Windsor County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (136), NASA (2).

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. Aug 28, 2011Flash Flood$100 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Devastating flash flooding as a result of 4 to 7+ inches of rainfall occurred across all of Windsor county, especially in the foothills of the Green Mountains such as Rochester, Ludlow, Stockbridge, Barnard, Woodstock, Plymouth, Cavendish. Several dozens roads (state and local), including Routes 4, 12, 12A, 100, 103, 107 and 131, as well as several bridges were washed out or suffered severe damage. Several communities between Rutland and Windsor and within Windsor county were isolated due to loss infrastructure. Dozens of homes and businesses experienced severe flooding as well as major losses to farms and livestock.

2. Jul 10, 2023Flash Flood$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Training showers and thunderstorms with heavy rainfall affected this area between the early morning and early to mid afternoon on July 10. Observations and radar estimates show 3 to 7 inches of rainfall occurred, with localized totals to 8 inches. Severe to devastating flash flooding occurred in several towns during this period, most notably in Weston, Ludlow, Plymouth and Bridgewater.

3. Aug 28, 2011Flood$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Irene caused devastating flooding along the White and Ottauquechee River and their tributaries. Homes, businesses, and roads were flooded throughout Windsor county. The White River at West Hartford crested at 28.40 feet, about a foot below the record crest of 29.30 feet set in the great flood of 1927.

4. Jul 1, 2017Flash Flood$3.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding damaged roads across northern Windsor County. Flowing water covered Route 132 in Sharon, and multiple residences were cut off by high water and damaged roads throughout the area. Residences along Sargent Road in Norwich were damaged.

5. Feb 23, 2010Winter Storm, Windsor$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   On the afternoon of February 23rd through the evening hours of February 24th, the combination of a large developing upper atmospheric low pressure system across the lower Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley with a surface low south of New England accounted for a prolonged fetch of sub-tropical Atlantic moisture to feed back into marginally cold air across New England.||A heavy wet snow fell across Vermont that resulted in snowfall accumulations of 6 to 30 inches with the higher amounts in the higher terrain of central and southern Vermont. The weight of the heavy snow accounted for widespread power outages across the region that resulted in upwards of 50,000 customers without…

6. Jun 27, 1998Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An area of low pressure tracked across New York and New England during the late night of Friday (June 26) and morning of Saturday (June 27). Heavy convective rains fell with 3 to 6 inches across northern portions of the county. Extensive flooding occurred along the White River and its branches.In the Vermont towns of Rochester and Bethel, extensive flooding resulted in massive road damage and washouts.

7. Jan 19, 1996Flood, Windsor$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong storm system moved into the Great Lakes on Thursday (1/18/96) and then moved into Canada thereafter on Friday (1/19/96) and Saturday (1/20/96). The circulation associated with this storm resulted in above normal temperatures, strong winds and flooding due to snow melt and rainfall.Two deaths were attributed to the flooding. A young girl drowned (1/19/96) trying to rescue her father when car was swept by water.The father died 2 days later (1/21/96) from injuries and hypothermia suffered from the accident on 1/19/96.Numerous roads were washed out due to the flooding statewide. Water was reported up to the level of car doors in Berlin (Washington County).Strong winds…

8. Jul 11, 2007Flash Flood$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads flooded and washed out in and around Stockbridge and Bethel, which included Lilliesville Rd., River Rd. and Routes 100 and 107. Significant flood and structural damage to seasonal camps in the area off of Lilliesville Rd in Stockbridge. A NWS BTV spotter reported 5.27 inches of rainfall in Bethel.

9. Jul 28, 2014Flash Flood$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall produced flash flooding in Chester. Numerous roads were closed...with road surfaces and culverts washed out and bridges damaged. Unoccupied automobiles were washed away and flood waters swept around homes.

10. Jul 16, 2000Flash Flood$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An upper level low over the eastern Great Lakes and western New York and it's related surface low pressure system resulted in showers and thunderstorms across Vermont during the afternoon and night of Sunday July 16th. Slow moving thunderstorms resulted in especially heavy rainfall...especially across the mountainous portions of the county.

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

100°FJun 24, 2025

All-time low

−30°FJan 11, 1968

Warmest night

75°FAug 11, 2021

Coldest day

−5°F2 times, most recently Jan 4, 1981

Wettest day

4.70 inSep 16, 1999

Snowiest day

25.6 inFeb 7, 1978

Hottest year

2023mean 49.7°F

Coldest year

2003mean 42.7°F

Wettest year

200651.02 in

Driest year

196323.45 in

Station Lebanon Municipal Airport (USW00094765), 554 ft elevation, 10.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1962 to October 26, 2026; 94.4% 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 USW00094765.
• 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.