Jackson County Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes
Hot Ohio Rankings
The chance of earthquake damage in Jackson County is about the same as Ohio average and is much lower than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in Jackson County is much lower than Ohio average and is lower than the national average.
Earthquake Index, #26
| Jackson County | 0.08 |
| Ohio | 0.16 |
| U.S. | 1.81 |
The earthquake index value is calculated based on historical earthquake events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the earthquake level in a region. A higher earthquake index value means a higher chance of an earthquake.
Volcano Index, #1
| Jackson County | 0.0000 |
| Ohio | 0.0000 |
| U.S. | 0.0023 |
The volcano index value is calculated based on the currently known volcanoes using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the possibility of a region being affected by a possible volcano eruption. A higher volcano index value means a higher chance of being affected.
Tornado Index, #75
| Jackson County | 76.97 |
| Ohio | 156.02 |
| U.S. | 136.45 |
The tornado index value is calculated based on historical tornado events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the tornado level in a region. A higher tornado index value means a higher chance of tornado events.
Other Weather Extremes Events
A total of 13,095 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of Jackson County were recorded from 1950 to 2010. The following is a break down of these events:
| Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count |
| Avalanche: | 0 | Blizzard: | 3 | Cold: | 133 | Dense Fog: | 31 | Drought: | 85 |
| Dust Storm: | 0 | Flood: | 2,151 | Hail: | 3,037 | Heat: | 106 | Heavy Snow: | 133 |
| High Surf: | 0 | Hurricane: | 0 | Ice Storm: | 48 | Landslide: | 0 | Strong Wind: | 205 |
| Thunderstorm Winds: | 6,622 | Tropical Storm: | 0 | Wildfire: | 15 | Winter Storm: | 138 | Winter Weather: | 83 |
| Other: | 305 | ||||||||
Volcanos Nearby
No volcano is found in or near Jackson County.
Historical Earthquake Events
A total of 3 historical earthquake events that had recorded magnitudes of 3.5 or above found in or near Jackson County.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Depth (km) | Latitude | Longitude |
| 41.0 | 1967-04-08 | 4.2 | N/A | 39.6 | -82.5 |
| 39.8 | 1983-08-17 | 3.5 | 8 | 38.47 | -82.86 |
| 43.4 | 1979-11-09 | 3.5 | 10 | 38.42 | -82.88 |
Historical Tornado Events
A total of 25 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near Jackson County.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Start Lat/Log | End Lat/Log | Length | Width | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage | Crop Damage | Affected County |
| 15.3 | 1968-04-23 | 5 | 38°47'N / 82°39'W | 38°48'N / 82°35'W | 3.60 Miles | 400 Yards | 0 | 1 | 0K | 0 | Lawrence |
| 16.8 | 1968-04-23 | 2 | 38°49'N / 82°52'W | 38°51'N / 82°47'W | 4.90 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 1 | 250K | 0 | Scioto |
| 18.5 | 1968-04-23 | 5 | 38°48'N / 82°35'W | 38°49'N / 82°12'W | 20.60 Miles | 400 Yards | 0 | 17 | 250K | 0 | Gallia |
| 18.6 | 2002-05-08 | 2 | 38°52'N / 82°21'W | 38°53'N / 82°17'W | 3.00 Miles | 80 Yards | 0 | 3 | 3.5M | 0 | Gallia |
| Brief Description: A warm frontal boundary interacted with a complex of showers and thunderstorms to form a tornado on the southern flank of the precipitation. Touchdown was along Adamsville Road near Route 35. The roof was ripped off a home, 2 mobile homes were destroyed, along with a pole barn. The tornado then struck both rest areas on Route 35. The rest building on the north side of the highway was severely damaged. At least 2 tractor trailers were flipped over, while others parked in the lot, were damaged. Another mobile home near the rest stop was destroyed. Proceeding just east to Dewey Road, the tornado wiped a modular home off its foundation. A trailer was destroyed at the corner of Kerr and Viney Roads. Down Kerr Road, a home had its roof removed and a mobile home was moved off its foundation. On Fairview Road, another mobile home was damaged. What was amazing and fortunate, in just about all the cases, no one was home when the tornado struck. Three people were injured at the rest stop. | |||||||||||
| 19.7 | 1968-04-23 | 5 | 38°42'N / 82°48'W | 38°47'N / 82°39'W | 9.80 Miles | 400 Yards | 7 | 75 | 2.5M | 0 | Scioto |
| 21.8 | 2000-06-15 | 2 | 38°45'N / 82°24'W | 38°46'N / 82°21'W | 2.50 Miles | 150 Yards | 0 | 0 | 100K | 0 | Gallia |
| Brief Description: The tornado touched down near Burnette Road, then moved east across Hannan Trace Road, before dissipating east of Rocky Fork Road. In the vicinity of Hannan Trace Road, the tornado width was 150 yards and destroyed 3 barns. Wooden pieces of the barn, from 1 to 5 feet in length, became projectiles. The wood was scattered about the area, with some pieces wedged into the ground. The storm was rated as an F2 in this area. Elsewhere along its path, the tornado was weaker. Two homes received minor damage. Farm equipment and one truck were also damaged. | |||||||||||
| 22.3 | 1965-04-08 | 3 | 38°52'N / 82°59'W | 2.00 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Scioto | |
| 22.3 | 1965-04-08 | 2 | 39°08'N / 83°00'W | 1.00 Mile | 30 Yards | 0 | 9 | 250K | 0 | Pike | |
