McMinn County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 6, 2003Flash Flood$16.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding, road closures, damage, evacuations.

2. Mar 2, 2012Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Harrison Tornado - Segment #4. The Harrison Tornado continued to intensify again as it crossed from Polk into McMinn County. It was an EF1 at 100 MPH when it crossed the county line but quickly elevated to an EF2, and reached its maximum strength only about 1 1/2 miles inside McMinn County as an EF2 at 130 MPH where it caused heavy damage to several rural homes.||The tornado then continued to the northeast slowly weakening, crossed U.S. Highway 411, then started to climb the terrain on the north end of Starr Mountain where it dissipated. This storm went on to produce another tornado in Monroe County.||In McMinn County 37 homes and mobile homes were damaged. Four homes and seven…

3. Feb 14, 2003Flood, Mcminn$907,000
   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.

4. Apr 27, 2011Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ringgold-Apison Tornado. The tornado continued from Polk into McMinn County. The tornado re-intensified causing EF2 damage with 130 mph estimated max winds. Near the intersection of County Road 750 and County Road 966 two houses and a mobile home were destroyed and five people were injured. The tornado finally dissipated southwest of the McMinn County Airport. ||This prolific tornado started in Catoosa County, GA, accounted for 21 fatalities and tracked 57 miles over 5 parts of counties; 46 miles and 4 counties in Tennessee.

5. Apr 27, 2011Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Englewood-S. Madisonville Tornado. A NWS storm survey reported an EF1 tornado touched down northeast of Englewood. It formed near Carl Lee Road in McMinn County and tracked into Monroe County before dissipating. It had a path width of 200 yards. The 100 mph wind damaged several homes and downed numerous trees and powerlines.

6. Apr 27, 2011Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Cleveland-to-Etowah Tornado. A NWS storm survey reported an EF1 tornado continued out of Polk county into McMinn county, before it dissipated south of Etowah. The max wind of 90 mph downed several trees and damaged a few roofs on homes in southeast McMinn county. In total, this tornado tracked about 28 miles in three counties.

7. Jul 22, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm wind gusts tore the roof off of a business on Washington Avenue which slammed into a bed and breakfast next door damaging the home. Also, a plate-glass window was blown out and several trees were downed in the storm.

8. Jun 10, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   5000 square feet of a 13000 square foot furniture warehouse roof was blown off. The building housed the showroom for the business owned by Jim and Sue McQuain.

9. Jun 5, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A trained spotter reported several homes damaged by thunderstorm wind on County Route 100 west of Athens. Numerous trees were also downed by the wind.

10. Sep 21, 2002Flash Flood$35,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous roads were flooded and impassable in and around Athens including state highway 30 and 197 as well as county roads 249 and 169. One vehicle was totally submerged in high water on highway 197 and the occupants had to be rescued.

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

105°F2 times, most recently Jul 18, 1980

All-time low

−16°F3 times, most recently Jan 22, 1985

Warmest night

77°FJul 23, 2017

Coldest day

8°FJan 11, 1982

Wettest day

8.89 inSep 6, 2011

Snowiest day

11.5 inMar 13, 1993

Hottest year

2019mean 61.1°F

Coldest year

1966mean 55.6°F

Wettest year

201886.56 in

Driest year

200734.85 in

Snowiest season

23.0 in1992-93

Station Athens (USC00400284), 940 ft elevation, 1.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1962 to October 23, 2026; 98.5% 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 USC00400284.
• 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.