Greene County, New York
County storm and disaster record · FIPS 36039 · population 47,864 · 647 sq mi
NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 1,137 records for Greene County, New York from 1950 through June 30, 2026, on 632 days; the most frequent are winter storm records (383 records). 757 of them are forecast-zone records, which the National Weather Service files once per zone: a county covered by several zones receives each one, so a single storm can add several records on the same day. The deadliest day on its record was August 28, 2011: flood and flash flood records filed for Greene County that day count 2 deaths across 2 records. FEMA has issued 29 declarations naming the county since 1987, 25 of them for natural hazards; the latest for a natural hazard was “Hurricane Henri” on August 22, 2021.
The record, 1950 to 2026
Storm records filed for the county each year (2026 to June 30, 2026). Before 1996 NOAA recorded only tornadoes (from 1950), thunderstorm wind and hail (from 1955).
- recorded, no damage figure
- under $100,000
- $100,000 or more
- $1 million or more
- $10 million or more, or a death
- $100 million or more, or 10 deaths
- a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
- a year with a death
- 1955: wind and hail recorded from 1955
- 1996: all 48 event types from 1996
- Storm records
- 1,137on 632 days, 1950 to June 30, 2026
- Deaths recorded
- 419 injuries
- Damage, 2025 dollars
- $89Mas filed (scale steps before 1993)
- Tornadoes
- 9strongest F4
- FEMA declarations
- 29latest 2021
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026 (file revision 20260918); damage converted to 2025 dollars with the BLS CPI-U. Search the record at NCEI. BLS consumer price index.
What hazards hit Greene County most?
The most frequent records are winter storm records: 383 since 1996. 49% of its winter storm records since 1996 fell in December and January. The rank column places the county among New York's counties by days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land over each hazard's complete period.
| Hazard | Records | Days | First, last | Killed | Injured | Damage | Rank in state |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter storms | 383 | 221 | 1996-2026 | 1 | 2 | $3.4M | 8 of 58 |
| Severe thunderstorm wind | 190 | 119 | 1959-2026 | 0 | 6 | $1.4M | 42 of 58 |
| High wind and dust storms | 137 | 79 | 1996-2026 | 0 | 0 | $1.6M | 17 of 58 |
| Floods | 129 | 55 | 1996-2024 | 3 | 0 | $19M | 22 of 58 |
| Extreme cold | 124 | 81 | 1996-2026 | 0 | 0 | $2K | 6 of 58 |
| Heat | 78 | 67 | 1998-2026 | 0 | 0 | – | 6 of 58 |
| Hail | 53 | 29 | 1983-2025 | 0 | 0 | $1.2M | 45 of 58 |
| Lightning | 15 | 10 | 1996-2023 | 0 | 3 | $783K | 18 of 58 |
| Tornadoes | 9 | 6 | 1977-2020 | 0 | 8 | $62M | 37 of 58 |
| Drought | 8 | 4 | 1999-2024 | 0 | 0 | – | 29 of 58 |
| Heavy rain | 5 | 3 | 2017-2018 | 0 | 0 | – | 24 of 58 |
| Hurricanes and tropical storms | 4 | 2 | 2011-2012 | 0 | 0 | – | 11 of 58 |
| Wildfires | 2 | 1 | 2002-2002 | 0 | 0 | – | 11 of 58 |
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 Greene County had?
NOAA records 9 tornadoes in Greene County from 1977 to 2020, the strongest rated F4, with 0 deaths and 8 injuries recorded in the county. 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 10 tornadoes whose track touched Greene County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 9: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 0 people.
| Date | Tornado | Rating | Path | Killed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989-07-10 11:27, as SPC files it | Schoharie | F4 | 42 mi | 0 |
| 1974-06-16 11:10, as SPC files it | Albany | F3 | 49.1 mi | 0 |
Map of the strongest tornado tracks in New York.
Every tornado record filed for Greene County (9)
| Date | Place | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-08-27 | Halcott Center, Greene County | EF1 0.25 mi x 25 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2018-08-03 | Halcott Center, Greene County | EF0 1.9 mi x 67 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2003-07-21 | Coxsackie, Greene County | F1 0.5 mi x 150 yd | 0 | 0 | $160K |
| 2003-07-21 | Athens, Greene County | F1 0.5 mi x 50 yd | 0 | 0 | $16K |
| 2003-07-21 | Palenville, Greene County | F1 0.5 mi x 50 yd | 0 | 0 | $40K |
| 2003-07-21 | Kiskatom, Greene County | F2 1.5 mi x 150 yd | 0 | 7 | $1.6M |
| 1990-04-28 | Greene County | F0 0.2 mi x 10 yd | 0 | 1 | $25K step |
| 1989-07-10 | Greene County | F4 5 mi x 1,320 yd | 0 | 0 | $25M step |
| 1977-04-02 | Greene County | F1 1.8 mi x 33 yd | 0 | 0 | $25K step |
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, 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 Greene County?
The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the January 7, 2025 strong wind.
