Tazewell County Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes
The chance of earthquake damage in Tazewell County is about the same as Virginia average and is much lower than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in Tazewell County is lower than Virginia average and is much lower than the national average.
Earthquake Index, #46
| Tazewell County | 0.11 |
| Virginia | 0.20 |
| 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
| Tazewell County | 0.0000 |
| Virginia | 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, #117
| Tazewell County | 20.87 |
| Virginia | 88.66 |
| 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 12,168 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of Tazewell 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: | 91 | Dense Fog: | 8 | Drought: | 64 |
| Dust Storm: | 0 | Flood: | 1,836 | Hail: | 3,282 | Heat: | 49 | Heavy Snow: | 307 |
| High Surf: | 0 | Hurricane: | 8 | Ice Storm: | 58 | Landslide: | 4 | Strong Wind: | 194 |
| Thunderstorm Winds: | 5,547 | Tropical Storm: | 7 | Wildfire: | 33 | Winter Storm: | 155 | Winter Weather: | 131 |
| Other: | 391 | ||||||||
Volcanos Nearby
No volcano is found in or near Tazewell County.
Historical Earthquake Events
A total of 1 historical earthquake event that had a recorded magnitude of 3.5 or above found in or near Tazewell County.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Depth (km) | Latitude | Longitude |
| 36.3 | 1969-11-20 | 4.3 | N/A | 37.4 | -81 |
Historical Tornado Events
A total of 8 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near Tazewell County.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Start Lat/Log | End Lat/Log | Length | Width | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage | Crop Damage | Affected County |
| 21.4 | 1974-04-04 | 3 | 36°52'N / 81°49'W | 36°53'N / 81°46'W | 3.00 Miles | 177 Yards | 0 | 3 | 250K | 0 | Smyth |
| 24.6 | 1975-01-25 | 2 | 36°47'N / 81°44'W | 36°48'N / 81°42'W | 1.90 Miles | 30 Yards | 0 | 2 | 25K | 0 | Smyth |
| 24.9 | 1974-04-04 | 3 | 36°51'N / 81°55'W | 36°52'N / 81°49'W | 5.40 Miles | 177 Yards | 1 | 1 | 250K | 0 | Washington |
| 25.1 | 2009-05-08 | 2 | 36°56'N / 81°57'W | 1.00 Mile | 250 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0K | Russell | |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A tornado touched down about eight miles east-northeast of Lebanon, Virginia with maximum wind speeds of 125 miles an hour. The path length was 1.1 mile and maximum width was 250 yards. Approximately 100 trees were snapped and uprooted along the tornado path. In addition...a well constructed wooden barn was completely destroyed and while a home incurred moderate damage. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A highly organized mesoscale convective vorticity maximum with strong low to mid tropospheric flow coupled with moderate instability resulted in the development of discrete supercellular thunderstorms. These storms produced a long-lived tornado across Northeast Tennessee late in the afternoon and another long duration tornado across Southwest Virginia later in the evening. | |||||||||||
| 25.8 | 1975-01-25 | 2 | 36°47'N / 81°46'W | 36°47'N / 81°44'W | 1.30 Miles | 30 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Washington |
| 31.7 | 1965-04-12 | 2 | 37°24'N / 81°06'W | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Mercer | |||
| 43.8 | 1974-04-04 | 3 | 37°40'N / 81°16'W | 37°42'N / 81°06'W | 9.20 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 12 | 2.5M | 0 | Raleigh |
| 48.5 | 1965-04-08 | 2 | 37°30'N / 80°49'W | 0.50 Mile | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Summers | |
* 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.