Portales

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond this area.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Flood insurance figures are for Roosevelt County, the county that contains Portales.

Claims by ZIP code

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

The drought index is for Roosevelt County, the county that contains Portales.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the city centre.
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Dec 26, 2015Blizzard, Roosevelt County$100 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy snow and high winds paralyzed the entire county through the 30th. A peak gust to 67 mph was reported at Melrose Range. Snowfall amounts of 6 to 12 inches were reported across the county. Drifts of 6 to 10 feet were common. Numerous motorists were stranded including rescue vehicles with the National Guard. Thousands of power outages were reported. The Department of Agriculture reported the most widespread livestock fatalities occurred in Curry and Roosevelt counties. Nearly 12,000 adult milking cows perished. Massive losses were suffered in young livestock with between 30,000 and 50,000 deaths. Estimates did not include sheep and beef cows.

2. May 5, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Sixteen foot in diameter water tanks knocked over.

3. Mar 23, 2007Tornado$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado with estimated peak winds of near 120 mph severely damaged the Portales City water well facility on State Road 202 about 5 miles east of Highway 70. The tornado moved north northwest destroying a new dairy before continuing northwest into Curry County. No injuries reported but storm debris briefly trapped a dairy employee. About 190 dairy cows either killed by the event or else sent to immediate slaughter due to injuries. Average width approximately 200 yards.

4. Aug 3, 2017Flash Flood$2.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain that fell on saturated grounds in the area between Portales, Elida, and Dora produced major flash flooding. Several county roads were under water, damaged, and closed. Emergency management estimated total damages across Roosevelt County from flooding topped 2.4 million dollars.

5. May 26, 2019Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The NWS surveyed damage from a strong tornado that impacted parts of southern Roosevelt County during the early evening of Sunday, May 26, 2019. The tornado lasted nearly 30 minutes and tracked about 10 miles over predominately rural ranch/farmland in southern Roosevelt County. No injuries were reported. Two known properties were impacted: one 4 miles southeast of Dora and another approximately 5 �� miles east-northeast of Dora. Additionally, considerable damage to electrical infrastructure was noted including ten consecutive power poles snapped several feet above the ground 1-2 miles east of Rogers on the north side of NM 237. Farther southwest, several high voltage power…

6. Aug 3, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe winds downed a one mile stretch of power poles four miles south-southeast of Portales. Metal roofing material was blown several hundred feet away. A large pivot irrigation system was also blown over.

7. Aug 3, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Straight line wind gusts estimated up to 85 mph tore the roofs of several buildings three miles south of Portales. Hail and high winds also damaged vehicles in the area.

8. Apr 10, 2019Wildfire, Roosevelt County$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wildfire developed near Floyd, NM shortly before 1 pm MDT then spread rapidly northeast across rural countryside. Four homes were destroyed in the fire. One firefighter and one civilian were injured in the blaze. The extent of injuries was unknown. Several areas northeast of the fire were quickly evacuated. Damage estimates are for four ranch properties.

9. May 25, 1996Hail$720,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense hail storm produced roof and window damage to over 200 homes and business in Portales.

10. Jun 30, 2017Hail$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Hail up to the size of golf balls with high winds produced major damage between Portales and Dora. A barn was blown over and a large farming irrigation sprinkler was overturned. One farmer lost a 4200 acre cotton crop. Winds were estimated to be at least 65 mph.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

109°F5 times, most recently Jul 19, 2023

All-time low

−18°FJan 4, 1947

Warmest night

80°F2 times, most recently Jun 29, 1968

Coldest day

3°FFeb 8, 1933

Wettest day

5.15 inAug 12, 1952

Snowiest day

8.5 inDec 19, 1911

Hottest year

2012mean 62.3°F

Coldest year

1924mean 55.2°F

Wettest year

194144.10 in

Driest year

20206.69 in

Snowiest season

28.5 in1931-32

Station Portales (USC00297008), 4,010 ft elevation, 0.3 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1905 to October 27, 2026; 97.5% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

Declarations for Roosevelt County.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USC00297008.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.