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Fauquier County, Virginia: hazard history

What federal records show has already happened here: disaster declarations, storms, and flood insurance claims. This is a record of the past. It is not a forecast and not a hazard score.

At a glance

Storm events recorded by NOAA
1,385
1996 to 2026
People killed and injured in those events
2 / 11
Deaths (direct and indirect) / injuries (direct)
Property damage NOAA recorded
$13.3M
Nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation
FEMA disaster declarations naming this county
21
1972 to 2026
NFIP flood insurance claims
30
1978 to 2024; a count, not a rate
NFIP payments on those claims
$153K
Nominal dollars

What this means

  • The event NOAA recorded most often here is Thunderstorm Wind, with 459 records.
  • The costliest single record is High Wind in 2003: $1.5M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
  • The deadliest record is Lightning in 2001, with 2 deaths.
  • FEMA has declared 21 disasters that named this county, most often for hurricane.
  • The worst year for flood insurance claims was 2024, with 3 claims.

What this can't tell you

  • What happens next. Past events do not set the odds of the next one.
  • Anything before 1996 from NOAA. That is when NOAA began recording every event type; earlier files hold only tornado, hail and wind, so they are left out on purpose.
  • Today's cost. Damage and payments are in the dollars of the year they happened.
  • A flood rate. NFIP counts claims but not how many homes were insured, and many flooded homes carry no flood insurance.
  • Earthquakes, wildfire perimeters or radar-detected hail. Those records are not tied to counties.

Federal disaster declarations (FEMA)

FEMA declared 21 disasters that named Fauquier County between 1972 and 2026.

FEMA disaster declarations naming Fauquier County, by incident type
Incident typeDisastersMost recent
Hurricane62018
Severe Storm52022
Snowstorm42016
Biological22020
Flood21996
Drought11977
Winter Storm12026

Most recent declarations

  • EM-3631 2026 · Winter Storm · Severe Winter Storm
  • DR-4644 2022 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm
  • DR-4512 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
  • EM-3448 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
  • EM-3403 2018 · Hurricane · Hurricane Florence
  • DR-4262 2016 · Snowstorm · Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm
  • DR-4092 2012 · Hurricane · Hurricane Sandy
  • EM-3359 2012 · Hurricane · Hurricane Sandy
  • DR-4072 2012 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds
  • DR-1905 2010 · Snowstorm · Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorms

Not counted above: 3 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Virginia. A declaration is a decision to send federal help, not a measure of how bad an event was. Records run from 1953. Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries.

Storms recorded by NOAA, by type

NOAA storm event records for Fauquier County, 1996 to 2026, by event type
Event typeRecordsDeathsInjuriesProperty damage
Thunderstorm Wind45900$4.1M
Winter Weather18300$0
Dense Fog18000$0
Flood10300$1.2M
Winter Storm7300$10K
Hail7200$2.0M
Heat6409$0
Frost/Freeze6300$0
Flash Flood5400$298K
Tornado1902$3.9M
Cold/Wind Chill1700$0
Heavy Rain1600$25K
Strong Wind1400$43K
High Wind1300$1.6M
Drought1200$0
Excessive Heat900$0
Ice Storm900$20K
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill800$0
Lightning720$56K
Heavy Snow600$1K
Funnel Cloud300$0
Blizzard100$20K

Records start in 1996. Damage is NOAA's estimate at the time, in nominal dollars, and is often rounded; it is not insurance claims data. A storm that crossed two NOAA zones in this county is recorded, and counted, once per zone.

Year by year

NOAA storm event records in Fauquier County each year. The busiest year was 2014, with 98 records.

Show the numbers for every year
NOAA storm event records in Fauquier County by year
YearRecordsDeathsProperty damage
1996260$1.5M
1997140$66K
1998280$38K
1999260$1.1M
2000440$1.0M
2001272$331K
2002320$34K
2003500$1.7M
2004240$2.0M
2005250$1.6M
2006300$519K
2007310$19K
2008360$239K
2009140$0
2010320$93K
2011600$77K
2012750$79K
2013490$0
2014980$1K
2015420$32K
2016510$0
2017550$0
2018930$0
2019900$0
2020780$107K
2021670$162K
2022520$1.2M
2023170$412K
2024400$793K
2025580$167K
2026210$71K

Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.

Notable events

Costliest records

  1. High Wind · Sep 18, 2003$1.5M
    NOAA name: FAUQUIER · NOAA record 5335430
  2. Tornado · Aug 30, 2005$1.5M
    NOAA name: FAUQUIER · NOAA record 5469179
  3. Flood · Jan 19, 1996$1.0M
    NOAA name: FAUQUIER · NOAA record 5541120
  4. Hail · Apr 23, 1999$1.0M
    NOAA name: FAUQUIER · NOAA record 5695191
  5. Hail · May 13, 2000$1.0M
    NOAA name: FAUQUIER · NOAA record 5144992

Deadliest records

  1. Lightning · Aug 30, 20012 deaths
    NOAA name: FAUQUIER · $1K damage · NOAA record 5263679

Each line is one NOAA record, linked to its page at NOAA. One large storm can appear more than once if NOAA recorded it in several zones of this county. Dollars are nominal.

Flood insurance claims (NFIP)

The National Flood Insurance Program paid $153K on 30 claims in Fauquier County from 1978 to 2024.

Years with the most NFIP claims in Fauquier County
YearClaimsPaid
20243$0
20143$0
19793$10K
20192$3K
20182$47

A count of claims, not a rate: NFIP publishes no count of insured homes beside it, and most flood damage is uninsured. Nominal dollars. Records run from 1978 to 2024; claims filed without a county code are not on any county page. Source: FEMA OpenFEMA FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims.

Hazard vulnerability analysis: the probability column for a facility in Fauquier County

A hazard vulnerability analysis rates each hazard for probability, impact, preparedness and response. Probability is the one column the county’s federal record can fill — NCEI storm events from 1996 to 2026 and FEMA declarations naming the county — and this is what it says for a facility here, on the 0–3 scale of the all-hazards structure surveyors expect. The other six columns are the facility’s own judgment about its building, and Calchis leaves them blank.

HazardProb.Basis, from the county record
Hurricane / Tropical Storm3No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 6 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Severe Thunderstorm3538 NCEI events over 31 years (17.35/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Flood, External3173 NCEI events over 31 years (5.58/yr). 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm3272 NCEI events over 31 years (8.77/yr). 4 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Temperature Extremes3161 NCEI events over 31 years (5.19/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Tornado219 NCEI events over 31 years (0.61/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Drought212 NCEI events over 31 years (0.39/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county.
High Wind (non-convective)227 NCEI events over 31 years (0.87/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Epidemic22 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Wild Fire1No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Earthquake1No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Landslide1No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Tidal Wave / Tsunami1No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Volcano1No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Dam Inundation1No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.

A dash means the record does not speak to that hazard; it is not a zero. Whether a finished document satisfies the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule is the facility’s finding and its surveyor’s. Complete the HVA for a facility in Fauquier County — the technological, human and hazardous-materials rows, the six facility columns, the approval and the printed document — or read the sample analysis on that page first.

How this page was made

  • Every figure is counted from public federal records held by Calchis: NOAA NCEI Storm Events, FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations, and FEMA NFIP claims. Nothing is modeled or estimated.
  • NOAA files some events by county and others by forecast zone, and names both. Records are counted as Fauquier County when their NOAA name is this county's name, alone or with a word like “Coastal” or “Inland” in front. The county codes NOAA also publishes have not been loaded for Virginia yet; when they are, this page will count by code instead, and some counties' records will grow. NOAA names counted here: FAUQUIER, NORTHERN FAUQUIER, SOUTHERN FAUQUIER. Zones named for something else, such as a mountain range or two counties at once, are left out: 2% of Virginia's NOAA records.
  • Counts last rebuilt from the source records on Sep 15, 2026.

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Recorded history from federal public records. Not a hazard score, a risk score, or a forecast, and not a substitute for professional actuarial or emergency-management assessment. Decision-support intelligence — not a primary alerting or dispatch system. Verify against official sources.