NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Lithonia, 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
18 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Lithonia, Georgia since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Helene in 2024. Since 1950, 101 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 18
- Tornadoes
- 101
- EF3 or stronger
- 5
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
10 deaths in all
What the records show for Lithonia
None of the 18 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Lithonia; the strongest was Helene in 2024, a tropical storm with 59 mph winds when its centre passed 55 miles away. The record near Lithonia begins with an unnamed storm in 1852; the most recent system was Helene in 2024. The 1890s and the 1900s were the busiest decades, with 4 systems each. Of the 18 systems, 2 have come since 2000. Of the 405 Georgia cities on this site, 58% have more tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles than Lithonia. The highest rating among the 101 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3 or EF3, reached 5 times; the most recent, on January 12, 2023, came within 25 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on March 24, 1975, killed 3 people. Of the 101, 4 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 47 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 17. The most recent tornado was on May 29, 2025. Lithonia has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 73% of the 405 Georgia cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 94 times since 1978, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Lithonia has more hail reports within 10 miles than 76% of the 405 Georgia cities.
Compare Lithonia's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Lithonia
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | HeleneSep 27 | 55 mi | Tropical storm (59 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2020 | ZetaOct 29 | 68 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1975 | EloiseSep 23 | 62 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1965 | Unnamed 1965 stormJun 15 | 74 mi | Tropical storm (44 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormSep 5 | 48 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1912 | Unnamed 1912 stormJun 14 | 7 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1907 | Unnamed 1907 stormSep 23 | 23 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1903 | Unnamed 1903 stormSep 15 | 53 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormOct 11 | 22 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1901 | Unnamed 1901 stormSep 28 | 39 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1898 | Unnamed 1898 stormOct 3 | 54 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1898 | Unnamed 1898 stormSep 1 | 70 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1896 | Unnamed 1896 stormJul 8 | 44 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormOct 3 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1889 | Unnamed 1889 stormSep 24 | 58 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1882 | Unnamed 1882 stormSep 10 | 35 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1859 | Unnamed 1859 stormSep 16 | 16 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1852 | Unnamed 1852 stormAug 27 | 53 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Lithonia: 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 Lithonia
By decade
- 2020s16(1 EF3+)
- 2010s18
- 2000s13
- 1990s11
- 1980s14
- 1970s14(3 EF3+)
- 1960s12(1 EF3+)
- 1950s3
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 24, 1975 | F3 | 17 mi | 14.8 mi | 3 / 152 |
| Jan 10, 1972 | F3 | 11 mi | 6.3 mi | 1 / 9 |
| Jan 12, 2023 | EF3 | 25 mi | 31.16 mi | 0 / 18 |
| May 27, 1973 | F3 | 22 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 24, 1964 | F3 | 16 mi | 75.4 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Mar 31, 1973 | F2 | 6 mi | 72.4 mi | 2 / 100 |
| Mar 14, 2008 | EF2 | 12 mi | 6.25 mi | 1 / 30 |
| Apr 8, 1998 | F2 | 18 mi | 19 mi | 1 / 10 |
| Jun 27, 1994 | F2 | 12 mi | 8 mi | 1 / 0 |
| Dec 5, 1954 | F2 | 18 mi | 0.5 mi | 1 / 40 |
| May 29, 2025 | EF2 | 22 mi | 1.82 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Apr 2, 2024 | EF2 | 5 mi | 9.47 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 101, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Lithonia
The Storm Prediction Center has 94 hail reports within 10 miles of Lithonia since 1978, made on 69 separate days. Of these, 47 were 1 inch across or larger, and 3 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on March 15, 2008. The most recent report is from April 24, 2021. June and July have the most reports, 19 each.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Lithonia
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Atlanta Peachtree Airport, GA, 15 miles northwest of Lithonia at 1,002 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 52°F and 33°F. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 50% of the year's precipitation (25.6 of 51.5 inches). September has brought the most of the 18 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (10); a normal September there has highs of 83°F and 4.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 53 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 49 nights a year. That 51.5 inches is more than at 61 of the 108 Georgia stations used on this site (56%). Conyers, 8 miles southeast, has its own station (Covington, GA): 50.5 inches a year, 1.0 less than here, and the same July average high, 89°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 52 | 33 | 4.6 | 7 |
| Feb | 56 | 36 | 4.5 | 7 |
| Mar | 64 | 42 | 4.7 | 7 |
| Apr | 73 | 49 | 3.9 | 7 |
| May | 80 | 59 | 3.8 | 7 |
| Jun | 86 | 66 | 4.7 | 7 |
| Jul | 89 | 70 | 4.7 | 7 |
| Aug | 88 | 69 | 4.5 | 7 |
| Sep | 83 | 63 | 4.1 | 5 |
| Oct | 73 | 51 | 3.4 | 4 |
| Nov | 63 | 41 | 4.2 | 6 |
| Dec | 54 | 36 | 4.4 | 7 |
| Year | 72 | 51 | 51.5 | 77 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Atlanta Peachtree Airport, GA (1,002 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 Lithonia
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 229 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Lithonia: 203 thunderstorm wind reports, 13 lightning strikes, 7 flash floods, 5 floods and 1 heavy rain event. They killed 0 people and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $7.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 83 mph, on March 21, 2017. Of the 392 Georgia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 129 have had fewer than Lithonia.
August 23, 2007: lightning strike in Lithonia — 1 injured, $150,000 damage.
NWS: “The DeKalb County 911 Center reported that a home was struck and set on fire by lightning. One person in the area was also injured from a lightning strike.”
March 6, 1996: thunderstorm wind in Lithonia — 1 injured, $30,000 damage.
July 17, 2016: lightning strike 8 miles from the centre of Lithonia — 1 injured.
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 Lithonia's 2 ZIP codes have filed 62 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $764,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Late summer storms in 2009: 16 claims (26% of all) and $541,000. 48% 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, 95 have fewer than Lithonia.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Late summer storms2009 | 16 | $541,000 |
DeKalb County, which includes Lithonia, has been named in 18 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1973, 9 of them major disasters (by incident: 5 hurricanes, 4 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 tropical storms). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 29, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives DeKalb County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for lightning; Relatively High for tornadoes, hail, inland flooding and strong wind; Relatively Moderate for heat waves; Relatively Low for hurricanes. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $153.3 million a year, the 5th highest of 159 Georgia counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $96.6 million (63%), 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.