| 23.4 | 1956-03-07 | 2 | 38°57'N / 83°04'W | 38°57'N / 83°01'W | 1.90 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Pike |
| 25.0 | 1962-05-26 | 2 | 39°18'N / 82°54'W | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Ross | |||
| 27.3 | 1968-04-23 | 3 | 38°43'N / 82°57'W | 0 | 5 | 2.5M | 0 | Greenup | |||
| 34.1 | 2010-09-16 | 2 | 39°24'N / 82°15'W | 39°24'N / 82°11'W | 3.00 Miles | 300 Yards | 0 | 7 | 750K | 0K | Athens |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A tornado touchdown was along Kimberly Road, about 4 miles from Nelsonville. The tornado reached maximum intensity along Matheny Road to State Route 691. Matheny Road is also called York Township Road 269. Damage was concentrated along Matheny Road and State Route 691. The low level circulation was evident in the damage along Matheny Road. Debris was strewn one way on the south side of the road, then in the opposite direction on the north side. One resident said, you could see stuff flying through the air. Then the noise got real loud and we ran into the house and into a closet. The house was just shaking. Several mobile homes were completely destroyed. Yet, some of these mobile homes were poorly anchored or not anchored at all. Many large softwood trees were uprooted or snapped at their trunks. Reports were received of several cows being lifted by the tornado. A hay bale weighing 1800 pounds was lofted into the air and set back down. The maximum wind gusts were estimated at 120 to 130 mph. A total of 7 people were injured. About 13 homes were destroyed, with dozens of other homes damaged. Since 1950, this is only the second confirmed tornado in Athens County. The previous tornado was a F1 during May of 1980. However, prior to 1950, 3 tornadoes have been reported in Athens County, back in July of 1896, April of 1922, and June of 1937. The June 1937 tornado killed 3. The storm in 1896 was reported in Glouster. However, historical accounts also describe a tornado in the late 1800s that destroyed a large grove of sycamore trees in the city of Athens. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A cold front, in tandem with strong mid and upper level forcing, produced a severe weather outbreak in southeast Ohio into extreme western West Virginia during the late afternoon and evening of Thursday the 16th. The setup featured a 45 knot mid level flow and a 95 knot upper level jet. Matter of fact, a larger area of showers, associated with a warm front, had moved across southeast Ohio and West Virginia during the morning and midday hours. This kept the surface based instability at a minimum. However, new cells formed further west during the mid afternoon over western Ohio. It was this new cluster of convection that would intensify due to the strong mid and upper level dynamics. Several of the new cells formed and intensified on the southern or southwestern flank of the overall larger area of showers and thunderstorms. This area of convection stretched further to the northeast into eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. This allowed an unimpeded low level moisture inflow into the new development. Surface dew points ahead of the cold front reached into the mid 60s. Most of the severe thunderstorms exhibited strong rotation, resulting in the spawning of 5 tornadoes. Four of these 5 tornadoes were in Ohio. One of the 4 Ohio tornadoes crossed from Fairfield County into western Perry County. Another 1 of the 4 crossed from Perry into northwestern Morgan County. One tornado patch was solely in western Athens County. The damage continued another 10 miles in Athens County from a strong rear flank downdraft. Finally, the last of the 4 tornadoes in Ohio crossed the Ohio River from northeastern Meigs County into southern Wood County in West Virginia. From storm surveys, this was the strongest tornado. The last tornado path in this outbreak was solely in western West Virginia. Luckily, there were no fatalities in southeastern Ohio. However, there was one death on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River. | |||||||||||
| 35.2 | 1980-07-12 | 2 | 38°41'N / 83°03'W | 38°26'N / 82°46'W | 23.00 Miles | 300 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Greenup |
| 38.6 | 1967-03-13 | 2 | 38°57'N / 81°54'W | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Meigs | |||
| 39.1 | 1968-04-23 | 4 | 38°48'N / 83°42'W | 38°53'N / 82°55'W | 42.50 Miles | 550 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Adams |
| 40.3 | 1982-06-16 | 2 | 38°39'N / 83°14'W | 38°41'N / 83°12'W | 2.00 Miles | 30 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Scioto |
| 43.0 | 1958-05-22 | 2 | 39°35'N / 82°58'W | 39°37'N / 82°48'W | 9.00 Miles | 30 Yards | 0 | 3 | 250K | 0 | Pickaway |
| 43.4 | 1980-07-12 | 2 | 38°26'N / 82°46'W | 38°21'N / 82°42'W | 6.60 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Boyd |
| 45.2 | 1999-10-13 | 3 | 39°36'N / 82°59'W | 39°37'N / 82°57'W | 3.50 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 6 | 4.0M | 0 | Pickaway |
