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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Dexter, GA

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

48 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Dexter, Georgia since 1851, 2 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Helene in 2024. Since 1950, 86 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
2

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
46

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
86

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
0

4 deaths in all

What the records show for Dexter

The strongest storm to pass near Dexter was an unnamed storm in 1894, a Category 1 hurricane with 79 mph winds when its centre passed 45 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was Helene in 2024, whose centre came within 6 miles. The record near Dexter begins with an unnamed storm in 1851; the most recent system was Helene in 2024. The busiest decade was the 1880s, with 6 systems. Of the 48 systems, 6 have come since 2000. Dexter has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 60% of the 405 Georgia cities on this site. The highest rating among the 86 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2 or EF2, reached 18 times; the most recent, on April 5, 2017, came within 8 miles. The deadliest, an EF2 on May 11, 2008, killed 2 people. Of the 86, 8 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 53 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 28. The most recent tornado was on May 9, 2024. Dexter has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 52% of the 405 Georgia cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 38 times since 1978, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Of the 405 Georgia cities, 66% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Dexter.

Compare Dexter's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Dexter

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Dexter, Georgia, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2024HeleneSep 276 miCategory 1 (76 mph)Category 4
2023IdaliaAug 3069 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 4
2021ElsaJul 850 miTropical storm (49 mph)Category 1
2019NestorOct 2018 miTropical storm (44 mph)Tropical storm
2018MichaelOct 1123 miTropical storm (62 mph)Category 5
2016HermineSep 266 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
1998EarlSep 326 miTropical storm (47 mph)Category 2
1985KateNov 2242 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 3
1968AbbyJun 768 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1965Unnamed 1965 stormJun 1534 miTropical storm (44 mph)Tropical storm
1964DoraSep 1241 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 4
1964CleoAug 3075 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 4
1957Unnamed 1957 stormJun 972 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1956FlossySep 2527 miTropical storm (41 mph)Category 1
1953FlorenceSep 2753 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1949Unnamed 1949 stormAug 2814 miTropical storm (70 mph)Category 4
1947Unnamed 1947 stormOct 1556 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 2
1941Unnamed 1941 stormOct 814 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 3
1940Unnamed 1940 stormAug 126 miTropical storm (47 mph)Category 2
1935Unnamed 1935 stormSep 544 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 5
1933Unnamed 1933 stormSep 732 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 4
1929Unnamed 1929 stormOct 135 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1924Unnamed 1924 stormSep 3071 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 1
1917Unnamed 1917 stormSep 3030 miTropical storm (39 mph)Category 4
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 350 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1911Unnamed 1911 stormAug 2922 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 2
1907Unnamed 1907 stormSep 2967 miTropical storm (41 mph)Tropical storm
1902Unnamed 1902 stormJun 1543 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1901Unnamed 1901 stormSep 2853 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1901Unnamed 1901 stormSep 1810 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1898Unnamed 1898 stormOct 329 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 4
1898Unnamed 1898 stormAug 3112 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
1896Unnamed 1896 stormJul 857 miTropical storm (45 mph)Category 2
1894Unnamed 1894 stormOct 945 miCategory 1 (79 mph)Category 3
1889Unnamed 1889 stormSep 2450 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 2
1886Unnamed 1886 stormJul 145 miTropical storm (62 mph)Category 2
1886Unnamed 1886 stormJun 223 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 2
1885Unnamed 1885 stormOct 1265 miTropical storm (53 mph)Tropical storm
1882Unnamed 1882 stormSep 1071 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1881Unnamed 1881 stormAug 2830 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 324 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 3
1871Unnamed 1871 stormOct 671 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1871Unnamed 1871 stormAug 2373 miTropical storm (49 mph)Category 3
1860Unnamed 1860 stormAug 1346 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1856Unnamed 1856 stormAug 317 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 3
1852Unnamed 1852 stormOct 1043 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 2
1852Unnamed 1852 stormAug 2748 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1851Unnamed 1851 stormAug 241 miTropical storm (70 mph)Category 3

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Dexter: 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 Dexter

By decade

  • 2020s14
  • 2010s23
  • 2000s16
  • 1990s5
  • 1980s4
  • 1970s7
  • 1960s11
  • 1950s6
Strongest tornadoes near Dexter, Georgia
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
May 11, 2008EF213 mi13.79 mi2 / 2
Apr 5, 2011EF215 mi3.13 mi1 / 2
Nov 8, 1996F24 mi4 mi1 / 6
Apr 5, 2017EF28 mi20.19 mi0 / 0
Feb 21, 2014EF211 mi17.47 mi0 / 0
Dec 15, 2007EF224 mi3.5 mi0 / 0
Apr 15, 2007EF216 mi3.64 mi0 / 0
Apr 14, 2007EF26 mi6.03 mi0 / 3
Mar 1, 2007EF217 mi13.27 mi0 / 0
Mar 16, 1972F217 mi0.5 mi0 / 12
Jan 13, 1972F25 mi11.3 mi0 / 0
Jan 15, 1971F219 mi0.5 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 86, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Dexter

The Storm Prediction Center has 38 hail reports within 10 miles of Dexter since 1978, made on 30 separate days. Of these, 24 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on April 25, 2015. The most recent report is from March 31, 2025. April has the most reports, 12.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Weather by month in Dexter

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Dublin, GA, 13 miles northeast of Dexter at 230 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 94°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 58°F and 35°F. June is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and May the driest at 2.6 inches; the year adds up to 47.4 inches over 70 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (24.5 of 47.4 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 48 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (15); a normal September there has highs of 87°F and 3.6 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 84 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 47 nights a year. That 47.4 inches is more than at 17 of the 108 Georgia stations used on this site (16%). Chester, 7 miles west, has its own station (Eastman 1 W, GA): 47.0 inches a year, 0.4 less than here, and a July average high of 91°F against 94°F.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Dublin, GA
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"
Jan58354.47
Feb62384.15
Mar71444.66
Apr78512.84
May86592.64
Jun91685.39
Jul94714.57
Aug92704.87
Sep87643.65
Oct78533.25
Nov69423.15
Dec61374.45
Year775347.470

Averages for 1991–2020 at Dublin, GA (230 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.

Georgia weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Dexter

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 107 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Dexter: 98 thunderstorm wind reports, 5 flash floods, 2 lightning strikes, 1 flood and 1 heavy rain event. They killed 0 people and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $1.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 70 mph, on June 6, 2024. April has had the most flash floods, 2 of 5. Of the 392 Georgia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 86 have had fewer than Dexter.

  • April 22, 1997: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Dexter — 3 injured, $25,000 damage.

  • December 16, 2000: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Dexter — 1 injured, $150,000 damage.

  • July 22, 2003: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Dexter — 1 injured, $150,000 damage.

    NWS: “The Cobb county 911 center, the public, and the Marietta Daily Journal all reported that a number of trees and power lines had been blown down throughout the county, but especially between Acworth, Kennesaw, and throughout the Marietta area.”

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

Laurens County, which includes Dexter, has been named in 19 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1966, 9 of them major disasters (by incident: 7 hurricanes, 2 biological emergencies, 2 floods, 2 severe storms). The latest major disaster declaration was Hurricane Helene, on September 30, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Laurens County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for lightning and heat waves; Relatively Low for hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, inland flooding and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $13.8 million a year, the 56th highest of 159 Georgia counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $6.8 million (50%), 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 Dexter