NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Charlottesville, VA
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
23 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Charlottesville, Virginia since 1851, 4 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Zeta in 2020. Since 1950, 46 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 4
- Tropical storms
- 19
- Tornadoes
- 46
- EF3 or stronger
- 5
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
12 deaths in all
What the records show for Charlottesville
The strongest storm to pass near Charlottesville was an unnamed storm in 1878, a Category 2 hurricane with 96 mph winds when its centre passed 73 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1896, whose centre came within 15 miles. The record near Charlottesville begins with an unnamed storm in 1876; the most recent system was Zeta in 2020, a tropical storm 23 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1890s, with 4 systems, 2 of them at hurricane strength. Of the 23 systems, 2 have come since 2000. Charlottesville has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 69% of the 364 Virginia cities on this site. The highest rating among the 46 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 5 times; the most recent, on July 25, 1985, came within 12 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on September 30, 1959, killed 11 people. Of the 46, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 26 have come since 2000. September has had the most tornadoes, 13. The most recent tornado was on June 16, 2022. Charlottesville has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 54% of the 364 Virginia cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 50 times since 1968, with stones up to 4.5 inches (grapefruit size). Charlottesville has more hail reports within 10 miles than 58% of the 364 Virginia cities.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Charlottesville
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | ZetaOct 29 | 23 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2003 | IsabelSep 19 | 3 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1979 | DavidSep 6 | 36 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1955 | DianeAug 18 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (51 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1954 | HazelOct 15 | 39 mi | Category 1 (86 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1952 | AbleSep 1 | 7 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1949 | Unnamed 1949 stormAug 29 | 13 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1945 | Unnamed 1945 stormSep 18 | 53 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1944 | Unnamed 1944 stormAug 2 | 61 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormJun 19 | 52 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1929 | Unnamed 1929 stormOct 2 | 65 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1928 | Unnamed 1928 stormSep 20 | 52 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1928 | Unnamed 1928 stormAug 12 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (41 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 4 | 4 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormOct 12 | 40 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1899 | Unnamed 1899 stormOct 31 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (59 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1896 | Unnamed 1896 stormSep 30 | 15 mi | Category 1 (74 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormOct 13 | 17 mi | Category 1 (78 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 29 | overhead | Tropical storm (64 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1885 | Unnamed 1885 stormOct 13 | 14 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormOct 23 | 73 mi | Category 2 (96 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormSep 13 | 57 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1876 | Unnamed 1876 stormSep 17 | 65 mi | Tropical storm (70 mph) | Category 3 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Charlottesville: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Charlottesville
By decade
- 2020s5
- 2010s5
- 2000s16
- 1990s5
- 1980s3(1 EF3+)
- 1970s6(1 EF3+)
- 1960s1
- 1950s5(3 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 30, 1959 | F3 | 7 mi | 0.8 mi | 11 / 4 |
| Sep 30, 1959 | F3 | 18 mi | 2 mi | 1 / 9 |
| Jul 25, 1985 | F3 | 12 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 21, 1976 | F3 | 23 mi | 5.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 30, 1959 | F3 | 16 mi | 6.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 17, 2004 | F2 | 22 mi | 8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 17, 2004 | F2 | 15 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Jun 12, 1976 | F2 | 23 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 5, 1952 | F2 | 22 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Jun 16, 2022 | EF1 | 22 mi | 21.48 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 26, 2022 | EF1 | 23 mi | 5.98 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 19, 2013 | EF1 | 18 mi | 0.75 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 46, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Charlottesville
The Storm Prediction Center has 50 hail reports within 10 miles of Charlottesville since 1968, made on 36 separate days. Of these, 36 were 1 inch across or larger, and 5 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4.5 inches (grapefruit size), fell on June 4, 2002. The most recent report is from August 7, 2023. June has the most reports, 19.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Charlottesville
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Charlottesville 2W, VA, 2 miles southwest of Charlottesville at 866 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 45°F and 28°F. September is the wettest at 5.2 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 48.6 inches over 78 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (26.3 of 48.6 inches); the other six months are drier. Highs reach 90°F on about 34 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 78 nights a year. Snowfall averages 17.0 inches a year, most of it in February. That 48.6 inches is more than at 89 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (82%). Earlysville, 7 miles north, has its own station (Charlottesville Airport, VA): 41.8 inches a year, 6.8 less than here, and a July average high of 90°F against 87°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 45 | 28 | 3.4 | 6 | 3.9 |
| Feb | 49 | 30 | 3.0 | 6 | 5.9 |
| Mar | 57 | 36 | 4.0 | 7 | 3.8 |
| Apr | 68 | 46 | 3.5 | 7 | 0.0 |
| May | 75 | 55 | 4.6 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 83 | 64 | 4.7 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 87 | 68 | 4.8 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 86 | 66 | 4.0 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 79 | 60 | 5.2 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 69 | 49 | 3.9 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Nov | 58 | 39 | 3.7 | 6 | 0.2 |
| Dec | 48 | 32 | 3.8 | 6 | 3.2 |
| Year | 67 | 48 | 48.6 | 78 | 17.0 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Charlottesville 2W, VA (866 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Charlottesville
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 448 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Charlottesville: 335 thunderstorm wind reports, 67 floods, 44 flash floods and 2 lightning strikes. They killed 3 people and injured 6, and the NWS estimated $1.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on July 25, 2022. May has had the most flash floods, 16 of 44. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 291 have had fewer than Charlottesville.
May 30, 2018: flash flood 4 miles from the centre of Charlottesville — 2 killed, $20,000 damage.
NWS: “Two cars were swept off Old Ballard Road at Ivy Creek. The occupant of one vehicle escaped and was rescued.”
June 29, 2012: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Charlottesville — 1 killed.
June 6, 2002: thunderstorm wind in Charlottesville — 3 injured, $18,000 damage.
NWS: “Trees were downed. One person was injured when a tree fell onto a car on Old Ivy Road.”
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Charlottesville's 4 ZIP codes have filed 87 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $763,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The year with the most claims was 2018, with 16. 15% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 183 Virginia cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 125 have fewer than Charlottesville.
Charlottesville city, which includes Charlottesville, has been named in 13 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1972, 7 of them major disasters (by incident: 5 hurricanes, 3 snowstorms, 2 biological emergencies, 1 flood). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on April 2, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Charlottesville City a Very Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for strong wind; Relatively Low for hurricanes, lightning and heat waves; Very Low for tornadoes, hail and inland flooding. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $10.2 million a year, the 51st highest of 133 Virginia counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $4.7 million (46%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. 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).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets 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).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.
Cities near Charlottesville
- Earlysville, VA7 mi
- Keswick, VA9 mi
- Barboursville, VA12 mi
- Crozet, VA13 mi
- Ruckersville, VA14 mi
- Troy, VA14 mi
- Palmyra, VA16 mi
- Scottsville, VA16 mi
- Afton, VA17 mi
- Zion Crossroads, VA17 mi
- Stanardsville, VA18 mi
- Crimora, VA21 mi
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