Augusta County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Apr 16, 2011Tornado$2.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado tracked just west of Stuarts Draft. The tornado produced damage to thirty-seven structures and also downed numerous trees and powerlines. ||Numerous trees were toppled and wires were down along Old White Hll Road. A large tree fell onto a house off White Hall Road. A large storage shed was destroyed and multiple hardwood trees were topped ten to fifteen feet up near Twin Mill and Churchmans Mill Roads. A farm building along Tinkling Spring Road and Yoder Circle lost several outbuildings and trees. ||Preliminary damage estimates from Augusty County Emergency Officials listed storm damage to twelve residences, three businesses, fifteen garage sheds, two mobile strutures…

2. Sep 6, 1996Flash Flood$2.0 million
3. Sep 18, 2003Flash Flood$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   By 9 pm on September 18, a rain band associated with Isabel had set up over the Shenandoah Valley and showers were training southward into the Blue Ridge Mountains on the east side of Augusta County. The rain gauge located at Upper Sherando had recorded over 6 inches of rain and more was to come. County officials quickly began evacuations of homes downstream. In all 350 people in the South River area would be evacuated and 21 of those ended up being by boat. Water flowed down the Black Creek at 60 mph washing out the bridge and several hundred feet of asphalt along Route 608. Four spillways to dams flooded causing damage but none of them failed. There was $125,000 damage to the…

4. Jul 4, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hundreds of large trees, branches, and wires blew down in and around Mount Solon. Damage to several outbuildings was reported, as well.

5. Jan 19, 1996Flash Flood$900,000
6. Nov 17, 2019Winter Weather, Central Virginia Blue Ridge$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   At 4:37 AM EST this morning on I-64 at mile marker 100 (near summit of Afton Mountain/Blue Ridge; approximately 4 miles SE Waynesboro, VA), a tractor trailer lost control and overturned. A tour bus was unable to stop and impacted the truck. Several other minor accidents ensued. The culprit is likely black ice due to freezing drizzle. EM confirmed 21 transports to hospitals, with injuries ranging from minor to serious.

7. Jun 23, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple trees were downed across roads. Fifteen to twenty homes and six barns and silos were damaged by severe thunderstorm winds. One silo and one 2 and a half story barn were destroyed.

8. Mar 23, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A significant localized wind gust affected the Jolivue area just south of the City of Staunton. Shingles were peeled off the roof of a home in the unit block of Chesnut Road. Surrounding properties in the neighborhood had dozens of trees (mostly pine trees) uprooted and snapped, all laying in a general southeastward direction in line with the parent storm motion.

9. Aug 7, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees blew down and there was roof damage to barns in Craigsville.

10. Apr 26, 2022Tornado$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The National Weather Service conducted a field survey of damage |that occurred with storms that passed through Fishersville in |Augusta County, Virginia and the City of Waynesboro on Tuesday |afternoon April 26, 2022. The NWS storm survey team determined |that a EF-1 tornado occurred with maximum wind speeds estimated at|90 mph and a maximum path width of 75 yards along a 6.0 mile |path.| |The first damage noted was along Barterbrook Road one-half mile |north of Tinkling Spring Road where there were broken tree |branches and both hardwood and softwood trees were snapped.| |As the tornado progressed east, additional trees were snapped and|uprooted along with significant damage to a…

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 6, 1999

All-time low

−25°FJan 14, 1912

Warmest night

76°F2 times, most recently Jul 29, 1941

Coldest day

0°FFeb 10, 1899

Wettest day

5.95 inSep 7, 1996

Snowiest day

24.0 inMar 6, 1962

Hottest year

1921mean 57.0°F

Coldest year

1996mean 50.8°F

Wettest year

199660.72 in

Driest year

193017.33 in

Snowiest season

72.5 in1917-18

Station Dale Enterprise (USC00442208), 1,358 ft elevation, 23.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 19, 2026; 98.0% 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 USC00442208.
• 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.