Colbert County, Alabama

What hazards hit Colbert County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 998 since 1955. The rank column places the county among Alabama's counties by days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land over each hazard's complete period.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (county and forecast-zone records attributed to the county; a zone record shows its own totals on each county it covers). Days: dates with at least one record of the hazard in the county. Ranks: days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer), since 1950 for tornadoes, 1955 for hail and thunderstorm wind, 1996 for the rest.

How many tornadoes has Colbert County had?

NOAA records 50 tornadoes in Colbert County from 1953 to 2025, the strongest rated F3, with 2 deaths and 68 injuries recorded in the county. That is 7th of 67 Alabama counties and 145th of 3,080 U.S. counties by days with tornadoes per 1,000 square miles since 1950. A tornado that crossed a county line is counted in each county it touched, with the length of its path inside the county.

Counted as whole tornadoes rather than county records, the Storm Prediction Center's database holds 50 tornadoes whose track touched Colbert County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 50, the same count); along their whole tracks they killed 2 people.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Alabama.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, tornado records by county (path length in the county, maximum width); ratings as published: F scale before February 1, 2007, EF scale after. Whole-track figures: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database (1950-2025). SPC severe weather database.

When was the last damaging storm in Colbert County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the May 22, 2026 thunderstorm wind ($1,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database; every record of 2025-2026 is listed, earlier ones when they caused deaths, injuries or $250,000 of damage (2025 dollars), and every tornado.

The deadliest and costliest records

A damage figure marked "step" is a record from before 1993: NOAA then filed damage by category, and the figure is the category as entered, in the dollars of that year, not an estimate of the loss.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths and injuries direct and indirect; damage is property plus crops as estimated by the National Weather Service, converted to 2025 dollars.

Is it getting more frequent?

Records per decade for Colbert County's most frequent hazards. Counts rose everywhere after 1996, when NOAA began recording every event type, so compare decades within a hazard's complete period only (the shaded cells come before it).

Heat in the 2010s: 48 records against 5 in the decade before, 48 of them forecast-zone records. Extreme cold in the 2010s: 25 records against 8 in the decade before, 25 of them forecast-zone records. High wind and dust storms in the 2020-26: 28 records against 7 in the decade before, 28 of them forecast-zone records. Cells marked z rose mostly through zone records. The local National Weather Service office files these once per forecast zone, so a change in how it draws its zones or splits a storm into records moves this count as much as the weather does; read it beside the Colbert County days with a record above.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records per calendar decade; zone records from the CZ_TYPE field (Z).

What time of year?

Records by month in Colbert County. The two busiest months are in violet.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began.

Federal disaster declarations for Colbert County

FEMA's register lists 24 declarations that include Colbert County: 15 major disasters, 9 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (10) and hurricane (7).

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), declarations through October 2, 2026; one declaration is counted once however many areas it names. OpenFEMA dataset page.

How many floods has Colbert County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 141 flood or flash flood records for Colbert County from 1998 to 2025, on 81 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Colbert County ranks 1113th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $1.9 million on 144 claims filed in Colbert County; the most in one year was 20 in 1991. Claims count insured losses only: uninsured flood damage is not in this file.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims, as of September 8, 2026; claims by year of loss, payments in the dollars of the year paid. OpenFEMA dataset page.

FEMA's modeled risk for Colbert County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Colbert County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $34.9 million. These are FEMA's model estimates of future loss from 18 hazards, not a count of what happened; they can differ from the record above.

Source: FEMA National Risk Index, county table, December 2025 release. FEMA's National Risk Index map.

Counties that share a border with Colbert County

1. Lauderdale County 2,199
2. Colbert County 1,706
3. Lawrence County 930
4. Franklin County 732
5. Tishomingo County, MS 457

Source: U.S. Census Bureau county adjacency file; NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1950. The Census Bureau's adjacency file.

Next

• Tornadoes in AlabamaEvery Alabama tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in AlabamaThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Alabama recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Colbert CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Colbert County's FEMA declarations (CSV)24 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis