Raleigh County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Raleigh 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 (3,235), NASA (4).

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. Jul 8, 2001Flash Flood$40.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Areas along and west of the turnpike, which is Interstate 77, were hit the hardest. Rain amounts were less across eastern portions of the county. For example, the rain total in Beckley was 4.6 inches, but 2.6 inches at the Raleigh County Airport. Streams draining into the Clear Fork of the Big Coal River, plus into the Guyandotte River, saw severe flash flooding. This included such small communities as Leevale, Dorothy, Ameagle, Helen, and Rhodell. Preliminary damage assessment counted over 400 single family homes and mobile homes were destroyed. The lower reaches of Clear Fork at Leevale rose over 15 feet in the vertical, from a base stage near 13 feet to a record crest at 28.47…

2. Jan 27, 1998Heavy Snow, Raleigh$5.0 million
   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…

3. Mar 13, 2010Flood$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Major stream flooding along such streams as Piney, Beaver, Little Beaver, Little Whitestick, and the headwaters of Dunloup Creek, including Maple Fork. Damage was less along the Marsh Fork and Clear Fork drainage in the western portion of the county. ||A 59 year old female turnpike worker was returning home from the evening shift. She left her vehicle parked and attempted to walk through the flood waters of Maple Fork west of Bradley. She was swept away and drowned.||The majority of the property damage in Raleigh County was along the urbanized Beaver Creek, Little Beaver Creek, and Piney Creek. This would be in the vicinity of the communities of Beaver and Glen Morgan. A stream…

4. Feb 3, 1998Winter Storm, Raleigh$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A slow moving coastal storm in conjunction with easterly winds aloft, caused several periods of wet snow, sleet, and rain. The snow fell mostly from the 3rd into the 4th and again late on the 5th into the 6th. Tri State Airport near Kenova and Ceredo reported a snow depth of 13 inches, Branchland of Lincoln County, Delbarton of Mingo County, Pineville, and Mullens all reported 8 inches on the ground. Hamlin of Lincoln County had 6 inches. Downtown Huntington reported 4 to 8 inches. No snow was on the ground prior to this event for these western lowlands. Over the southern mountains around Oak Hill and Beckley, the deep snow pack from the late January storm had settled and melted…

5. Jun 29, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and large branches were blown down in the county. Five homes were destroyed, 16 had major damage, and 30 others had minor damage. The public infrastructure damage assessment was over $450,000.

6. May 9, 2009Flood$2.0 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…

7. Dec 23, 2022Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Southeast Raleigh$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Over 75% of the county was without water for a prolonged period of time. Most of the water tanks in Beckley were drained over the Christmas holiday due to customer water line breaks and fire suppression systems freezing and busting from the extreme cold. Several businesses reported losing over 2 million gallons of water and residential lines leaked over 300,000 gallons of water in the Beckley area.

8. Dec 23, 2022Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Northwest Raleigh$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Local businesses and schools closed from the Christmas holiday remained closed through the end of the calendar year due to over 6,000 customers were without water, taking over a week for restoration. Residential homes and businesses within this section of Raleigh County observed water line and meter breaks that resulted in the loss of thousands to millions of gallons of water.

9. Nov 19, 2003Flood, Raleigh$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rains of 2 to 4.2 inches fell from 2200E on the 18th through 1600E on the 19th. A strong inflow of moist air from the southeast, helped enhance these rains. The heaviest rain was over the central and southern mountains, say from the Snowshoe region on through Richwood, Beckley, Mullens, and Elkhorn. Some of the preliminary rain totals were 4.2 inches at Snowshoe, 3.9 inches at Richwood, 3.7 inches at Elkhorn, 3.5 inches at Rosedale, 3.3 inches at Frost and Mullens, 3.1 inches at Webster Springs and Glenville, 2.9 inches at Oak Hill and Beckley. Vegetation was dormant for the upcoming winter, the ground saturated, and the waterways were still flowing above normal levels from the…

10. Oct 29, 2012Blizzard, Raleigh$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…

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

96°F2 times, most recently Jun 29, 2012

All-time low

−22°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

72°F4 times, most recently Aug 6, 2011

Coldest day

0°F2 times, most recently Dec 22, 1989

Wettest day

4.35 inSep 29, 1964

Snowiest day

27.7 inMar 13, 1993

Hottest year

2024mean 55.2°F

Coldest year

1969mean 49.5°F

Wettest year

201857.19 in

Driest year

196532.62 in

Snowiest season

134.1 in2009-10

Station Beckley Raleigh County Airport (USW00003872), 2,494 ft elevation, 4.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1963 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 USW00003872.
• 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.