Russell County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by USGS Conterminous (2), NASA (1).

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. Feb 6, 2020Flood$691,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Six structures flooded, including two community centers that are used as polling sites. The Cleveland Community Center had 11 inches or sewage backup from the sewer system. Four homes flooded, culverts washed out, some livestock drowned or washed away. Twenty four families were unable to get their vehicles out or get emergency responders in. Mudslide in the Swords Creek area.

2. Dec 18, 2009Heavy Snow, Russell$435,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency Management reported amounts ranging from 10 to 12 inches of snow in valley areas in the county to 12 to 18 inches of snow in higher elevations throughout the county.

3. Jul 19, 1996Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado damaged an elementary school, fire department and a few homes. A double-wide mobile home and a couple of barns were destroyed. Numerous trees and powerlines were blown down.

4. Jun 8, 2004Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding in Cleveland closed numerous roads in town and in the surrounding countryside. Mudslides closed SR 661. One mobile home was flooded and the family could not move back in.

5. Feb 16, 2003Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads reported closed by law enforcement due to high water.

6. Feb 14, 2003Flood, Russell$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Four day rainfall totals of two to six inches were reported across southwest Virginia, with the highest amounts occurring in Wise and Lee counties. This rainfall combined with melting snowpack (reports of up to a foot in the higher elevations) to produce widespread flooding of rivers and streams, with evacuations ordered below Big Cherry Dam in Wise county due to water flowing over the spillway. The Clinch and Powell rivers measured significant rises due to the extended rainfall duration and snowmelt in the higher elevations.

7. Jul 28, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were downed across the county.

8. Jul 28, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several trees and power lines were downed across the county.

9. Feb 11, 2009Tornado$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF0 tornado tracked 4.2 miles near Honaker. The width of the path was 200 yards. The maximum wind speed estimate was around 70 mph. Several trees were downed and one barn had its roof dislodged.

10. May 24, 2011Tornado$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An EF-0 tornado touched down near the Bolton area and moved northeast to near Hansonville, Virginia, before lifting. Several trees were downed in the path of the tornado.

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

99°F2 times, most recently Jul 1, 2012

All-time low

−24°FFeb 6, 1996

Warmest night

74°FJul 12, 2005

Coldest day

5°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

4.60 inSep 6, 2011

Snowiest day

15.0 inJan 8, 1996

Hottest year

2020mean 55.9°F

Coldest year

1996mean 51.6°F

Wettest year

201861.86 in

Driest year

200728.49 in

Snowiest season

62.0 in1995-96

Station Lebanon (USC00444777), 1,912 ft elevation, 3.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1989 to October 23, 2026; 97.4% 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 USC00444777.
• 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.