from strong thunderstorm winds. 2 barns were completely destroyed, and the roof was taken off the Willette Head Start Center. Most of the damages to homes were from broken windows and vinyl siding. There was roof damage to some homes as well.

9. May 2, 2010Flood$450,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous homes, numerous businesses, numerous non comercial buildings, along with several county, state, and federal roads across the county received damage due to the flood.

10. Jun 18, 2025Tornado$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An EF0 tornado touched down north of Lafayette near Sparrow Road and continued northeast along Oak Knob Road where a path of timber damage occurred. The tornado also caused damage to a few residences and carports. Damage was more sporadic to the northeast, but continued to Akersville Road before dissipating. Damages are a rough estimate.

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 Jul 28, 1952

All-time low

−20°FJan 24, 1963

Warmest night

78°F5 times, most recently Jul 12, 2011

Coldest day

3°F2 times, most recently Dec 24, 2022

Wettest day

9.68 inJun 23, 1969

Snowiest day

12.0 in2 times, most recently Nov 2, 1966

Hottest year

1998mean 60.8°F

Coldest year

2014mean 55.3°F

Wettest year

195071.66 in

Driest year

198035.64 in

Snowiest season

44.5 in1959-60

Station Scottsville (USC00157215), 743 ft elevation, 18.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1946 to October 25, 2026; 99.5% 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 USC00157215.
• 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.