Essex County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by VT GS (7).

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. May 26, 2011Flash Flood$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain from thunderstorms produced flash flooding in Concord and Lunenburg. Route 2 was closed through Concord and Lunenburg, and businesses were flooded in Concord.

2. Jul 15, 1997Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A cold front stalled across northern Vermont and acted to focus heavy convective rain during the morning of July 15. There were a number of road washouts in the southwest portion of the county where there were rapid rises on area rivers.

3. Aug 28, 2011Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Irene caused flooding across Essex County VT. Creeks and streams were overwhelmed.

4. Jul 12, 2004Flash Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms resulted in torrential downpours in Essex county, Vermont. Flooding occurred along Rte 102 between Canaan and Lemington. Portions of Rte 102 were under a couple of feet of water. Several houses were flooded, especially in the Canaan area. The Willard Stream overflowed its banks, just south of Canaan. Three cows were lost in the flood.

5. Apr 27, 2011Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Runoff from heavy rain and snowmelt caused flash flooding across Essex County VT. Numerous roads and culverts were washed out, including portions of route 102 in Lemington and Canaan. In Beecher Falls, several homes were flooded and the fire station was flooded by 6 feet of water.

6. Apr 15, 2014Flood$175,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding caused by heavy rain and snowmelt washed out gravel roads and culverts in Granby and Victory.

7. Jul 10, 2025Flash Flood$125,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall from slow moving thunderstorms affected portions of Essex County, VT, particularly in the East Haven area, during the afternoon/early evening of July 10, 2025. Several reports of road/culvert washouts were received.

8. Nov 1, 2019Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several roads flooded due to very heavy rainfall across Essex county.

9. Jul 10, 2024Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dept. of Highways reported several roads washed out in the Lunenburg area. This included, but was not limited to River Road.

10. Jul 10, 2023Flash Flood$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Radar estimates of 2 to 4 inches of rain fell across the affected area leading to a few areas of flash flooding, most notably in the Bloomfield, VT area on Patnaude Rd.

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

95°FAug 3, 1975

All-time low

−42°FFeb 2, 1962

Warmest night

72°F2 times, most recently Jul 18, 2005

Coldest day

−13°FJan 15, 2004

Wettest day

3.61 inOct 1, 2010

Snowiest day

18.0 inDec 7, 2003

Hottest year

1998mean 44.4°F

Coldest year

2019mean 37.4°F

Wettest year

200553.19 in

Driest year

200128.53 in

Snowiest season

151.8 in1970-71

Station Colebrook 3SW (USC00271647), 1,120 ft elevation, 16.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1960 to October 20, 2026; 95.9% 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 USC00271647.
• 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.