NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Madison, 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 Madison, Virginia since 1851, 3 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Zeta in 2020. Since 1950, 50 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 3
- Tropical storms
- 20
- Tornadoes
- 50
- EF3 or stronger
- 5
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
1 deaths in all
What the records show for Madison
The strongest storm to pass near Madison was an unnamed storm in 1878, a Category 1 hurricane with 94 mph winds when its centre passed 61 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1893, whose centre came within 8 miles. The record near Madison begins with an unnamed storm in 1876; the most recent system was Zeta in 2020, a tropical storm 40 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1890s, with 4 systems, one of them at hurricane strength. Of the 23 systems, 2 have come since 2000. Madison has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 33% of the 364 Virginia cities on this site. The strongest of the 50 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F4 on September 24, 2001; its path came within 21 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on September 30, 1959, killed 1 person. Of the 50, 7 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 30 have come since 2000. September has had the most tornadoes, 15. The most recent tornado was on May 30, 2025. Madison has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 57% of the 364 Virginia cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 30 times since 1995, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Of the 364 Virginia cities, 70% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Madison.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Madison
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | ZetaOct 29 | 40 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2003 | IsabelSep 19 | 23 mi | Tropical storm (61 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1979 | DavidSep 6 | 35 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1955 | DianeAug 18 | 5 mi | Tropical storm (48 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1954 | HazelOct 15 | 33 mi | Category 1 (86 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1952 | AbleSep 1 | overhead | Tropical storm (53 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1949 | Unnamed 1949 stormAug 29 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1945 | Unnamed 1945 stormSep 18 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (41 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1944 | Unnamed 1944 stormAug 2 | 63 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormJun 19 | 33 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1933 | Unnamed 1933 stormAug 23 | 62 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1929 | Unnamed 1929 stormOct 2 | 65 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1928 | Unnamed 1928 stormSep 20 | 35 mi | Tropical storm (54 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 4 | 11 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormOct 12 | 57 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1899 | Unnamed 1899 stormOct 31 | 67 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1896 | Unnamed 1896 stormSep 30 | 22 mi | Tropical storm (72 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormOct 13 | 8 mi | Category 1 (76 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 29 | 4 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1885 | Unnamed 1885 stormOct 13 | 7 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormOct 23 | 61 mi | Category 1 (94 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormSep 13 | 65 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1876 | Unnamed 1876 stormSep 18 | 49 mi | Tropical storm (68 mph) | Category 3 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Madison: 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 Madison
By decade
- 2020s3
- 2010s4
- 2000s23(1 EF3+)
- 1990s7(1 EF3+)
- 1980s3(1 EF3+)
- 1970s4(1 EF3+)
- 1960s4
- 1950s2(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 24, 2001 | F4 | 21 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Sep 30, 1959 | F3 | 10 mi | 2 mi | 1 / 9 |
| Oct 18, 1990 | F3 | 18 mi | 3.5 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jul 25, 1985 | F3 | 15 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 21, 1976 | F3 | 2 mi | 5.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 17, 2004 | F2 | 21 mi | 7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 17, 2004 | F2 | 7 mi | 8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 17, 2004 | F2 | 11 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Oct 13, 1983 | F2 | 22 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 6 |
| Jun 19, 1978 | F2 | 25 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 12, 1976 | F2 | 5 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 17, 1965 | F2 | 14 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 50, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Madison
The Storm Prediction Center has 30 hail reports within 10 miles of Madison since 1995, made on 25 separate days. Of these, 22 were 1 inch across or larger, and 2 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on June 16, 1998. The most recent report is from August 4, 2022. June has the most reports, 12.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Madison
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Somerset, VA, 10 miles south of Madison at 510 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 45°F and 24°F. June is the wettest at 4.8 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.7 inches; the year adds up to 45.1 inches over 76 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (24.2 of 45.1 inches); the other six months are drier. Highs reach 90°F on about 30 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 109 nights a year. Snowfall averages 15.5 inches a year, most of it in February. That 45.1 inches is more than at 42 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (39%). Ruckersville, 13 miles southwest, has its own station (Charlottesville Airport, VA): 41.8 inches a year, 3.3 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 | 24 | 3.0 | 6 | 3.4 |
| Feb | 48 | 26 | 2.7 | 5 | 6.1 |
| Mar | 56 | 33 | 3.6 | 7 | 1.7 |
| Apr | 68 | 43 | 3.5 | 7 | 0.2 |
| May | 75 | 53 | 4.6 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 83 | 62 | 4.8 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 87 | 65 | 4.0 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 86 | 64 | 3.7 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 79 | 56 | 4.6 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 69 | 44 | 3.6 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Nov | 58 | 34 | 3.5 | 5 | 0.4 |
| Dec | 49 | 28 | 3.5 | 6 | 3.7 |
| Year | 67 | 44 | 45.1 | 76 | 15.5 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Somerset, VA (510 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 Madison
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 325 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Madison: 194 thunderstorm wind reports, 104 floods and 27 flash floods. They killed 1 person and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $633,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on August 7, 2023. May has had the most flash floods, 12 of 27. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 231 have had fewer than Madison.
May 30, 2018: flash flood 7 miles from the centre of Madison — 1 killed.
NWS: “Two women attempted to cross the swollen Rose River at Graves Mountain Lodge in an ATV. When one of the women got out to check on the water, she was knocked off her feet and swept away.”
May 30, 2018: flash flood 4 miles from the centre of Madison — $107,000 damage.
NWS: “Major flooding occurred in the Banco, Syria, and Criglersville areas of Madison County.”
August 7, 2023: thunderstorm wind 10 miles from the centre of Madison — $100,000 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 Madison's ZIP code 22727 have filed 11 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1995, and were paid $93,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 45% 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, 10 have fewer than Madison.
Madison County, which includes Madison, has been named in 24 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1972, 17 of them major disasters (by incident: 6 hurricanes, 5 severe storms, 5 snowstorms, 3 floods). The latest major disaster declaration was Tropical Storm Helene, on October 1, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Madison County a Very Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Low for hurricanes and strong wind; Very Low for tornadoes, hail, inland flooding, lightning and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $4.6 million a year, the 103rd highest of 133 Virginia counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $2.6 million (56%), 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 Madison
- Stanardsville, VA11 mi
- Ruckersville, VA13 mi
- Barboursville, VA16 mi
- Orange, VA16 mi
- Culpeper, VA16 mi
- Stanley, VA17 mi
- Elkton, VA19 mi
- Zion Crossroads, VA19 mi
- Shenandoah, VA19 mi
- Earlysville, VA20 mi
- Luray, VA21 mi
- Rixeyville, VA21 mi
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