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-12 | HeatGreene County · forecast zone Eastern Greene | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-06 | Thunderstorm WindEarlton, Greene County | 55 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-04-15 | Thunderstorm WindCatskill, Greene County | 50 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-03-16 | Strong WindGreene County · forecast zone Eastern Greene | 40 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-03-16 | Strong WindGreene County · forecast zone Western Greene | 37 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-02-22 | Winter StormGreene County · forecast zone Western Greene | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-02-22 | Winter WeatherGreene County · forecast zone Eastern Greene | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-02-20 | Winter WeatherGreene County · forecast zone Western Greene | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-02-08 | Cold/Wind ChillGreene County · forecast zone Eastern Greene | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-02-08 | Cold/Wind ChillGreene County · forecast zone Western Greene | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-02-07 | Cold/Wind ChillGreene County · forecast zone Eastern Greene | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-02-07 | Extreme Cold/Wind ChillGreene County · forecast zone Western Greene | 0 | 0 | – |
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
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-03-13 | Heavy SnowGreene County · forecast zone Western Greene One man was found dead and another man rescued from Blackhead Mountain in the eastern Catskills Sunday night, March 14th. | 1 | 1 | – | |
| 2023-12-18 | FloodLeeds, Greene County Rising waters on the Catskill Creek flooded portions of Route 23B and Cauterskill Road near Leeds. A 76-year-old woman died after their vehicle was swept off Cauterskill Road due to flood waters after driving around a traffic barrier blocking the road. | 1 | 0 | $29K | |
| 2011-08-28 | FloodLanesville, Greene County Route 214 was reported closed due to flooding from the Ulster-Greene County border, near Moggre Road, to Route 23A in Greene County. The Stony Clove Creek runs along much of Route 214. In Lanesville, a man drowned when the embankment he was standing on near a bridge near Ostrander Road gave way and swept him into the ... | 1 | 0 | – | |
| 2011-08-28 | Flash FloodHensonville, Greene County A woman drowned when the house she was in was swept away by waters from the Batavia Kill on Maplecrest Road (County Route 40) in the hamlet of Maplecrest Town of Windham. The time of her death was unknown. | 1 | 0 | – | |
| 2003-07-21 | TornadoKiskatom, Greene County A large upper air trough dug across the western Great Lakes on Monday, July 21. At the surface, a deep low pressure area moved across the eastern Great Lakes, driving a warm front across eastern New York and adjacent New England. The air became very unstable in the warm air mass behind the front. The combination of ... | F2 1.5 mi x 150 yd | 0 | 7 | $1.6M |
| 1995-07-15 | Thunderstorm WindHaines Falls, Greene County | 0 | 5 | $2K | |
| 2016-03-16 | LightningPalenville, Greene County Two campers were injured by a lightning strike near North-South Lake in Greene County. The two campers, a man and a woman, were located in a grove of hemlock trees off a trail when lightning struck a tree 5 to 10 feet from their tent. The woman lost consciousness and the man may have as well. The woman received ... | 0 | 2 | – | |
| 2022-02-25 | Winter StormGreene County · forecast zone Eastern Greene An area of low pressure pushed across the region during the morning and early afternoon hours on Friday, February 25, 2022 producing a period of snow, heavy at times, with sleet and freezing rain mixing in at times for portions of the eastern Catskills and mid-Hudson Valley. Snowfall amounts ranged from as low as 2 to ... | 0 | 1 | – |
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-01-19 | FloodGreene County · forecast zone Western Greene | 0 | 0 | $9.4M | |
| 1999-09-16 | Flash FloodCountywide, Greene County | 0 | 0 | $5.3M | |
| 1997-03-31 | Winter StormGreene County · forecast zone Western Greene | 0 | 0 | $1.8M | |
| 2003-07-21 | TornadoKiskatom, Greene County | F2 1.5 mi x 150 yd | 0 | 7 | $1.6M |
| 1999-09-16 | High WindGreene County · forecast zone Western Greene | 0 | 0 | $620K | |
| 2008-07-27 | Thunderstorm WindSouth Cairo, Greene County | 109 kt wind | 0 | 0 | $548K |
| 1999-09-16 | High WindGreene County · forecast zone Eastern Greene | 0 | 0 | $531K | |
| 2001-06-20 | HailClimax, Greene County | 2.75 in hail | 0 | 0 | $500K |
Before 1993 NOAA filed damage by category, not amount, so the list above starts in 1993. The highest category filed here before then (entered as $25M, in the dollars of the day) holds: July 10, 1989 (tornado, Greene County).
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 Greene 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).
| Hazard | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter storms | – | – | – | – | 43 | 116 | 125 | 99 |
| Severe thunderstorm wind | 1 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 45 | 47 | 51 | 33 |
| High wind and dust storms | – | – | – | – | 19 | 34 | 46 | 38 |
| Floods | – | – | – | – | 14 | 46 | 38 | 31 |
| Extreme cold | – | – | – | – | 2 | 33 | 59 | 30 |
| Heat | – | – | – | – | 8 | 5 | 25 z | 40 |
Heat in the 2010s: 25 records against 5 in the decade before, 25 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 Greene 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?
