Highland County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Highland County: 0.
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.

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by WV GS (37).

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Sep 6, 1996Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   *** Narrative for flash floods associated with "Fran" follow the Loudoun Co entry, start time 1100EST ***

2. May 16, 1996Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Training thunderstorms dropped an estimated 4 1/2 to 6 inches of rain onto previously saturated soil, producing widespread flooding. Mud and rock slides were common along federal highway 220, and other large rocks were found on local route 678. Evacuations were ordered in Mustoe, where local route 607 washed out. The evacuations were prompted by 2 inches of rain in a 2 hour period which brought streams and creeks rapidly out of their banks.Nearly all basements received some degree of flooding in Mustoe, and numerous others were flooded in Monterey.

3. Apr 8, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two camper trailers were overturned and a pole barn structure collapsed with some material impacting a nearby house in Monterey. Trees and branches were also down in the area.

4. Jan 14, 2006High Wind, Highland$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Very strong winds developed on the 14th due to a strengthening low pressure system off the Mid Atlantic Coast and a fast moving cold front that passed through the region early in the day. Widespread damages and power outages occurred, with newspaper reports indicating tens of thousands without power for an extended period of time.

5. Sep 18, 2003High Wind, Highland$50,000
   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…

6. Aug 7, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Considerable tree damage was reported near New Hampden. Dozens of trees blew down on VA-640 Blue Grass Valley Road and VA-642 Laurel Fork Road.

7. Sep 18, 2003Flash Flood$50,000
   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…

8. Mar 28, 1996Ice Storm, Highland$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong surface high pressure area over New England pushed a shallow layer of subfreezing air into the Shenandoah Valley early on the 28th. An inverted trough of low pressure west of the Appalachians promoted overrunning of warm moist air, which eventually produced light to moderate precipitation. The precipitation fell as rain higher than 2000 feet and below 500 feet above mean sea level; between 500 and 2000 feet, where temperatures were as low as 28°F, the precipitation froze on contact.Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down at these elevations in the western Shenandoah Valley, mainly during the late evening of the 28th and early morning of the 29th. Problems began,…

9. Sep 6, 1996High Wind, Highland$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Gusty winds in excess of 40 mph, combined with soft soil from previous rainfall, caused scattered tree damage across much of the Virginia Piedmont and a small area of the coastal plain. At elevations above 2000 feet, sustained tropical-storm force winds with gusts as high as 79 mph pummelled the landscape, especially the east-facing slopes of Shenandoah National Forest and the George Washington National Forest. Thousands of mainly light wood trees (pines and maples) were snapped or uprooted. Along Skyline Drive alone, over 500 trees had to be cleared from the roadway before it could be reopened. Numerous trails had trees down; some trails remained closed more than one month after…

10. Aug 7, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous trees blew down along VA-84 Mill Gap Road, closing the road for several hours.

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

93°F2 times, most recently Jul 17, 2024

All-time low

−30°F2 times, most recently Jan 20, 1994

Warmest night

74°F2 times, most recently Sep 13, 2026

Coldest day

−8°FJan 11, 1982

Wettest day

3.81 inMay 17, 1996

Snowiest day

19.5 inFeb 22, 2015

Hottest year

2024mean 49.7°F

Coldest year

1981mean 44.1°F

Wettest year

201864.23 in

Driest year

202332.63 in

Snowiest season

112.6 in1993-94

Station Bartow 1S (USC00460509), 3,025 ft elevation, 14.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1944 to October 20, 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 USC00460509.
• 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.