Polk County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Polk County: 3.
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 (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. May 6, 2003Flash Flood$4.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding, road closures, damage, evacuations.

2. Mar 2, 2012Tornado$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Harrison Tornado - Segment #3. The Harrison Tornado struggled as it crossed the Hiwassee River from Bradley County as an EF0. It remained an EF0 for about the next 6 miles as it only downed a few sporatic trees and larger limbs. The tornado started to intensify again near Dentville Rd. and reached it's maximum strength of EF1 at 100 mph as it damaged a couple of single family houses on Columbus Rd., just north of Lindale Rd.||Along its path, 10 homes were damaged with a total estimate of $600K, 5 barns were destroyed with the total agricultural property losses totaling $800K. Total infrastructure damages were $50K. Grand total damages were nearly $1.5 Million. There were no…

3. May 7, 1998Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The same severe thunderstorm that spawned the tornado in Bradley county dropped another here in Polk County. A number of houses were damaged, as well as numerous trees and powerlines downed. The storm then proceeded into Cherokee County, North Carolina.

4. Mar 29, 1997Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The severe thunderstorm that spawned a tornado earlier in Hamilton and Bradley counties created another in eastern Polk county. One mobile home was destroyed and fifteen homes were damaged. The damage was concentrated in the Grassy Creek area a few miles southwest of Ducktown.

5. Apr 27, 2011Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ringgold-Apison Tornado. This intense tornado was weaker by the time it had crossed into Polk County--lowering to EF1 with 100 mph winds. The damage was mainly to trees in this area. It tracked across the northwest parts of Polk County and continued into southern McMinn County.

6. Apr 27, 2011Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Cleveland-to-Etowah Tornado. This tornado entered the northwest part of Polk County from Bradley County after already traveling over 15 miles. In Polk County, the tornado had weakened somewhat to 100 mph max winds that downed trees and caused some roof damage to homes. It then continued into McMinn County.

7. Jun 11, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were downed across the county. Some of the trees were reported to have fallen on vehicles

8. Sep 28, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

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

9. Jul 13, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were reported down across the county from 1155 pm EDT on 7/13 to 1215 am EDT on 7/14.

10. Jun 3, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Trees down.

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°F3 times, most recently Jul 1, 2012

All-time low

−16°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

77°FJul 22, 2026

Coldest day

15°F5 times, most recently Feb 4, 1996

Wettest day

11.60 inSep 5, 2011

Snowiest day

7.0 inJan 9, 2011

Hottest year

2019mean 61.4°F

Coldest year

1976mean 55.7°F

Wettest year

202079.86 in

Driest year

200732.74 in

Snowiest season

14.9 in1969-70

Station Cleveland Fltr Plt (USC00401808), 842 ft elevation, 14.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1955 to October 22, 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 USC00401808.
• 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.