Hale County, Alabama

What hazards hit Hale County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 111 since 1964. 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 Hale County had?

NOAA records 58 tornadoes in Hale County from 1957 to 2026, the strongest rated F4, with 10 deaths and 143 injuries recorded in the county. That is 11th of 67 Alabama counties and 222nd 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 54 tornadoes whose track touched Hale County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 58: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 17 people, 10 of them in Hale County.

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 Hale County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the April 6, 2025 strong wind (1 death).

A motorist drove into a downed tree along County Road 42 approximately one mile northeast of Akron around 10 PM CDT, resulting in a fatality. The Tuscaloosa ASOS several miles to the north gusted to 20-30 mph around and just before this time. A combination of non-thunderstorm wind gusts and saturated ground likely led to the fallen tree.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1234013)

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 Hale 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).

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 Hale County. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Hale County

FEMA's register lists 23 declarations that include Hale County: 13 major disasters, 10 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for hurricane (10) and severe storm (6).

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 Hale County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 18 flood or flash flood records for Hale County from 1998 to 2014, on 16 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Hale County ranks 1236th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $671,000 on 115 claims filed in Hale County; the most in one year was 19 in 1980. 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 Hale County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Hale County Very Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $7.8 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 Hale County

1. Tuscaloosa County 994
2. Bibb County 362
3. Marengo County 337
4. Hale County 333
5. Greene County 246
6. Perry County 240

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 Hale CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Hale County's FEMA declarations (CSV)23 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis