NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Pinson, AL
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
14 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Pinson, Alabama since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Zeta in 2020. Since 1950, 174 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 22 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 14
- Tornadoes
- 174
- EF3 or stronger
- 22
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
200 deaths in all
What the records show for Pinson
None of the 14 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Pinson; the strongest was Eloise in 1975, a tropical storm with 66 mph winds when its centre passed 71 miles away. The record near Pinson begins with an unnamed storm in 1881; the most recent system was Zeta in 2020, a tropical storm 21 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1910s, with 4 systems. Of the 14 systems, one has come since 2000. Of the 323 Alabama cities on this site, 64% have more tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles than Pinson. The highest rating among the 174 tornadoes within 25 miles is F5, reached 2 times; the most recent, on April 8, 1998, came within 16 miles. The deadliest, an EF4 on April 27, 2011, killed 64 people. Of the 174, 8 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 91 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 49. The most recent tornado was on November 25, 2025. Pinson has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 86% of the 323 Alabama cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 95 times since 1960, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Pinson has more hail reports within 10 miles than 79% of the 323 Alabama cities.
Compare Pinson's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Pinson
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | ZetaOct 29 | 21 mi | Tropical storm (64 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1995 | OpalOct 5 | 33 mi | Tropical storm (53 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1985 | JuanNov 1 | 2 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1979 | FredericSep 13 | 74 mi | Tropical storm (51 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1975 | EloiseSep 23 | 71 mi | Tropical storm (66 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1932 | Unnamed 1932 stormOct 17 | 14 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormOct 18 | 52 mi | Tropical storm (54 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormJul 8 | 37 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormSep 30 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1912 | Unnamed 1912 stormJun 14 | 61 mi | Tropical storm (44 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1907 | Unnamed 1907 stormSep 22 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1906 | Unnamed 1906 stormJun 13 | 75 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1892 | Unnamed 1892 stormSep 13 | 22 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1881 | Unnamed 1881 stormAug 29 | 60 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Pinson: 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 Pinson
By decade
- 2020s21(2 EF3+)
- 2010s27(5 EF3+)
- 2000s43(1 EF3+)
- 1990s17(1 EF3+)
- 1980s14
- 1970s32(5 EF3+)
- 1960s11(4 EF3+)
- 1950s9(4 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8, 1998 | F5 | 16 mi | 30.3 mi | 32 / 259 |
| Apr 4, 1977 | F5 | 9 mi | 14.7 mi | 22 / 130 |
| Apr 27, 2011 | EF4 | 8 mi | 80.68 mi | 64 / 1500 |
| Apr 15, 1956 | F4 | 7 mi | 21.3 mi | 25 / 200 |
| Apr 27, 2011 | EF4 | 6 mi | 97.33 mi | 22 / 85 |
| Apr 27, 2011 | EF4 | 22 mi | 127.8 mi | 13 / 54 |
| Nov 18, 1957 | F4 | 19 mi | 26.1 mi | 3 / 12 |
| Mar 6, 1967 | F4 | 10 mi | 20.9 mi | 2 / 25 |
| Mar 11, 1963 | F4 | 18 mi | 28 mi | 2 / 6 |
| Nov 24, 2001 | F4 | 19 mi | 10.1 mi | 0 / 22 |
| Mar 5, 1963 | F4 | 18 mi | 14.9 mi | 0 / 35 |
| Jan 25, 2021 | EF3 | 5 mi | 10.4 mi | 1 / 30 |
The strongest 12 of 174, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Pinson
The Storm Prediction Center has 95 hail reports within 10 miles of Pinson since 1960, made on 76 separate days. Of these, 58 were 1 inch across or larger, and 5 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on March 29, 1960. The most recent report is from April 23, 2025. April has the most reports, 24.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Pinson
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Pinson, AL, 3 miles southwest of Pinson at 608 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 54°F and 31°F. March is the wettest at 5.7 inches of precipitation on average and October the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 57.1 inches over 80 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 46% of the year's precipitation (26.0 of 57.1 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 14 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (5); a normal September there has highs of 85°F and 4.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 64 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 72 nights a year. Snowfall averages 1.4 inches a year, most of it in March. That 57.1 inches is more than at 51 of the 107 Alabama stations used on this site (48%). Fultondale, 12 miles southwest, has its own station (Birmingham Airport, AL): 56.7 inches a year, 0.4 less than here, and a July average high of 91°F against 90°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 54 | 31 | 5.1 | 7 | 0.2 |
| Feb | 58 | 34 | 5.4 | 7 | 0.3 |
| Mar | 67 | 41 | 5.7 | 8 | 0.8 |
| Apr | 75 | 48 | 5.0 | 6 | 0.0 |
| May | 82 | 56 | 4.8 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 88 | 65 | 4.6 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 90 | 68 | 5.0 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 90 | 68 | 4.5 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 85 | 61 | 4.0 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 75 | 50 | 3.3 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Nov | 64 | 39 | 4.6 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Dec | 56 | 34 | 5.1 | 7 | 0.1 |
| Year | 74 | 50 | 57.1 | 80 | 1.4 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Pinson, AL (608 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 Pinson
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 123 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Pinson: 101 thunderstorm wind reports, 12 flash floods, 6 heavy rain events, 2 floods and 2 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $449,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on July 29, 2008. Of the 321 Alabama cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 144 have had fewer than Pinson.
June 4, 2010: flash flood 3 miles from the centre of Pinson — 3 injured, $50,000 damage.
NWS: “Several locations northeast of the city of Birmingham experienced significant flash flooding. Several roads in and around the cities of Pinson, Center Point, and Trussville, became temporarily impassible due to flood waters.”
October 12, 2010: lightning strike 6 miles from the centre of Pinson — 2 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 Pinson's ZIP code 35126 have filed 93 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $1.8 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Early winter storms in 2015: 11 claims (12% of all) and $240,000. The year with the most claims was 2003, with 25. 13% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 118 Alabama cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 81 have fewer than Pinson.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Early winter storms2015 | 11 | $240,000 |
Jefferson County, which includes Pinson, has been named in 39 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1970, 27 of them major disasters (by incident: 18 severe storms, 10 hurricanes, 4 floods, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms and Flooding, on December 21, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Jefferson County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for tornadoes and lightning; Relatively High for inland flooding, strong wind and heat waves; Relatively Low for hurricanes; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $262.4 million a year, the 2nd highest of 67 Alabama counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $143.1 million (55%), 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.