Spotsylvania County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Sep 18, 2003High Wind, Spotsylvania$7.0 million
   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…

2. Jul 29, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hundreds of trees blew down near Alsop. Trees blew down on VA-612 Catharpin Road near VA-613 Brock Road. Hundreds of trees snapped on northbound VA-613 Brock Road in the vicinity of VA-624 Piney Branch Road. Numerous trees blew down near the intersection of VA-613 Brock Road and VA-627 Gordon Road.

3. Jul 4, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous large trees and several poles blew down along US-17 in eastern Spotsylvania County.

4. Jul 18, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees blew down along Conways Trail. Three homes were deemed uninhabitable due to damage from tree falls.

5. Aug 24, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and large branches were blown down in Massaponax. Nine houses in the Lees Park neighborhood sustained damage (including the partial collapse of a second floor exterior wall) when debris from a nearby home under construction was lofted by winds in the 5000 block of Holley Oak Lane.

6. Jul 24, 1999Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hundreds of trees uprooted and snapped and buildings damaged along the Route 3 corridor

7. Jun 6, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$125,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds knocked down numerous trees in the Lake Wilderness community and across Spotsylvania National Military Park. One tree fell onto a pickup truck and injured the driver.

8. Jul 5, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dozens of trees and power lines blew down in the Lake Wilderness area. Thousands were without power as a result.

9. Sep 6, 1996Flood, Spotsylvania$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The rapid runoff produced by the heavy rains from Fran caused substantial, damaging, and in some cases record river flooding across much of the northern Virginia watershed from late on the 6th until early on the 10th. Flash flooding on the 6th rapidly became river flooding late on the 6th along the headwaters of the Potomac, Shenandoah, and Rappahannock River basins, and continued throughout the basins over the weekend and into early the following week. Crests at gaging points in these basins were similar to those in January 1996 across the Lower Main Stem of the Potomac. Levels were 1 to 5 feet higher across the Upper Main Stem Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. The Shenandoah…

10. Jun 24, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$90,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and power lines across southern Spotsylvania Co. Several trees fell onto homes. At Robert E. Lee Elementary school near Spotsylvania, the wind ripped four 12-ton air conditioning units from their bases and tossed them across the roof. The winds also damaged a wall and blew three trash dumpsters through a fence. A roof was blown off a house near Lake Anna.

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°FAug 21, 1983

All-time low

−11°FFeb 5, 1996

Warmest night

79°FJul 17, 1980

Coldest day

10°F2 times, most recently Jan 20, 1994

Wettest day

7.45 inJun 22, 1972

Snowiest day

15.0 inMar 6, 1962

Hottest year

2012mean 59.3°F

Coldest year

1966mean 54.0°F

Wettest year

201864.50 in

Driest year

198130.45 in

Snowiest season

47.8 in1995-96

Station Corbin (USC00442009), 220 ft elevation, 10.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1959 to October 8, 2026; 93.0% 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 USC00442009.
• 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.