Galax 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.

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. Sep 8, 2018Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding occurred in downtown Galax, with Main Street closed and several businesses badly flooded. Water was rapidly flowing through Blevins Building Supply store and was described as a 'river' running through it. Damage to the store and inventory was estimated to exceed $1 million. Eight cars were reported stalled out in the flood waters and a Carroll County squad car was totaled as a result. Evacuations were required from a nursing home facility and several other businesses suffered damage.

2. Sep 27, 2024High Wind, Carroll$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees were downed countywide by high winds associated with the remnants of Hurricane Helene, resulting in numerous power outages. A 64 MPH wind gust was measured near Woodlawn at 10:40 AM EDT and the high winds damaged at least 20 structures across the county. The high winds also destroyed 25 to 50 percent of the apple crops resulting in $617,000 worth of damage. At the peak of the high winds, nearly 17,000 customers were reported without power.

3. Mar 31, 2013Dense Fog, Carroll$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The dense fog, with visibility reported to be near zero, led to a horrific series of accidents around 1:15 PM EDT near mile marker 6 in the southbound (downhill) lanes of I-77. According to newspaper accounts there were 17 separate crashes along a 1-mile stretch involving 95 cars. Three people were killed and 25 taken to area hospitals. State Police cited the fog and excessive speed as factors causing the event.

4. Sep 27, 2010Dense Fog, Carroll$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dense fog developed along the Fancy Gap corridor of Interstate 77. Between mile markers six and seven, a vehicle accident occurred between a car and a tractor trailer at 14:00 EST. After this first collision, additional collisions followed by vehicles that came upon the first accident too quickly for conditions to stop. In total, there were seven accident that involved a total of 18 vehicles including cars, pickup trucks, and tractor trailers. There were four indirect injuries.

5. Oct 11, 2018Flash Flood$455,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Galax City was included in a Presidential Major Disaster declaration due to the severe flooding associated with Tropical Storm Michael. There were numerous flash flood reports across the City of Galax starting as early as 1100 AM local time and continuing for several hours. Numerous roads were closed and damaged and several evacuations took place.

6. May 21, 2001Dense Fog, Carroll / Galax$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Forty to fifty vehicles were involved in a chain reaction accident in dense fog on Interstate Route 77 at Fancy Gap during the early afternoon of the 21st.

7. Nov 12, 2006High Wind, Carroll$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds channeling through Fancy Gap Mountain, along Interstate 77, caused a few vehicles to overturn. Three tractor-trailers and two pickup trucks were blown over. One tractor-trailer driver was seriously injured.

8. Mar 15, 2018Strong Wind, Carroll$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds were channeled through the narrow terrain features along Interstate-77, northbound, near mile marker two. The resultant localized much stronger gusts blew two semi-tractor trailer trucks on their side in the morning, and one truck on its side later in the morning. There were no injuries.

9. Mar 1, 2018High Wind, Carroll$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds downed 40 to 45 trees in the county and 10 to 15 power lines. On the northbound lanes of Interstate-77, high winds blew over a semi-trailer truck around 3:50 am EST on March 3. Damage values are estimated.

10. Feb 2, 2021High Wind, Carroll$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Multiple wind gusts of 58 mph or greater were measured by automated weather sensors between mile markers 2 and 3 along Interstate 77 near the community of Fancy Gap, the highest of which was 64 mph. These wind gusts caused four known tractor trailers to overturn along this stretch of the interstate at the times of 5:38 am, 6:18 am, 7:47 am, and 9:03 am EST. One of the drivers was injured with non-life threatening injuries, but the other drivers were unharmed during the incidents. At least two trees were also blown down in the nearby area by these winds: one along Paul's Creek Road near the community of Cana and the other along the interstate exit ramp for Piper's Gap Road. Key…

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

98°F4 times, most recently Jun 30, 2012

All-time low

−20°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

77°F2 times, most recently Aug 18, 2010

Coldest day

−3°FJan 21, 1985

Wettest day

4.85 inJul 18, 1964

Snowiest day

16.0 inJan 7, 1996

Hottest year

1949mean 56.4°F

Coldest year

1997mean 50.2°F

Wettest year

202065.31 in

Driest year

193021.36 in

Snowiest season

59.3 in1986-87

Station Wytheville (USC00449301), 2,095 ft elevation, 20.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 23, 2026; 96.9% 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 USC00449301.
• 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.