Halifax County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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 6, 1996Flash Flood$7.0 million
2. Sep 3, 1996Flood, Halifax$6.0 million
3. Oct 11, 2018Flash Flood$2.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Halifax County was included in a Presidential Major Disaster declaration due to the severe flooding associated with Tropical Storm Michael. Rainfall of 4 to 8 inches in several hours triggered widespread flash flooding across the county with numerous roads closed and extensive damage. County officials described it as 'the worst, most devastating storm we've ever seen in the county'. The 911 dispatch center had more than 300 calls for assistance between 5:00 and 7:00 PM on the 11th and more than 700 by 7:00 AM the next day Among the reports received was Lawless Creek as much as 300 feet out of its banks and flooding a church. News photos showed a portion of Pumping Hill Road near…

4. Apr 16, 2011Tornado$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado with winds estimated up to 120 MPH entered Halifax County around 250 PM from Person County North Carolina. It entered as an EF2 and continued producing EF1 to EF2 damage all the way to Stuanton River State Park at the confluence of the Dan and Lower Roanoke Rivers. Four mobile homes were destroyed along its path in Virginia and one received major damage. Three stick built homes had major damage. Four other homes had minor damage with another four seeing minor impacts. There were also numerous outbuildings and sheds that were destroyed. Numerous trees were also destroyed, with an estimated 60 to 100 acres of trees destroyed within the Staunton River State Park. Winds…

5. Sep 5, 1996High Wind, Halifax$700,000
6. Nov 2, 2018Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A Tornado touched down four miles east-southeast of Crystal Hill at 714 PM EST, traveled northeast, and lifted/dissipated four miles west-southwest of Mt. Laurel|at 717 PM EST. At the maximum of its intensity, it caused EF2 level damage.||Where the tornado touched down was wooded in the 1200 block of Hundley Road. Here, several large trees were uprooted, blown to the north. As the tornado tracked northeast at 40 to 45 mph, it blew several large bales of hay westward across Hundley Road. Farther along its path, the tornado completely lifted the roof of a porch off a single family home, blowing the debris nearly 200 feet to the north into nearby woods. Several large trees were both…

7. Apr 28, 2008Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado touched down just south of the intersection of Highways 96 and 49, or just west of the western edge of Virgilina. The tornado progressed northeast for approximately one mile and was 240 yards wide at one point. A total of 6 homes were damaged by the tornado, and numerous large trees were downed and snapped off.

8. Apr 24, 2017Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Dan River flooded in Halifax County through South Boston. Several roads were closed by the Dan River and other flooded streams. The USGS river gage near Paces (PCEV2) crested above the Major flood category threshold (27 feet), reaching 29.14 feet late day on the 26th . This was the highest crest since September 1996 during Hurricane Fran and 6th highest crest at Paces with data back to about 1940. It was approximately a 25-year return frequency per the USGS or a .04 annual exceedance probability. At the South Boston river gage the crest of 30.25 was also above the Major flood threshold of 29 feet, the highest level since March 2003 and 9th highest on record. There was…

9. Sep 17, 2018Flash Flood$431,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Halifax County was part of Presidential Major Disaster declaration with significant flood damage to roads and other structures. There were several flash flood reports across the county with roads closed across Halifax County including Highway 119 near the VA-NC state line, Railroad Avenue in South Boston and Summit Drive in South Boston.

10. May 2, 2002Hail$350,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening of the 2nd produced damaging winds, flash flooding, hail up to 3 inches in diameter, and dangerous lightning.A woman in Roanoke was struck by lightning and injured while using the phone.Thunderstorm winds downed trees in Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Floyd, in Seaboard closing Route 67, onto a car 3 miles east of Boones Mill, onto Route 122 one half mile south of Burnt Chimney, 10 miles east of Tazewell, trees onto Route 501 in Halifax, trees and power poles in Moneta, Pittsville and Gretna, and trees and power lines from Boones Mill to Burnt Chimney, damaged a roof in Penhook, Thunderstorm winds also downed trees on several homes in…

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

104°F4 times, most recently Sep 5, 2026

All-time low

−7°FJan 22, 1985

Warmest night

77°F2 times, most recently Jul 25, 2010

Coldest day

15°FJan 20, 1994

Wettest day

6.98 inJun 23, 1995

Snowiest day

12.0 in2 times, most recently Dec 10, 2018

Hottest year

2017mean 61.0°F

Coldest year

1988mean 53.7°F

Wettest year

201865.32 in

Driest year

201230.08 in

Snowiest season

26.0 in1999-00

Station S Boston (USC00447925), 329 ft elevation, 4.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1977 to October 30, 2026; 98.8% 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 USC00447925.
• 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 November 1, 2026.