Mingo County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 WV GS (2,949), KY GS (145), NASA (12), USGS Conterminous (1).

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 9, 2009Flood$24.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large thunderstorm complex moved from eastern Kentucky into West Virginia during the late afternoon on the 8th. In the wake of that feature, a strong upper air disturbance helped refire convection over southern Kentucky. Those thunderstorms moved east into southern West Virginia just after dark. One of these cells had strong rotation in McDowell County. No tornadoes were observed, but wind damage was reported. ||The storms lost their rotation later that evening, but a narrow broken train of showers and thunderstorms continued to roll east out of Kentucky and into southern West Virginia after midnight, during the early morning hours of Saturday, May 9th. This west to east train…

2. May 30, 2004Flash Flood$9.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Repetitive thunderstorms dumped 3.5 to 4.5 inches of rain in the Williamson and Delbarton vicinity on north toward the Route 119 corridor. Williamson, Millstone and Buffalo Mountain all measured around 4.25 inches of rain. The ground was already wet from previous rain. Over this steep terrain, severe flash flooding occurred along with landslides. The Pigeon Creek basin, including such tributaries as Rockhouse Fork, Elk Creek, Conley Branch, Trace Fork, and Laurel Fork received the full burnt of the runoff. This included such communities as Taylorville, Varney, Delbarton, Ragland, Belo, and Lenore.Around 90 homes were destroyed with 165 home sustaining major damage in Mingo County.…

3. Feb 15, 2025Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Tug Fork River at Williamson exceeded its flood stage of 27 feet the night of February 15, then continued to rise to a crest just under 48.4 feet the next afternoon. The river slowly receded and eventually fell back below flood stage the morning of the 17th. Around 1 am on the 16th, the City of Williamson notified the public that the flood gates would be shut. Outside of the flood walls, major flooding impacted the 2nd Avenue and Harvey Street Bridges, sections of Highway 292, several roads, and many homes and businesses in the Williamson and South Williamson areas.

4. May 2, 2002Flood, Mingo$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Repetitive showers and thunderstorms moved rapidly across the southern coal fields, from the late morning hours to the early evening, on a Thursday, the 2nd of May. A few reports of large hail and gusty winds were received, but the major problem was the severe flash flooding in McDowell County. The heaviest rains were on the order of 2.5 to 5 inches, in a west to east corridor from northern Buchanan County, Virginia through central McDowell County. As a result, many more streams in McDowell County were flooded, compared to the 8th of July in 2001. In 2001, the downpours hit only the eastern portion of the county. Cooperative observers in Elkhorn measured 5.1 inches of rain, Welch…

5. Apr 7, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Well south of a cold front, severe thunderstorms moved through the southern coal fields of West Virginia. The time frame was late on a Friday afternoon and into the early evening.The initial severe weather was large hail. However, the storms following the initial cells, consolidated and organized into a squall line. On its leading edge, severe wind gust moved out of Pike County Kentucky and through Mingo County around 1630E. Trees fell and damaged a few homes. Several commercial and residential buildings in Williamson sustained damage from the wind alone. A large portion of the damage was to awnings, porches, siding, and roofs. Signs and poles were also damaged. Two women received…

6. Mar 15, 2012Flash Flood$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The upper reaches, or headwaters, of Twelvepole Creek flooded, including around the Dingess area. There was 1 home destroyed, 3 with major damage, and 6 with minor damage. Private bridges across the small streams or runs were damaged creating access issues.

7. Jun 4, 2004Flood, Mingo$850,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread rains of 1.5 to 2 inches fell during a 12 hour period across saturated soil across much of Mingo and Logan Counties. Over a more concentrated area, estimated rain amounts of 2 to 3.5 inches fell. These higher rain totals affected the headwaters of Pigeon Creek near Pie, Varney, and Ragland, plus the Island Creek basin, near Omar and Sarah Ann. Flooding occurred for the second time in less than a week. Water rescues and evacuations took place. A young woman and her infant son were rescued. She said, "It was at the front of my house, and I was just praying to God that someone rescue me. They showed up right in time, and I'm just thankful to be alive." Over 200 homes in…

8. Mar 4, 2015Flood$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Many streams overflowed and blocked roads. Gilbert Creek, Pigeon Creek, and Marrowbone Creek are a few reported. A small rocks slide near Gilbert damaged a home.||The Tug Fork River remained in flood into the 6th in the Kermit reach of the river.

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

   Numerous trees and large branches were blown down. Five homes were destroyed, 3 had major damage, and 6 other dwellings sustained minor damage. The public infrastructure damage assessment was around $195,000.

10. Dec 18, 2009Heavy Snow, Mingo$700,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The mountain and the southern coal field counties were hit hard by heavy wet snow associated with a storm that moved out of the eastern Gulf of Mexico and across southern Georgia late Friday, the 18th. The storm then moved off the North Carolina coast early on the 19th. ||Heavy wet snow began over the southern mountains around Beckley after 1400E on the 18th. Meanwhile, the precipitation started as rain in the southwestern lowlands. The storm even started as rain, as far north as in the Tygart River Valley around Elkins about 1730E. In the Clarksburg vicinity the storm began mainly as snow around 2100E on the 18th. ||In about a 5 hour time span, 9 inches of snow had accumulated 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

105°FJun 30, 2012

All-time low

−15°F3 times, most recently Jan 20, 1994

Warmest night

80°F2 times, most recently Jun 23, 1914

Coldest day

0°FJan 11, 1982

Wettest day

4.64 inJun 28, 1932

Snowiest day

18.0 inFeb 13, 1985

Hottest year

2024mean 61.3°F

Coldest year

1979mean 52.6°F

Wettest year

197560.96 in

Driest year

199931.31 in

Snowiest season

44.3 in2009-10

Station Logan (USC00465353), 672 ft elevation, 14.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1901 to October 23, 2026; 93.9% 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 USC00465353.
• 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.