Isle of Wight County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 15, 1999Hurricane (Typhoon), Isle Of Wight$5.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Floyd was a Category 1 hurricane as it crossed the Wakefield WFO county warning area. Sustained tropical storm force winds with gusts to near hurricane force occurred over the northwest quadrant of the storm over interior portions of northeast North Carolina and along the coastal waters of the Wakefield marine area. The center of the storm crossed the county warning area along an Elizabeth City to Currituck county to Sandbridge Virginia Beach axis. The highest sustained wind speed recorded was 69 mph at Chesapeake Light (CHLV2). Other sustained wind speeds were 46 mph at Langley Air Force Base (LFI), 44 mph at Norfolk Naval Air Station (NGU), and 41 mph at Oceana Naval…

2. Oct 7, 2006Flash Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads closed county wide...including HWY 258 and parts of HWY 460 near Windsor. High water also resulted in major crop damage.

3. Oct 8, 2016Flood$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain caused an extended period of significant flooding across much of the county. Numerous roads were impassable or closed for several days, and many homes and businesses were impacted.

4. Aug 27, 2011Tropical Storm, Isle Of Wight$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tropical storm force winds knocked down several trees and power lines, as well as caused some structural damage. In addition, heavy rains contributed to significant crop damage. Storm total rainfall generally ranged from six to twelve inches.

5. Apr 16, 2011Tornado$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado damage was along a nearly continuous 20 mile damage path from east of Walters to just southwest of Smithfield. Many trees were downed, sheared off or topped, and a number of power lines were also brought down. More than 2 dozen homes were damaged with a few sustaining significant damage. Several farms were impacted with farm equipment picked up and tossed around. The most significant damage occurred in the first 10 to 12 miles of the tornado path.

6. Apr 28, 2008Tornado$184,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down near Carrsville in southern Isle of Wight county. The tornado damaged eleven homes and six agricultural buildings along Harvest Drive and Eleys Lane.

7. Aug 4, 2020Tropical Storm, Isle Of Wight$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tropical storm winds downed and uprooted several trees and power lines, produced minor structural damage, and caused power outages across the county. Wind gusts averaged between 35 and 45 knots.

8. Mar 18, 2021Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado touched down just east of Route 258 near the Town of Walters. The damage began as it crossed Stevens Drive, where large tree branches were broken. The tornado then tracked east northeast and uprooted numerous trees near Ballard Road. After crossing Ballard Road, the tornado knocked down a pole barn, destroyed a garage, and damaged a roof of a house near Collosse Road. The tornado continued to track eastward, roughly following Rhodes Drive, where it blew a roof off of a church near Little Norfolk Road. The tornado did more tree damage before lifting shortly after crossing Spivey Town Road.

9. Oct 28, 2012Coastal Flood, Isle Of Wight$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water levels reached 2.5 feet to 3.5 feet above normal adjacent to the James River resulting in moderate to severe coastal flooding.

10. Nov 12, 2009Coastal Flood, Isle Of Wight$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Several streets, homes and businesses were flooded in low lying areas of the county close or directly exposed to the Chesapeake Bay and James River.

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°F2 times, most recently Jun 18, 2004

All-time low

−5°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

84°FJul 29, 2002

Coldest day

15°FJan 19, 1994

Wettest day

10.98 inAug 27, 2011

Snowiest day

17.0 inFeb 6, 1980

Hottest year

1998mean 62.1°F

Coldest year

1958mean 56.9°F

Wettest year

199970.68 in

Driest year

198629.09 in

Snowiest season

43.0 in1979-80

Station Suffolk Lake Kilby (USC00448192), 22 ft elevation, 13.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1945 to October 21, 2026; 99.1% 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 USC00448192.
• 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.