Pittsylvania County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Pittsylvania 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 6, 1996Flash Flood$4.3 million
2. Sep 3, 1996Flood, Pittsylvania$3.0 million
3. Oct 11, 2018Flash Flood$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Pittsylvania County was included in a Presidential Major Disaster declaration due mainly 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. A man lost his life when his automobile was washed off Sandy Creek Road near the 600 block during intense flooding along Sandy Creek. Media reports indicate the incident occurred around 330 PM local time, with one witness observing that water was flowing rapidly at least two feet above the road surface.

4. Sep 17, 2018Flash Flood$1.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Pittsylvania County was part of Presidential Major Disaster declaration with significant flood damage to roads and other structures. The time and spatial occurrence was based on the highest runoff from the CREST hydrologic model. This indicated that the flash flooding was worst across the eastern parts of the county.

5. Sep 5, 1996High Wind, Pittsylvania$1.0 million
6. Apr 15, 2018Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is the third and final segment in Virginia of a tornado that originated west of Pelham near Dusty Lane in Caswell County of North Carolina at 4:51 PM EST. After crossing Pittsylvania County and the independent city of Danville, the tornado continued northward and entered Pittsylvania County again at 4:58 PM EST. Numerous trees were damaged or destroyed, several outbuildings were destroyed, and minor roof damage occurred on numerous houses. The greatest damage was found on a farm at R and L Smith Road. Estimated maximum winds were 110 MPH. By 5:10 PM EST, the tornado finally lifted about two miles southwest of Dry Fork.

7. Sep 27, 2024Tornado$840,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF 2 tornado associated with the remnants of Hurricane Helene initially touched down about three miles west-southwest of Dry Fork, and traveled 6.85 miles over about 18 minutes. Around 30 structures were damaged, including one mobile home that was completely destroyed and where one injury was sustained. Numerous hardwood and softwood trees were snapped or uprooted. Maximum winds were 118 mph.

8. Mar 20, 1998Tornado$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms during the late morning and afternoon hours produced a tornado, flash flooding, hail up to golfball size, and damaging winds.From the same storm that produced two tornadoes in North Carolina, a tornado formed about 2 miles west of Sandy Level in extreme southeastern Henry County and travelled northeast about 11 miles before dissipating about 2 miles west of Whitmell in Pittsylvania County. This tornado was generally from 100 to 200 yards wide, with damage in some areas up to 350 yards wide. This tornado damaged or destroyed several vehicles, barns, and outbuildings, and more than 60 residences, damaged two churches, and toppled trees and power lines. Some of the…

9. Sep 3, 1996Flash Flood$600,000
10. Jul 17, 2009Tornado$570,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The tornado caused many trees to be blown down. Eight structures were damaged by the fallen trees with two of these having trees fall through their roofs. Damage values are estimated.

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 Aug 5, 1930

All-time low

−9°F2 times, most recently Jan 28, 1987

Warmest night

80°FJul 28, 1936

Coldest day

11°FJan 11, 1982

Wettest day

8.73 inSep 4, 1996

Snowiest day

20.0 inJan 23, 1940

Hottest year

1925mean 59.9°F

Coldest year

1981mean 52.5°F

Wettest year

201871.26 in

Driest year

193027.78 in

Snowiest season

41.0 in1965-66

Station Chatham (USC00441614), 647 ft elevation, 3.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1922 to October 23, 2026; 98.6% 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 USC00441614.
• 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.