Virginia Storm History: Every Flood, Storm and Heat Wave Since 1950

The worst in Virginia on the map

The deadliest and costliest episodes on record here, colored by kind of event.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

The record

Events: 57,829
Deaths: 249
Injuries: 1,846
Damage: $3.6 billion

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

Every year

Tap a year for every episode in it.

From 1996 the record holds 48 kinds of event with each office’s narrative; before that, tornadoes, hail and thunderstorm wind only, and before 1955 tornadoes alone.

Deaths each year

By kind of event

Kind of event	Events	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
Thunderstorm Wind	20,677	36	284	$239 million
Hail	6,183	1	7	$68 million
Winter Weather	4,745	14	35	$1.1 million
Flash Flood	4,323	43	13	$582 million
Winter Storm	3,802	12	19	$13 million
Flood	3,464	20	6	$249 million
Heavy Rain	2,513	0	0	$5.7 million
Dense Fog	1,707	4	26	$1.3 million
High Wind	1,618	11	153	$271 million
Heavy Snow	1,232	4	1	$8.9 million
Frost/Freeze	1,143	0	0	$27 million
Heat	1,068	9	159
Tornado	913	39	952	$557 million
Drought	850	0	0	$432 million
Strong Wind	587	9	39	$4.6 million
Ice Storm	565	0	2	$25 million
Lightning	536	19	102	$16 million
Cold/Wind Chill	385	2	0	$1.2 million
Coastal Flood	378	1	0	$181 million
Excessive Heat	271	1	0
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill	261	1	0	$100,000
Tropical Storm	221	7	30	$184 million
Funnel Cloud	107	0	0
Hurricane (Typhoon)	69	5	4	$695 million
Blizzard	64	1	1	$350,000
Wildfire	43	0	4	$13 million
Debris Flow	29	0	0	$896,000
Waterspout	23	0	0
Storm Surge/Tide	18	0	0	$1.8 million
Rip Current	9	9	2
Dust Devil	6	0	6	$14,000
Freezing Fog	6	0	0
Astronomical Low Tide	6	0	0	$1,000
Avalanche	5	0	0	$5,000
High Surf	2	1	1	$80,000

The deadliest

The costliest

Counties

Every storm event filed in each county, including the zone-filed ones that covered it.

Counties and zones as filed

The places filed most often, as the offices named them.

