Pocahontas County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Pocahontas 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 (1,372).

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jan 19, 1996Flood, Pocahontas$2.5 million
2. May 16, 1996Flash Flood$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The warm front, that caused flash flooding 24 hours earlieracross the southern coal fields, lifted northeast. Smallbut intense showers and thunderstorms trained southeast.Rains of 2.5 to 3.5 inches were common in about 6 hours alonga narrow corridor from Tyler County to Randolph and northern Pocahontas Counties. In the headwaters of the Middle Fork River4 to 5 inches of rain fell around Cassity and Adolph. The ground had been saturated by previous rains. As was the case in southern West Virginia, fatalities and more damage were caused by the small stream and the headwaters of rivers, rather than the mainstem rivers. Two deaths occurred in Cassidy. A woman tried to get hermother…

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

   Numerous trees and large branches were blown down. Around 9,000 customers lost electricity. One house was destroyed, 1 other had major damage and 1 rental unit had minor damage. The public infrastructure damage assessment was around $167,000.||In the aftermath, an indirect death can be contributed to the storm. A 65 year old man was outside performing storm cleanup work when he became overcome by the heat. Due to the lack of electricity in Marlinton, Martin was unable to access an air-conditioned location to cool down. He later died at the local hospital.

4. Oct 29, 2012Blizzard, Pocahontas$500,000
   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…

5. Jun 23, 2016Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Minor river flooding occurred on the Greenbrier River in the reach from Marlinton south through Watoga State Park.

6. Jan 19, 1996Flash Flood$250,000
7. Jun 23, 2016Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Streams in the southern portion of the county flooded.||The flash flooding along the small streams transitioned into minor river flooding along the Greenbrier River. ||All total, a preliminary damage assessment had on the order of 2 dozen homes with damage.

8. Jan 25, 2010Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The first small stream flooding was reported around Slatyfork, followed by flooding along Knapp Creek. The restaurant along Route 66 in Cass had water up to its foundation. The Greenbrier River crested at Marlinton around 13.7 feet and at Buckeye near 16.8 feet. Flood stage is 15 feet at the forecast point at Buckeye. About 35 homes were affected in Marlinton, mainly on the south end of town near the mouth of Knapp Creek. However, most of the downtown business area escaped without getting water inside.

9. Aug 18, 2000Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Snowshoe measured 4 inches of rain in a 3 to 6 hour period. A washout occurred along the Cass Scenic Railroad track to Bald Knob. Roads and culverts received minor damage.

10. Jan 27, 1998Heavy Snow, Pocahontas$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A surprise heavy wet snow fell over these mountainous counties. Since the environment was near the freezing mark, through a deep layer, a wide variation in snow depth was observed. The variation was based on elevation. Elevations above 2000 feet were impacted the most. At these elevations of Fayette, Raleigh, Wyoming, McDowell, and southern Nicholas Counties, a snow depth of 20 to 38 inches was left in the storm's wake. Meanwhile, in nearby river valleys and deep hollows, depths of 6 to 12 inches were more common. Further north, amounts of 6 to 12 inches were also more common across Randolph, Webster, Pocahontas, and northern Nicholas Counties. While the storm center was moving…

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°F2 times, most recently Aug 29, 1987

All-time low

−20°F2 times, most recently Jan 21, 1985

Warmest night

78°F3 times, most recently Aug 24, 1899

Coldest day

−3°FJan 11, 1982

Wettest day

8.25 inNov 5, 1985

Snowiest day

24.0 inJan 8, 1996

Hottest year

1897mean 54.1°F

Coldest year

1904mean 48.5°F

Wettest year

201869.22 in

Driest year

193021.48 in

Snowiest season

68.0 in2009-10

Station Hot Springs (USC00444128), 2,244 ft elevation, 22.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 23, 2026; 98.1% 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 USC00444128.
• 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.