Pendleton County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Pendleton 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 (1,536), USGS Conterminous (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. Jan 19, 1996Flash Flood$10.0 million
2. Sep 6, 1996Flood, Pendleton$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Incredible rainfall associated with the remants of Hurricane Fran caused considerable and in some cases record flooding along rivers and tributaries in the Potomac basin. A thin band of 11 to 14 inches of rain falling along higher ridges ran off into the Upper South Fork of the South Branch Potomac River and the Lost River sub-basin. These rain amounts led to record river flooding along the South Fork, Lost River, and Trout Run sub-basins.River flooding began simultaneously with the flash flooding in the Potomac Highlands. The flooding continued for nearly 48 hours before levels receded below flood stage. Crests were 1 to 5 feet above those of the January 1996 flood across the…

3. Feb 14, 2003Winter Storm, Pendleton$4.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A complex storm system produced copious amounts of wintery precipitation across the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia between the evening of the 14th and midday on the 18th. The first batch of precipitation fell between the evening of the 14th and the evening of the 15th in the form of light to moderate snow or rain. The second batch of precipitation fell between midnight on the 16th through midday on the 17th in the form of heavy snow or sleet. The third batch of precipitation on the back side of the storm fell between the evening of the 17th and midday on the 18th in the form of scattered snow showers. After the precipitation came to an end, record breaking snow and sleet…

4. Jul 21, 2026Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Scattered to numerous large trees uprooted and snapped along the path that started along Kiser Gap Road a half mile north of the intersection with US Route 33. The tornado tracked east-northeast. Where it crossed the 1600 block of Troublesome Valley|Road, it snapped a tree down over the road on a vehicle. The driver was extracted uninjured.||Substantial tree damage continued over the 1000 to 2300 blocks of Corner Road, and 6500 to 7000 blocks of Sweedin Valley Road and the 300 block of Redbud Hill Lane. The tornado then tracked through an unpopulated, wooded area across the ridge/state line.||In summary, thousands of trees were downed along this rural path. In peak intensity…

5. Sep 6, 1996Flash Flood$1.0 million
6. Jul 21, 2026Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado briefly touched down near Seneca Rocks just after 7 PM. Damage was limited almost entirely to trees. About 30 to 50 percent of trees were damaged on property in the 400 block of Thunder Road, with trees mostly uprooted in a convergent pattern. The tornado tracked east-northeast. None of the farm buildings sustained significant damage, nor did the house on the property. The tornado crossed the road and tracked up a hillside across the street with continued tree damage before dissipating after about|two minutes.

7. Sep 19, 2003Flood, Pendleton$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   On September 18, 2003, Hurricane Isabel made landfall on the North Carolina Coast. It moved northwest across Virginia and by 5 am on September 19, the center was over the heart of the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. Fortunately the storm had greatly weakened by this point. The heaviest rains appear to have been on the left side of the center track of the storm with the greater wind damage was to the right side. While sustained winds were no longer strong enough to do damage, the storm was still producing wind gusts in the 50 to 60 mph range. Previous rains had softened the soil and trees still had a full sail of leaves. Numerous trees uprooted onto power lines, roads, cars and…

8. Sep 18, 2003Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   On September 18, 2003, Hurricane Isabel made landfall on the North Carolina Coast. It moved northwest across Virginia and by 5 am on September 19, the center was over the heart of the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. Fortunately the storm had greatly weakened by this point. The heaviest rains appear to have been on the left side of the center track of the storm with the greater wind damage was to the right side. While sustained winds were no longer strong enough to do damage, the storm was still producing wind gusts in the 50 to 60 mph range. Previous rains had softened the soil and trees still had a full sail of leaves. Numerous trees uprooted onto power lines, roads, cars and…

9. May 16, 1996Flash Flood$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Training thunderstorms over the lower Potomac Highlands dumped an estimated 4 to 5 inches of rain onto previously saturated soil, producing widespread flooding. Mud and rock slides most likely occurred across the southern half of the county; federal highway 220 was closed near Franklin. At least two evacuations were ordered; one at the Big Run (Circleville) and another at a nearby trailer park.

10. Jan 14, 2006High Wind, Pendleton$70,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Very strong winds developed on the 14th due to a strengthening low pressure system off the Mid Atlantic Coast and a fast moving cold front that passed through the region early in the day. Widespread damages and power outages occurred during this event, with newspaper reports indicating tens of thousands without power for an extended period of time.

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

99°FJul 16, 1988

All-time low

−24°F2 times, most recently Dec 23, 1989

Warmest night

78°FJul 21, 1930

Coldest day

−6°FDec 25, 1983

Wettest day

5.02 inNov 4, 1985

Snowiest day

19.9 inDec 19, 2009

Hottest year

2024mean 54.2°F

Coldest year

1981mean 47.0°F

Wettest year

199672.88 in

Driest year

193028.38 in

Snowiest season

136.6 in1995-96

Station Elkins- Randolph County Airport (USW00013729), 1,955 ft elevation, 31.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1926 to October 26, 2026; 99.9% 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 USW00013729.
• 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.