County or zone	Events	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
Fairfax	1,497	8	63	$77 million
Loudoun	1,100	2	11	$26 million
Pittsylvania	899	2	7	$19 million
Albemarle	850	17	23	$4.8 million
Fauquier	794	2	17	$11 million
Halifax	768	2	23	$18 million
Franklin	766	1	4	$9.1 million
Prince William	736	2	19	$16 million
Bedford	688	1	5	$12 million
Henry	643	3	26	$126 million
Chesterfield	633	2	14	$14 million
Campbell	604	1	18	$15 million
Henrico	553	4	25	$8.2 million
Augusta	545	5	23	$17 million
Rockingham	527	1	3	$18 million
Frederick	523	1	8	$11 million
Montgomery	514	1	7	$7.6 million
Shenandoah	501	1	8	$36 million
Spotsylvania	490	1	17	$3.5 million
Culpeper	488	1	14	$7.8 million
Orange	487	0	4	$4.9 million
Stafford	463	1	2	$15 million
Roanoke	461	0	0	$11 million
Virginia Beach (C)	459	3	37	$36 million
Page zone	438	0	0	$20 million
Fairfax zone	434	5	45	$23 million
Patrick	421	1	0	$8.3 million
Shenandoah zone	416	0	0	$50 million
Hanover	415	4	2	$4.6 million
Nelson	405	1	1	$2.7 million
Buckingham	402	2	5	$2.4 million
Culpeper zone	393	4	2	$10 million
Tazewell	391	0	7	$28 million
Warren zone	384	1	6	$49 million
Madison	372	1	0	$2.6 million
Clarke zone	370	1	3	$13 million
Orange zone	370	0	1	$14 million
Carroll	368	0	9	$6.1 million
Augusta zone	368	0	0	$18 million
Charlotte	364	2	1	$6.7 million
Rockingham zone	361	0	0	$24 million
Rockbridge	360	0	2	$7.8 million
Mecklenburg	360	1	3	$3.9 million
Frederick zone	360	1	0	$17 million
Prince William zone	358	2	8	$618,000
Stafford zone	353	2	3	$16 million
Louisa	350	1	1	$2.6 million
Rappahannock zone	350	0	0	$5.4 million
Prince George	349	0	2	$4.0 million
Madison zone	341	0	0	$8.6 million
Pulaski	339	0	10	$22 million
Chesapeake (C)	330	3	8	$28 million
Greene zone	330	0	1	$2.8 million
Amherst	325	1	8	$6.5 million
Botetourt	324	1	16	$4.8 million
Norfolk (C)	323	3	12	$81 million
Arlington zone	319	2	21	$5.9 million
Albemarle zone	315	0	78	$13 million
Warren	312	0	3	$9.7 million
Loudoun zone	312	4	18	$24 million
Clarke	311	0	1	$6.2 million
Caroline	308	0	6	$1.7 million
Washington	300	7	55	$126 million
Suffolk (C)	297	0	211	$37 million
Western Highland zone	296	0	0
Giles	295	0	2	$6.4 million
Nelson zone	295	0	7	$2.1 million
Page	294	0	0	$8.0 million
Southampton	292	1	5	$12 million
Isle of Wight	292	0	1	$10 million
Smyth	285	0	5	$34 million
King George zone	284	0	3	$7.0 million
Greene	281	1	12	$10.0 million
Prince Edward	278	0	2	$888,000
Rappahannock	275	0	0	$3.6 million
Appomattox	274	1	7	$13 million
Richmond	272	1	2	$4.7 million
Spotsylvania zone	267	0	0	$8.1 million
Wythe	266	1	2	$2.9 million
King George	260	0	1	$2.1 million
Southern Fauquier zone	260	0	0	$9,000
Brunswick	257	0	6	$4.2 million
Arlington	256	1	10	$17 million
Lee	253	0	1	$2.8 million
Nottoway	252	2	4	$1.5 million
Sussex	248	3	11	$9.7 million
Dinwiddie	247	1	24	$6.5 million
Richmond (C)	246	3	15	$22 million
Newport News (C)	246	1	2	$5.5 million
York	242	0	6	$11 million
Goochland	242	1	4	$1.1 million
Amelia	242	0	4	$3.8 million
James City	240	1	21	$8.2 million
Grayson zone	233	1	3	$85 million
Grayson	232	1	4	$65 million
Scott	229	2	0	$1.3 million
Accomack	228	1	2	$1.2 million
Northern Fauquier zone	228	0	0	$49,000
Wise	224	1	5	$3.9 million
Westmoreland	216	0	0	$1.8 million
Eastern Highland zone	214	0	0
Gloucester	211	2	28	$8.6 million
Floyd	210	0	0	$4.3 million
Lunenburg	201	1	0	$1.4 million
Carroll zone	201	6	28	$16 million
King William	199	1	0	$4.2 million
Buchanan	199	5	2	$43 million
Hampton (C)	196	0	15	$14 million
Powhatan	194	0	0	$519,000
Russell	193	0	0	$2.3 million
Fluvanna	193	1	0	$1.7 million
Dickenson	192	1	0	$2.5 million
New Kent	186	0	1	$2.2 million
Northern Virginia Blue Ridge zone	185	0	0
Alleghany	183	1	5	$12 million
Northumberland	182	0	11	$2.3 million
Surry	181	0	0	$2.5 million
Lynchburg (C)	179	0	3	$37 million
Roanoke (C)	179	2	5	$4.2 million
Fauquier zone	176	0	9	$11 million
Tazewell zone	176	2	3	$34 million
Dickenson zone	175	0	1	$4.5 million
Essex	174	0	25	$5.7 million
Floyd zone	174	0	0	$8.9 million
Lancaster	173	0	8	$10.0 million
Middlesex	169	0	5	$7.6 million
Alexandria (C)	169	0	0	$11 million
Roanoke zone	169	1	1	$4.5 million
Buchanan zone	167	2	0	$3.6 million
Central Virginia Blue Ridge zone	167	0	21	$500,000
Bath	166	1	1	$7.7 million
Halifax zone	162	3	5	$23 million
Bath zone	162	0	0	$2.8 million
Patrick zone	162	0	1	$15 million
Danville (C)	159	2	2	$15 million
Portsmouth (C)	158	0	5	$5.9 million
Cumberland	157	0	0	$891,000
Botetourt zone	157	2	1	$5.8 million
Franklin zone	155	0	9	$12 million
Western Loudoun zone	155	1	0
Rockbridge zone	154	0	0	$2.7 million
Eastern Loudoun zone	153	0	0
Smyth zone	152	0	1	$47 million
King and Queen	151	0	0	$1.6 million
Montgomery zone	149	1	1	$11 million
Highland zone	147	0	0	$7.6 million
Amherst zone	144	3	5	$1.9 million
Wythe zone	140	4	5	$38 million
Bedford zone	138	4	22	$16 million
Accomack zone	137	5	2	$38 million

Every year

More

Every tornado in Virginia Every warning in Virginia since 1986 River gauges in Virginia Every state

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24.