Lincoln County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 WV GS (6,455), NASA (3).

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. Nov 12, 2003Flood, Lincoln$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rains of 2.5 to 4.75 inches fell from 2200E on the 11th through 1900E on the 12th. Repetitive showers formed, as dew points of 60 to 65 degrees fed the system from Kentucky. The heaviest rain rates came toward the end of this prolong period, mainly from 1530E to 1730E, with rates peaking around an inch per hour. South of the training showers, across Logan and Mingo Counties, the heavy rain was more sudden, the result of the last shot of enhanced rain during the late afternoon. The heaviest rain totals ran west to east, from Wayne County and southern Cabell County, through northern Lincoln County, central Kanawha County, southern Clay County, and into central Nicholas County.…

2. Feb 15, 2003Flood, Lincoln$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rains from Friday afternoon, the 14th, into Sunday the 16th were on the order of 3.5 to 4.9 inches, with the maximum over Wayne and Lincoln Counties. Small streams flooded onto roads Saturday evening, the 15th, into early Sunday, the 16th. Major flooding occurred along the Twelvepole Creek in Wayne County including Dunlow, Wayne, and Lavalette. Evacuations occurred along Falls Creek near West Hamlin. The larger rivers, including the Guyandotte, the Mud, the Coal, the Tug Fork, and the lower Elk flooded. Major flooding occurred along the lower portion of the Guyandotte Basin, including the Mud River in Lincoln and Cabell Counties. Communities such as Branchland, West Hamlin, Hamlin…

3. Mar 4, 2015Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Small streams flooded by early afternoon. One example, was Green Shoals Branch flooding its adjacent road near Harts. In the same vicinity, Big Harts Creek also flooded roads. ||The Guyandotte, the Mud, and the Coal Rivers continued to cause flooding of roads through most of the 5th. Several roads and culverts were damaged.

4. Jun 10, 2021Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Twenty-five homes were damaged and two were destroyed entirely in West Hamlin due to flooding. Fifty families were trapped in their homes due to a washed out culvert. The high water damaged the water tower pumps with drinking water becoming unavailable. Route 3 and Route 10 were covered in two feet of water. Water then quickly receded after 9 PM.

5. Oct 29, 2012Heavy Snow, Lincoln$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A rare consolidation of a strong mid and upper level trough in the polar jet with a tropical hurricane named Sandy resulted in a historical snow storm for the month of October. ||Periods of rain fell for 2 days from the 27th into the 28th, as a cold front moved east. In response to the colder air associated with the polar jet and the strengthening mid level trough, light rain changed to the first snowflakes around 0000E to 0200E on Monday the 29th. This snow was only across the high terrain of southwest Virginia northward into the mountainous counties of central West Virginia. For example, the first flakes around Beckley were around 0100E. However, little accumulation was seen…

6. Jun 29, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and large branches were blown down. Nearly 11,000 customers lost electricity. The public infrastructure damage assessment was around $149,000.

7. Mar 1, 1997Flash Flood$700,000
8. Jul 14, 2015Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The worst flooding appeared along Straight Fork and Route 3 in the Yawkey and Griffithsville area. The flood prone area around Griffithsville is where Sams Branch and Valley Fork combine to flow into Straight Fork. Other flooded feeder streams included Bear Fork and Sugartree Fork. There were at least 5 water rescues from vehicles. Water surrounded and got into homes. Roads and private bridges were damaged. Culverts were washed out or damaged, including a large 5 foot drain pipe. ||The water crested 27 inches deep in the Duval Fire Department. The assistant chief of the fire department said, It looked like white water rafting. You wouldn't know it was a river or a road. An auto…

9. Jun 27, 2016Flash Flood$475,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The headwaters of the Left Fork of Mud River flooded. This included Dogbone Branch, Bear Branch, and Flat Creek. Along Bulgar Road, the Mud River Fire Department had 2 to 3 feet of water inside. One of their vehicles was washed into the creek. Damage assessment included 2 homes destroyed, while 14 other homes had severe or major damage. Several of these homes were mobile homes. Two churches also had flood damage. Bridges and culverts were damaged. ||Further south, streams overflowed onto roads in the Harts vicinity.

10. Mar 15, 2012Flash Flood$450,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Streams such as Straight Fork and Big Harts Creek flooded. Along the Straight Fork, debris piles from the flood earlier in the month were being washed away by this second flood. Yawkey and the intersection of Route 214 and 3 were flooded again. Students at Duval Elementary and Middle School remained at school until the water receded. One resident near Yawkey said the water was about 4 inches lower than the previous flood. One resident near Griffithsville had just replaced their carpet after being flooded on the 2nd. He was flooded again. Another resident said, I don't want to move. I don't have the money or anything to move. I'm really confused and don't know what to do. ||In…

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°FJul 13, 1914

All-time low

−25°FJan 19, 1994

Warmest night

80°FJun 23, 1899

Coldest day

−3°FJan 21, 1985

Wettest day

3.84 inJul 13, 1944

Snowiest day

14.8 inJan 20, 1978

Hottest year

2024mean 58.6°F

Coldest year

1980mean 52.0°F

Wettest year

201864.46 in

Driest year

194129.96 in

Snowiest season

53.3 in1995-96

Station Madison 3NNW (USC00465563), 689 ft elevation, 13.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1894 to April 6, 2026; 95.0% 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 USC00465563.
• 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.