Marshall County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 (3,714), NASA (5).

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. Sep 17, 2004Flood, Marshall$4.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   At 230 PM EDT on 17th, Boggs Run flooded Benwood. By 9 PM on 18th, around Moundsville, 5 roads remained closed because of mud slides; and flooding from Grave Creek was keeping 1 road closed. 79 structures damaged or destroyed, including $1 million damage to a school. One man was swept away and found in Fish Creek. Most small stream flooding ended by mid afternoon of the 18th, but flooding on the Ohio River continued: Moundsville rose to flood stage 1 AM EDT on 18th, crested 47.0 at 8 AM 19th, and fell below flood stage 8 AM 20th. Powhatan Point (OH) rose above flood stage 2 AM on 18th, crested 45.6 at 9 AM 19th, and fell below flood stage 9 AM EDT on 20th. Both have official flood…

2. Apr 2, 2024Flash Flood$3.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Marshall County declared $3,571,000 in damage from storms between April 2nd to April 3rd.

3. Jul 29, 2017Flash Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   McMechen Fire Department has been destroyed. Most of the town is under water.

4. Jan 19, 1996Flood, Marshall$1.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding from the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers met nearly simultaneously at the Point in Pittsburgh. The flood waters then flowed down the Ohio River. Widespread one to two inch rains, plus runoff from snowmelt in the West Virginia and Maryland mountains, combined to create major flooding along the Ohio River. The Ohio River went above flood stage at East Liverpool, Ohio around 10 pm EST on the 19th. The river crested 10.8 feet above the 14 foot flood stage at East Liverpool. Subsequent rises downstream on the Ohio River were not as pronounced, (5.4 feet above flood stage at Hannibal, Ohio). Nonetheless, damages due to flooding to cities, industry, bridges, and communities,…

5. Jan 5, 2005Flood, Marshall$650,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   By 10 AM on 5th, Middle and Big Grave Creeks flooded near Moundsville. A mud slide closed Rte 2 near Washington Lands. By 945 PM on 5th, one road was flooded near Viola. By noon on 6th, parts of the three Grave Creeks remained flooded. On the Ohio River, Moundsville was above flood stage (37 ft), from 9 AM on 6th to 2 PM on 8th; it crested 43.9 ft 1030 AM on 7th. On the Ohio River, Powhatan Point was above flood stage (37 ft), from 1030 AM on 6th to 3 PM on 8th; it crested 42.7 1 PM on 7th. 28 homes and 12 business were damaged.

6. Aug 1, 2022Tornado$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A storm survey conducted by NWS Pittsburgh confirmed than an EF2 tornado touched down in Marshall County WV, continued into portions of Ohio County WV, and ended in Washington County PA. ||An EF2 tornado was determined based on the visible tree damage. The tornado touched down just west of the end of Sparrow Lane off of Dallas Pike Road where a barn was completely destroyed. In addition, a camper was overturned and destroyed on the property. ||The tornado continued east knocking down numerous trees along Dallas Pike Road both hardwood and softwood. Most of the trees that sustained damaged were snapped at the trunk. The storm did tear off the roof of a 160 year old barn off of Rock…

7. Apr 11, 2024Flash Flood$409,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   West Virginia Highway 2 along Long Run closed due to flooding. Marshall County declared $409,000 in damage from storms between April 11th-12th.

8. Jul 28, 2017Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Swift water teams deployed from Wheeling to McMechen to rescue multiple people stranded in vehicles.

9. Jul 1, 2001Lightning$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a house on SR 250 near Moundsville. Lightning hit the chimney and then traveled through the house. The subsequent fire caused the roof to collapse, completely destroying the second floor of the house. The house was completely demolished by the fire.

10. Jun 5, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Emergency management reported numerous trees blocking roadways and roof and siding damage to 5 homes in Moundsville.

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

105°FJul 8, 2012

All-time low

−20°FJan 19, 1994

Warmest night

77°FAug 3, 2006

Coldest day

−5°FJan 21, 1985

Wettest day

7.11 inSep 18, 2004

Snowiest day

20.0 inMar 14, 1993

Hottest year

1998mean 55.7°F

Coldest year

1976mean 50.0°F

Wettest year

201866.75 in

Driest year

198730.61 in

Snowiest season

43.3 in1993-94

Station Moundsville (USC00466248), 620 ft elevation, 3.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1963 to October 22, 2026; 97.6% 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 USC00466248.
• 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.