NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Gainesville, 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
11 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Gainesville, Georgia since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Helene in 2024. Since 1950, 88 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 7 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 11
- Tornadoes
- 88
- EF3 or stronger
- 7
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
26 deaths in all
What the records show for Gainesville
None of the 11 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Gainesville; the strongest was Zeta in 2020, a tropical storm with 55 mph winds when its centre passed 46 miles away. The record near Gainesville begins with an unnamed storm in 1859; the most recent system was Helene in 2024, a tropical storm 35 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1900s, with 3 systems. Of the 11 systems, 2 have come since 2000. Of the 405 Georgia cities on this site, 87% have more tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles than Gainesville. The strongest of the 88 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F4 on April 3, 1974; its path came within 22 miles, and it killed 6 people. The deadliest, an F3 on March 20, 1998, killed 12 people. Of the 88, 9 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 34 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 22. The most recent tornado was on May 2, 2025. Gainesville has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 54% of the 405 Georgia cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 111 times since 1968, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Gainesville has more hail reports within 10 miles than 81% of the 405 Georgia cities.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Gainesville
Of the 11 tracks on the map, 6 were moving northeast as they passed Gainesville, 2 north and 2 east. Zeta (2020), the strongest pass, was heading northeast; its centre passed 46 miles northwest of Gainesville. None made landfall within 75 miles of Gainesville; 8 of the 11 were hurricanes at their peak, none at their closest to the city. In the last 30 seasons (1996–2025), 2 came near Gainesville: 0.7 a decade, against 0.6 a decade from 1851 to 1995.
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | HeleneSep 27 | 35 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2020 | ZetaOct 29 | 46 mi | Tropical storm (55 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1975 | EloiseSep 23 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (49 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1912 | Unnamed 1912 stormJun 14 | 40 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1907 | Unnamed 1907 stormSep 23 | 3 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormOct 11 | 2 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1901 | Unnamed 1901 stormSep 28 | 39 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1896 | Unnamed 1896 stormJul 8 | 72 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormOct 3 | 58 mi | Tropical storm (51 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1882 | Unnamed 1882 stormSep 11 | 52 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1859 | Unnamed 1859 stormSep 16 | 41 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Gainesville: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Gainesville
By decade
- 2020s5
- 2010s11
- 2000s18
- 1990s19(4 EF3+)
- 1980s10
- 1970s13(3 EF3+)
- 1960s4
- 1950s8
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 3, 1974 | F4 | 22 mi | 17.7 mi | 6 / 30 |
| Mar 20, 1998 | F3 | 6 mi | 4 mi | 12 / 171 |
| Mar 27, 1994 | F3 | 21 mi | 23 mi | 3 / 15 |
| Mar 27, 1994 | F3 | 20 mi | 44 mi | 3 / 45 |
| Nov 22, 1992 | F3 | 19 mi | 10 mi | 1 / 7 |
| Dec 13, 1973 | F3 | in town | 9.5 mi | 0 / 21 |
| Apr 2, 1970 | F3 | 16 mi | 6.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 8, 1998 | F2 | 21 mi | 19 mi | 1 / 10 |
| Nov 30, 2010 | EF2 | 17 mi | 2.11 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 11, 2002 | F2 | 24 mi | 23 mi | 0 / 13 |
| Apr 4, 1989 | F2 | 23 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 4, 1989 | F2 | 12 mi | 3.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 88, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Gainesville
The Storm Prediction Center has 111 hail reports within 10 miles of Gainesville since 1968, made on 92 separate days. Of these, 59 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on May 24, 2001. The most recent report is from May 2, 2025. April has the most reports, 32.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Gainesville
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Gainesville, GA, in Gainesville at 1,170 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 51°F and 31°F. January and March are the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 3.9 inches; the year adds up to 55.6 inches over 85 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 47% of the year's precipitation (26.2 of 55.6 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 11 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (6); a normal September there has highs of 81°F and 4.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 33 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 53 nights a year. Snowfall averages 1.6 inches a year, most of it in January. That 55.6 inches is more than at 88 of the 108 Georgia stations used on this site (81%). Oakwood, 5 miles southwest, has its own station (Gainesville Gilmer Airport, GA): 52.5 inches a year, 3.1 less than here, and the same July average high, 88°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 51 | 31 | 5.3 | 8 | 0.7 |
| Feb | 55 | 34 | 5.2 | 8 | 0.5 |
| Mar | 63 | 40 | 5.3 | 8 | 0.1 |
| Apr | 71 | 47 | 4.2 | 7 | 0.0 |
| May | 78 | 56 | 4.2 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 85 | 64 | 4.5 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 88 | 68 | 3.9 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 86 | 67 | 5.1 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 81 | 61 | 4.1 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 72 | 50 | 4.2 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Nov | 62 | 40 | 4.4 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Dec | 54 | 34 | 5.2 | 8 | 0.3 |
| Year | 70 | 49 | 55.6 | 85 | 1.6 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Gainesville, GA (1,170 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 Gainesville
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 154 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Gainesville: 134 thunderstorm wind reports, 9 flash floods, 7 lightning strikes, 2 floods and 2 heavy rain events. They killed 0 people and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $5.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 85 mph, on June 7, 2025. Of the 392 Georgia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 172 have had fewer than Gainesville.
March 21, 2017: thunderstorm wind 1 mile from the centre of Gainesville — 1 injured, $20,000 damage.
NWS: “The broadcast media reported that a tree was blown down onto a trailer on Highland Terrace trapping a man inside. The man was taken to an area hospital with unspecified injuries.”
April 6, 2016: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Gainesville — $3.0 million damage.
February 21, 1997: thunderstorm wind 2 miles from the centre of Gainesville — $500,000 damage.
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 Gainesville's 4 ZIP codes have filed 30 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $696,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 10% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 154 Georgia cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 62 have fewer than Gainesville.
Hall County, which includes Gainesville, has been named in 20 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1966, 11 of them major disasters (by incident: 5 hurricanes, 2 biological emergencies, 2 floods, 2 ice storms). The latest major disaster declaration was Tropical Storm Zeta, on January 12, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Hall County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for tornadoes and lightning; Relatively Moderate for hail, inland flooding and strong wind; Relatively Low for hurricanes and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $56.8 million a year, the 11th highest of 159 Georgia counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $30.3 million (53%), 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 Gainesville
- Oakwood, GA5 mi
- Flowery Branch, GA9 mi
- Gillsville, GA11 mi
- Murrayville, GA12 mi
- Lula, GA12 mi
- Braselton, GA13 mi
- Clermont, GA13 mi
- Pendergrass, GA13 mi
- Hoschton, GA15 mi
- Buford, GA16 mi
- Maysville, GA17 mi
- Dawsonville, GA17 mi
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