| Brief Description: A tornado touched down west of Circleville, pulling a small shed off of its foundation and destroying a section of a construction building. after this, the tornado lifted and then touched down in a more developed area in town. It destroyed a building housing two businesses and ripped the roof off of a section of a strip mall, ejecting furniture from inside the structure. A large sign weighing several hundred pounds was ripped from its foundation and blown twenty feet away. A tractor trailer with a load of 18 to 19 tons was blown over and dragged ten feet away from where it landed. The tornado then proceeded to a housing development where several homes were destroyed, several roofs ripped off, and garages either destroyed or moved from their foundations. Trees were twisted and broken off at their bases and carports were also torn from nearby houses. A cold front pushed east from Illinois and Indiana during the afternoon hours and combined with a vigorous upper level disturbance that dropped into the Ohio Valley from the lower Great Lakes region. These factors prompted a squall line to develop ahead of the cold front that moved southeast through the Wilmington Ohio (ILN) county warning area before entering northeast Kentucky and southeast Ohio. | |||||||||||
| 45.2 | 1965-04-08 | 3 | 38°22'N / 82°39'W | 38°21'N / 82°35'W | 3.30 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Boyd |
| 45.2 | 1982-06-16 | 2 | 38°35'N / 83°20'W | 38°39'N / 83°14'W | 7.00 Miles | 30 Yards | 0 | 3 | 250K | 0 | Lewis |
| 46.3 | 2010-09-16 | 3 | 39°09'N / 81°47'W | 39°08'N / 81°45'W | 3.00 Miles | 250 Yards | 0 | 6 | 1.5M | 0K | Meigs |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A new rotating supercell formed south of thunderstorm complex that caused the tornado and strong downburst in western Athens County. A new tornado formed. Significant structural damage to farm buildings and a few homes occurred along Eden Ridge Road. This road is also County Route 50. The tornado path then went across State Route 124 between community of Reedsville and Eden along the Ohio River. A majority of the mobile homes affected were in this vicinity. In addition, a well built single family home and its detached commercial grade garage were completely destroyed. The foundations of both structures were wiped clean. The EF3 damage included this area along State Route 124. Maximum wind gusts of 150 mph were estimated. The county reported 22 structures destroyed or having major damage, including mostly mobile and single family homes. However, one car repair shop was also included. Another 20 homes were affected or had minor damage. Around a dozen outbuildings were damaged or destroyed. One male received rib and leg fractures when his truck was flipped over while he was in it. A woman was injured when she was pinned in rubble from her mobile home. In the dark, her barking dog helped first responders find her faster. A total of 6 people were injured, 2 seriously. This tornado crossed the Ohio River and killed a man immediately on the other side of the river in southern Wood County of West Virginia. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A cold front, in tandem with strong mid and upper level forcing, produced a severe weather outbreak in southeast Ohio into extreme western West Virginia during the late afternoon and evening of Thursday the 16th. The setup featured a 45 knot mid level flow and a 95 knot upper level jet. Matter of fact, a larger area of showers, associated with a warm front, had moved across southeast Ohio and West Virginia during the morning and midday hours. This kept the surface based instability at a minimum. However, new cells formed further west during the mid afternoon over western Ohio. It was this new cluster of convection that would intensify due to the strong mid and upper level dynamics. Several of the new cells formed and intensified on the southern or southwestern flank of the overall larger area of showers and thunderstorms. This area of convection stretched further to the northeast into eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. This allowed an unimpeded low level moisture inflow into the new development. Surface dew points ahead of the cold front reached into the mid 60s. Most of the severe thunderstorms exhibited strong rotation, resulting in the spawning of 5 tornadoes. Four of these 5 tornadoes were in Ohio. One of the 4 Ohio tornadoes crossed from Fairfield County into western Perry County. Another 1 of the 4 crossed from Perry into northwestern Morgan County. One tornado patch was solely in western Athens County. The damage continued another 10 miles in Athens County from a strong rear flank downdraft. Finally, the last of the 4 tornadoes in Ohio crossed the Ohio River from northeastern Meigs County into southern Wood County in West Virginia. From storm surveys, this was the strongest tornado. The last tornado path in this outbreak was solely in western West Virginia. Luckily, there were no fatalities in southeastern Ohio. However, there was one death on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River. | |||||||||||
| 46.5 | 1965-04-08 | 3 | 38°21'N / 82°35'W | 38°20'N / 82°31'W | 3.60 Miles | 220 Yards | 0 | 3 | 250K | 0 | Wayne |
| 47.5 | 1974-04-03 | 3 | 38°49'N / 83°36'W | 38°57'N / 83°22'W | 15.50 Miles | 500 Yards | 1 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Adams |
| 47.8 | 1970-09-03 | 3 | 39°39'N / 82°58'W | 39°40'N / 82°55'W | 2.30 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 1 | 25K | 0 | Pickaway |
* The information on this page is based on the global volcano database, the U.S. earthquake database of 1638-1985, and the U.S. Tornado and Weather Extremes database of 1950-2010.