Bedford

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 storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 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 Tarrant County, the county that contains Bedford.

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.

River crests

River gauges in Tarrant County, the county that contains Bedford.

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

The drought index is for Tarrant County, the county that contains Bedford.

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.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

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.

Mapped landslides

Landslides mapped in Tarrant County.

Mapped by NASA (2).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 3, 2012Tornado$200 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-2 tornado began in Kennedale, and then moved north-northeast into Arlington. In its occlusion phase, the tornado curved back to the northwest; ending its track near the east shores of Lake Arlington along Waterview Drive. The path length of the tornado was 6.4 miles long with a width of approximately 150 yards. Damage from the tornado began near the Texas Raceway. Five manufactured homes were heavily damaged or destroyed near the racing strip. Moving to the north-northeast, the tornado produced sporadic damage to trees, power poles, and a storage facility as the storm organized rapidly. Part of the roof of a warehouse at a business on Tower Drive near Business 287 was torn…

2. Mar 17, 2016Hail$200 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hen egg sized hail reported near Hulen Street and Vickery Blvd in west Fort Worth. Heavy hail damage was also reported along west Camp Bowie Blvd where numerous homes, businesses, and vehicles were damaged by the hail.

3. Mar 17, 2016Hail$150 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tennis ball sized hail at the TCU campus.

4. Mar 24, 2021Hail$58.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail three inches in diameter was reported near Wagley Robertson Road and West Bonds Ranch Road.

5. Mar 24, 2021Hail$58.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A report of three-inch hail was received on Twitter.

6. Mar 24, 2021Hail$58.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Storms developed along a dryline during the afternoon hours on March 24th. These storms advanced east into North and Central Texas, producing hail and a couple of EF-Unknown tornadoes. Large hail up to the size of 3 was reported in Tarrant and Denton counties. Hail-producing storms continued overnight as a cold front made its way through the area.

7. Mar 24, 2021Hail$58.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A report of two-inch hail was received via social media.

8. Mar 17, 2016Hail$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail at the Fort Worth Zoo killed 5 flamingos and 3 other birds. Some property was also damaged at the zoo.

9. Mar 17, 2016Hail$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Medstar reported around 2 inch hail damaged approximately 30 staff vehicles, 8 support vehicles, 20-30 ambulance chassis, and 11 more ambulances at their Headquarters on Alta Mere Dr in Fort Worth.

10. Mar 17, 2016Hail$50.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Golf ball sized hail was reported at I-30 and Hulen Street.

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

113°F2 times, most recently Jun 27, 1980

All-time low

−2°FFeb 16, 2021

Warmest night

86°F9 times, most recently Aug 24, 2026

Coldest day

13°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

5.85 inSep 21, 2018

Snowiest day

11.2 inFeb 11, 2010

Hottest year

2017mean 69.9°F

Coldest year

1983mean 63.3°F

Wettest year

201562.61 in

Driest year

195618.55 in

Snowiest season

17.6 in1977-78

Station Dallas-fort Worth WSCMO Airport (USW00003927), 544 ft elevation, 7.5 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1953 to October 27, 2026; 100.0% 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 Tarrant 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 USW00003927.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.