49% of its winter storm records since 1996 fell in December and January. The two busiest months are in violet.
The values, month by month
Jan 173 · Feb 133 · Mar 79 · Apr 63 · May 62 · Jun 92 · Jul 122 · Aug 94 · Sep 42 · Oct 67 · Nov 51 · Dec 159 (records).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began.
Federal disaster declarations for Greene County
FEMA's register lists 29 declarations that include Greene County: 17 major disasters, 12 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (9) and hurricane (7).
| Declared | Number | Type | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-08-22 | EM-3565 | Hurricane | Hurricane Henri |
| 2020-03-20 | DR-4480 | Biological | Covid-19 Pandemic |
| 2020-03-13 | EM-3434 | Biological | Covid-19 |
| 2017-07-12 | DR-4322 | Snowstorm | Severe Winter Storm and Snowstorm |
| 2012-10-30 | DR-4085 | Hurricane | Hurricane Sandy |
| 2012-10-28 | EM-3351 | Hurricane | Hurricane Sandy |
| 2011-09-08 | EM-3341 | Severe Storm | Remnants of Tropical Storm Lee |
| 2011-08-31 | DR-4020 | Hurricane | Hurricane Irene |
| 2011-08-26 | EM-3328 | Hurricane | Hurricane Irene |
| 2009-03-04 | DR-1827 | Severe Storm | Severe Winter Storm |
| 2008-12-18 | EM-3299 | Severe Storm | Severe Winter Storm |
| 2007-04-24 | DR-1692 | Severe Storm | Severe Storms and Inland and Coastal Flooding |
| 2006-07-01 | DR-1650 | Severe Storm | Severe Storms and Flooding |
| 2005-09-30 | EM-3262 | Hurricane | Hurricane Katrina Evacuation |
| 2005-04-19 | DR-1589 | Severe Storm | Severe Storms and Flooding |
| 2004-08-03 | DR-1534 | Severe Storm | Severe Storms and Flooding |
| 2003-08-29 | DR-1486 | Severe Storm | Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes |
| 2003-08-23 | EM-3186 | Other | Power Outage |
| 2003-03-27 | EM-3184 | Snowstorm | Snow |
| 2003-02-25 | EM-3173 | Snowstorm | Snowstorms |
| 2001-09-11 | DR-1391 | Fire | Fires and Explosions |
| 2000-10-11 | EM-3155 | Other | West Nile Virus |
| 2000-07-21 | DR-1335 | Severe Storm | Severe Storms and Flooding |
| 1999-09-19 | DR-1296 | Hurricane | Hurricane Floyd Major Disaster Declarations |
| 1996-01-24 | DR-1095 | Flood | Severe Storms and Flooding |
| 1996-01-12 | DR-1083 | Snowstorm | Blizzard of 96 (Severe Snow Storm) |
| 1993-03-17 | EM-3107 | Snowstorm | Severe Blizzard |
| 1987-11-10 | DR-801 | Snowstorm | Severe Winter Storm |
| 1987-05-15 | DR-792 | Flood | Flooding |
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 Greene County had?
NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 129 flood or flash flood records for Greene County from 1996 to 2024, on 55 days, with 3 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Greene County ranks 456th of 2,942 U.S. counties.
| Storm | Began | Records | Deaths in the county |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hurricane Irene | 2011-08-28 | 2 | 2 |
| Hurricane Floyd | 1999-09-16 | 1 | 0 |
The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $19.1 million on 587 claims filed in Greene County; the most in one year was 235 in 2011. Claims count insured losses only: uninsured flood damage is not in this file.
The values, year by year
1978: 7 · 1979: 18 · 1980: 27 · 1981: 5 · 1982: 1 · 1983: 3 · 1984: 19 · 1985: 2 · 1986: 2 · 1987: 21 · 1989: 1 · 1991: 2 · 1992: 1 · 1993: 4 · 1995: 9 · 1996: 53 · 1998: 1 · 1999: 20 · 2000: 3 · 2002: 1 · 2003: 6 · 2004: 3 · 2005: 24 · 2006: 11 · 2007: 11 · 2008: 6 · 2009: 1 · 2010: 24 · 2011: 235 · 2012: 31 · 2013: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2020: 10 · 2021: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2026: 9; the other years: 0.
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 Greene County
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Greene County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $25.3 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.
| Hazard | Risk rating | Expected annual loss | Modeled frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | $20M | 1.9 a year (modeled) |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | $2.1M | once in about 20 years (modeled) |
| Avalanche | Relatively Low | $7K | once in about 100 years (modeled) |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | $7K | about once a year (modeled) |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | $98K | once in about 2 years (modeled) |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | $1.3M | once in about 6 years (modeled) |
| Hail | Relatively Low | $221K | 2.9 a year (modeled) |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | $178K | 27 a year (modeled) |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index, county table, December 2025 release. FEMA's National Risk Index map.
Counties that share a border with Greene County
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 New YorkEvery New York tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
- Winter storms in New YorkThe state's winter storm records, by county, year and month
- The New York recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
- FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Greene CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
- Download Greene County's FEMA declarations (CSV)29 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis