Ward, AL Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes
Hot Rankings
The chance of earthquake damage in Ward is about the same as Alabama average and is much lower than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in Ward is much lower than Alabama average and is lower than the national average.
Earthquake Index, #393
| Ward, AL | 0.04 |
| Alabama | 0.08 |
| 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
| Ward, AL | 0.0000 |
| Alabama | 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, #716
| Ward, AL | 115.60 |
| Alabama | 255.80 |
| 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 2,221 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of Ward, AL 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: | 0 | Cold: | 25 | Dense Fog: | 0 | Drought: | 30 |
| Dust Storm: | 0 | Flood: | 145 | Hail: | 728 | Heat: | 62 | Heavy Snow: | 16 |
| High Surf: | 0 | Hurricane: | 7 | Ice Storm: | 5 | Landslide: | 0 | Strong Wind: | 38 |
| Thunderstorm Winds: | 1,107 | Tropical Storm: | 7 | Wildfire: | 0 | Winter Storm: | 10 | Winter Weather: | 6 |
| Other: | 35 | ||||||||
Volcanos Nearby
No volcano is found in or near Ward, AL.
Historical Earthquake Events
A total of 2 historical earthquake events that had recorded magnitudes of 3.5 or above found in or near Ward, AL.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Depth (km) | Latitude | Longitude |
| 25.6 | 1977-05-04 | 3.6 | 5 | 31.98 | -88.42 |
| 29.3 | 1978-12-11 | 3.5 | 5 | 31.95 | -88.48 |
Historical Tornado Events
A total of 45 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near Ward, AL.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Start Lat/Log | End Lat/Log | Length | Width | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage | Crop Damage | Affected County |
| 12.0 | 1953-05-01 | 4 | 32°15'N / 88°23'W | 2 | 3 | 25K | 0 | Choctaw | |||
| 12.0 | 1961-12-12 | 2 | 32°24'N / 88°23'W | 32°32'N / 88°00'W | 24.20 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Sumter |
| 13.0 | 1967-12-18 | 3 | 32°26'N / 88°09'W | 32°30'N / 88°03'W | 7.60 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Sumter |
| 19.3 | 1968-11-17 | 2 | 31°58'N / 88°22'W | 32°06'N / 88°15'W | 11.50 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 2 | 25K | 0 | Choctaw |
| 23.4 | 1972-01-04 | 2 | 32°18'N / 87°47'W | 1.00 Mile | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Marengo | |
| 25.3 | 1992-03-10 | 3 | 32°15'N / 88°47'W | 32°18'N / 88°27'W | 20.00 Miles | 1760 Yards | 3 | 57 | 2.5M | 0 | Lauderdale |
| 25.7 | 2000-12-16 | 2 | 32°24'N / 88°40'W | 32°30'N / 88°30'W | 12.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 17 | 2.1M | 0 | Lauderdale |
| Brief Description: An F2 tornado caused major damage in the Marion and Dalewood Shore Lake communities, northeast of Meridian. Two houses and thirteen mobile homes were destroyed. Eleven houses and twelve mobile homes received major damage. Thirty-three houses and twenty-two mobile homes received minor damage. Three businesses were destroyed and one business had minor damage. Thousands of trees were blown down or snapped off, and numerous power poles and power lines were also downed. Seventeen people were injured, including one in critical condition. | |||||||||||
| 26.8 | 1969-05-08 | 2 | 32°02'N / 88°38'W | 32°05'N / 88°28'W | 10.40 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Clarke |
| 27.8 | 1976-03-12 | 2 | 32°23'N / 87°53'W | 32°28'N / 87°35'W | 18.40 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 1 | 250K | 0 | Marengo |
| 28.9 | 1958-02-26 | 2 | 31°47'N / 88°27'W | 32°00'N / 88°12'W | 20.90 Miles | 67 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Choctaw |
| 30.5 | 1973-05-27 | 2 | 32°04'N / 88°38'W | 0 | 1 | 25K | 0 | Clarke | |||
| 31.6 | 1992-03-10 | 3 | 32°35'N / 87°49'W | 32°39'N / 87°47'W | 4.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Greene |
| 31.8 | 2004-11-24 | 2 | 32°10'N / 87°44'W | 32°14'N / 87°34'W | 11.90 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 2 | 135K | 0 | Marengo |
| Brief Description: A tornado touched down just north of the Shiloh Community on CR 73. Three mobile homes received extensive damage and two homes suffered moderate damage. The tornado moved northeast and damaged a carport and mobile home near Thomaston. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down or snapped off along the entire path of the tornado. Two people suffered minor injuries. The tornado damage path was 11.9 miles long and 200 yards wide at its widest point. Begin: 32 09.23/87 44.23 End: 32 14.79/87 33.97 | |||||||||||
| 32.4 | 1973-05-27 | 2 | 31°58'N / 88°35'W | 3.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 1 | 25K | 0 | Clarke | |
| 35.3 | 1976-03-29 | 4 | 32°22'N / 88°54'W | 32°26'N / 88°39'W | 15.40 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Lauderdale |
| 35.3 | 1986-03-12 | 4 | 32°25'N / 88°46'W | 32°36'N / 88°42'W | 16.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 8 | 2.5M | 0 | Lauderdale |
| 35.7 | 1971-03-02 | 3 | 31°54'N / 87°49'W | 31°55'N / 87°44'W | 4.90 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Clarke |
| 36.0 | 1986-03-12 | 2 | 32°15'N / 88°51'W | 32°21'N / 88°45'W | 12.00 Miles | 120 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Lauderdale |
| 36.1 | 1992-11-22 | 2 | 32°36'N / 88°38'W | 32°52'N / 88°24'W | 23.00 Miles | 880 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Kemper |
| 36.3 | 1986-03-12 | 4 | 32°36'N / 88°42'W | 32°42'N / 88°35'W | 7.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Kemper |
| 36.7 | 1979-11-25 | 2 | 31°37'N / 88°01'W | 32°00'N / 87°50'W | 28.60 Miles | 300 Yards | 0 | 2 | 250K | 0 | Clarke |
| 37.4 | 1957-11-18 | 3 | 31°58'N / 88°47'W | 32°00'N / 88°38'W | 9.00 Miles | 77 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Clarke |
| 37.4 | 2010-04-24 | 2 | 32°15'N / 88°54'W | 32°18'N / 88°45'W | 10.00 Miles | 1056 Yards | 0 | 0 | 650K | 300K | Lauderdale |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: This tornado touched down just to the northeast of Montrose near County Road 2414, in Jasper County. This tornado tracked across 3 counties before it dissipated just before it reached Meridian. Along the path, it produced major structural roof damage to a church. Shingles and siding were blown off of a house. An outbuilding was destroyed along with damage to a grain silo. Thousands of large softwood and hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted. In addition, numerous power lines were blown down. This EF2 tornado had a total path length of 23 miles and a width of 0.6 miles. Maximum winds were around 125 mph. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A powerful spring storm system moved across the region on April 24th and brought an outbreak of severe storms and tornadoes to the area. The most powerful and destructive storm during this event was the long track EF4 tornado which ripped a 149 mile path across the forecast area. In addition to this violent tornado, many other storms became severe and produced 5 additional tornadoes along with numerous reports of quarter to golf ball sized hail. Of the 5 tornadoes, 3 of these were strong (EF2) and occurred across, Jasper, Newton, Lauderdale, Oktibbeha, and Clay Counties. | |||||||||||
| 37.4 | 2007-01-05 | 2 | 32°36'N / 88°42'W | 32°39'N / 88°41'W | 2.00 Miles | 250 Yards | 0 | 9 | 600K | 0K | Kemper |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: This strong tornado touched down in the Blackwater Community and caused extensive damage along its 2 mile path. Six homes were destroyed, five of which were mobile homes and one modular home. Nine people were injured with three serious. One car was flipped over and rolled along with extensive damage to trees and power lines along the path of this high end F2 tornado. EPISODE NARRATIVE: During the evening of Jan 4th and early morning hours of Jan 5th, a potent storm system moved across the Lower Mississippi Valley. This system was dynamic enough to generate a line of thunderstorms across Central Mississippi. This line developed within a strongly sheared environment and evolved into a squall line with bowing segments. These bowing segments proved very efficient with respect to producing damaging wind gusts and six tornadoes. The squall line matured just east of Interstate 55 around 11 pm and raced east before exiting into Alabama around 3 am. | |||||||||||
| 39.1 | 1986-03-12 | 2 | 32°14'N / 88°49'W | 32°14'N / 88°53'W | 2.00 Miles | 120 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Clarke |
| 40.1 | 1973-05-27 | 2 | 32°04'N / 88°49'W | 0 | 1 | 25K | 0 | Clarke | |||
| 40.2 | 1967-03-06 | 2 | 32°26'N / 87°32'W | 32°27'N / 87°30'W | 2.30 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Perry |
| 40.3 | 1971-02-26 | 3 | 32°49'N / 87°56'W | 32°50'N / 87°52'W | 4.30 Miles | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Greene |
| 40.8 | 1973-05-27 | 4 | 32°32'N / 87°48'W | 32°47'N / 87°28'W | 26.00 Miles | 800 Yards | 1 | 72 | 25.0M | 0 | Hale |
| 41.2 | 1977-02-23 | 2 | 32°50'N / 87°53'W | 0.20 Mile | 30 Yards | 0 | 1 | 3K | 0 | Greene | |
| 41.5 | 1992-03-10 | 3 | 32°39'N / 87°47'W | 32°42'N / 87°29'W | 14.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 2 | 7 | 250K | 0 | Hale |
| 41.7 | 2008-03-03 | 2 | 31°51'N / 88°46'W | 31°57'N / 88°41'W | 8.00 Miles | 350 Yards | 0 | 0 | 400K | 500K | Clarke |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: This tornado started in a rural area and downed trees and limbs along its path until causing its most intense damage at it crossed County Road 250. Here, it moved a large two story frame house several feet off its foundation, along with blowing out numerous windows and causing roof damage. Additionally, many dozens of large trees were snapped and uprooted in the vicinity. The tornado continued to move north northeast, causing extensive tree damage with hundreds of trees snapped or uprooted. Very near the end point, just east southeast of the DeSoto Community, roof damage occurred to two homes. Maximum wind speed was 115 mph. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A strong upper level system and evolving surface low moved across the region late on March 3rd. These features combined to bring a potent weather system to the area and a healthy round of severe thunderstorms from late afternoon through around midnight. It was a line of thunderstorms which brought most of the severe weather, but a few supercells did occur just ahead of the line. Ten tornadoes occurred, two of which were strong (EF-2), along with a good deal of wind damage as the line pushed east across Mississippi. | |||||||||||
| 42.1 | 1973-03-16 | 2 | 32°37'N / 87°40'W | 32°40'N / 87°31'W | 9.50 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Hale |
| 43.9 | 2010-04-24 | 2 | 32°13'N / 88°58'W | 32°15'N / 88°54'W | 4.00 Miles | 1056 Yards | 0 | 0 | 200K | 100K | Newton |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: This tornado touched down just to the northeast of Montrose near county road 2414, in Jasper County. This tornado tracked across 3 counties before it dissipated just before it reached Meridian. Along the path, it produced major structural roof damage to a church. Shingles and siding were blown off of a house. An outbuilding was destroyed along with damage to a grain silo. Thousands of large softwood and hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted. In addition, numerous power lines were blown. This EF2 tornado had a total path length of 23 miles and a width of 0.6 miles. Maximum winds were around 125 mph. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A powerful spring storm system moved across the region on April 24th and brought an outbreak of severe storms and tornadoes to the area. The most powerful and destructive storm during this event was the long track EF4 tornado which ripped a 149 mile path across the forecast area. In addition to this violent tornado, many other storms became severe and produced 5 additional tornadoes along with numerous reports of quarter to golf ball sized hail. Of the 5 tornadoes, 3 of these were strong (EF2) and occurred across, Jasper, Newton, Lauderdale, Oktibbeha, and Clay Counties. | |||||||||||
| 44.1 | 1992-11-22 | 2 | 32°54'N / 88°18'W | 32°57'N / 88°16'W | 6.00 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Sumter |
| 44.1 | 1970-03-19 | 2 | 32°42'N / 87°36'W | 1.00 Mile | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Hale | |
| 45.7 | 1963-01-19 | 2 | 31°43'N / 87°47'W | 31°45'N / 87°45'W | 3.30 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Clarke |
| 46.6 | 1983-05-19 | 2 | 31°37'N / 88°01'W | 31°45'N / 87°40'W | 22.00 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Clarke |
| 47.6 | 1971-02-26 | 2 | 32°06'N / 88°58'W | 1.00 Mile | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Jasper | |
| 48.7 | 1992-11-22 | 2 | 32°48'N / 88°42'W | 32°58'N / 88°35'W | 11.00 Miles | 880 Yards | 1 | 1 | 250K | 0 | Kemper |
| 49.0 | 1988-11-04 | 2 | 31°38'N / 88°19'W | 31°32'N / 88°03'W | 12.00 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Washington |
| 49.4 | 1961-12-11 | 2 | 32°47'N / 87°40'W | 32°52'N / 87°34'W | 8.30 Miles | 150 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Hale |
| 49.4 | 1982-04-03 | 3 | 32°43'N / 88°55'W | 32°42'N / 88°50'W | 4.00 Miles | 400 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25.0M | 0 | Kemper |
| 49.8 | 1966-03-03 | 5 | 32°49'N / 88°21'W | 33°12'N / 87°49'W | 40.70 Miles | 150 Yards | 0 | 11 | 250K | 0 | Pickens |
| 49.8 | 2007-03-01 | 4 | 32°07'N / 87°24'W | 32°10'N / 87°18'W | 6.00 Miles | 500 Yards | 1 | 2 | 2.0M | 0K | Wilcox |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A significant tornado first touched down around 1227 pm at State Highway 28 near Miller's Ferry dam. The tornado then tracked northeast across William Bill Dannelly Reservoir moving ashore on Sand Island Drive. This is where most of the severe damage occurred with numerous homes damaged or destroyed. One resident had arrived at his home on the lake to eat lunch when the tornado hit and he was killed when his newer model manufactured home was destroyed. The straps holding the home down all snapped in the same place. He was thrown out of his home and later found in the debris. Neighbors next door had sought shelter in an underground storm shelter outside their house seconds before the tornado hit. When they safely emerged from the shelter, they found their home destroyed. Most of the homes on Sand Island are vacation homes with part-time residents. If the tornado had struck on the weekend when more people are present, the loss of life would likely have been greater. Around 40 homes(four of these were slab homes)were damaged or destroyed along Sand Island Drive with some of the debris scattered up to two miles downstream. The tornado continued quickly to the northeast through sparsely populated areas. Damage did occur to homes and hunting camps along this path. However, the damage here was only rated as EF-0 and EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The tornado crossed into Dallas County. In all, one person died and two people were slightly injured by the tornado. The injuries occurred along Sand Island Drive when a single wide trailer was destroyed with the occupants being thrown from the trailer. They were protected from flying debris by part of the trailer that had fallen on top of them. The highest wind speed of the tornado was estimated at 185 mph. EPISODE NARRATIVE: Isolated thunderstorms developed ahead of a strong spring cold front. One of these thunderstorms produced a significant tornado in Wilcox County. | |||||||||||
* 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.