Buena Vista city

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Sep 18, 2003Flood, Rockbridge$650,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding along the South River as a result of Hurricane Isabel caused significant damage to property and infrastructure from the northern Rockbridge county border downstream to the South River's confluence with the Maury River. Flooding also occurred in portions of Montgomery and Amherst Counties.Overall nearly 500 families were impacted. 12 single family dwellings were destroyed or made permanently uninhabitable, and over 60 single family dwellings suffered major damage (having a foot or more of mud in them). In terms of infrastructure, Route 608 which parallels the South River was washed out or undermined in several locations along its length. Three permanent bridges over the…

2. Jan 19, 1996Flood, Rockbridge$100,000
3. Sep 6, 1996High Wind, Rockbridge$100,000
4. Mar 2, 2018High Wind, Rockbridge$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds downed 50 to 60 trees in the county. Numerous power outages were also reported. Damage values are estimated.

5. Jan 13, 2000High Wind, Rockbridge$90,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds during the midday and afternoon of the 13th downed large trees, tree limbs, and power lines. These winds resulted in minor property damage to personal property in all counties. Downed power lines also started scattered brush fires.Winds gusted to 54 knots in Hot Springs in Bath County, 68 knots at the WFO Blacksburg in Montgomery County, and 57 knots in Pulaski in Pulaski County.High winds rolled over a mobile home in Mountain Lake in Giles County, destroying the mobile home. In Rockbridge County high winds tore the roof off of a house in Rockbridge Baths, downed a tree onto a truck in Lexington, downed power lines that started a fire in Lexington, destroying a garage…

6. Jan 19, 1996Flood, Rockbridge$80,000
7. Oct 28, 2006High Wind, Rockbridge$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   As an area of low pressure exited the region to the northeast, it intensified resulting in an increased pressure gradient across the area. The result was an increase in cross mountain flow helping to mix down stronger winds from aloft that downed numerous trees and a couple of power lines.

8. Jan 19, 1996High Wind, Rockbridge$50,000
9. Apr 1, 2023High Wind, Rockbridge$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts downed trees and powerline throughout the county. Damage values are estimated.

10. Sep 27, 2024High Wind, Rockbridge$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Between 60 and 70 trees were downed by high winds associated with the remnants of Hurricane Helene, especially in the Natural Bridge and Glasgow areas. The central and the southern portions of the county were the hardest hit. By 5 PM EDT Friday, over 1,500 customers were without power.

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

103°F2 times, most recently Jun 29, 2012

All-time low

−11°FFeb 20, 2015

Warmest night

77°F4 times, most recently Jun 23, 1996

Coldest day

11°FJan 21, 1985

Wettest day

6.05 inSep 6, 1996

Snowiest day

14.3 inJan 7, 1996

Hottest year

2020mean 59.4°F

Coldest year

1997mean 54.0°F

Wettest year

202069.73 in

Driest year

196326.56 in

Snowiest season

56.8 in1995-96

Station Lynchburg Regional Airport (USW00013733), 902 ft elevation, 29.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1944 to October 26, 2026; 99.9% 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 USW00013733.
• 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.