Harker Heights

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 Bell County, the county that contains Harker Heights.

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 Bell County, the county that contains Harker Heights.

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 Bell County, the county that contains Harker Heights.

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. Apr 19, 1996Hail$200 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large supercell thunderstorm moved across the area producing widespread hail to softball size. Substantial damage was done at the airport and across the northern half of the city. Cooperate buildings sustained major hail damage, windows were broken, and many roofs were damaged.

2. Feb 14, 2021Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Bell$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extreme cold gripped the county for several days. Overnight lows were near or below 20 degrees Fahrenheit almost all week. The period of February 15-16th was the coldest with low temperatures in the single digits to slightly below degrees Fahrenheit. The maximum temperature on the 15th was only around 20 degrees. Wind chill values during the 14th-16th were between 0 to -15 degrees Fahrenheit most of the time. The cold temperatures resulted in an extreme amount of damage to pipes, infrastructure, and power.

3. May 22, 2024Tornado$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-2 tornado formed near TX-317 between FM 2483 and W Adams Ave where at least a dozen power poles were significantly damaged. The tornado continued to move east/southeast across the Terrace at Lake Pointe subdivision damaging many homes, especially roofs and windows. Significant roof and tree damage was found in the neighborhood south of Tarver Elementary School. At least, four homes lost most of the roof, some outside walls, and sustained significant damage to the windows. Several trees were snapped or uprooted across the neighborhood. Then, the tornado crossed Tanglehead Dr. towards W. Adams Ave damaging many businesses, including stand-alone restaurants, shops, banks, and…

4. Sep 7, 2010Flash Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant flooding occurred in Bell County from the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine. In Killeen, Highway 190 was closed due to flood waters. Residents were evacuated from an apartment complex on Watercrest Dr due to rising waters, and numerous cars with occupants were submerged in Killeen. There was one fatality in the city of Killeen when a 19 year old female's vehicle was submerged in flood waters on Reese Creek Road. Homes near the towns of Elms and Robinette had to be evacuated by boat. In Nolanville, a car was swept away, and a mobile home park was evacuated resulting in the rescue of 35 to 40 people. Salado Creek in Salado flooded the access roads of Interstate 35 and…

5. Apr 28, 2023Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell tracked across Coryell County on the afternoon of April 28th producing an EF-1 tornado with maximum winds around 105 mph. The pattern of damage suggests this tornado may have been a multi-vortex tornado and evidence of very strong RFD wind damage was also found just south of the tornado track, further complicating the track location.||The tornado likely began near Bagget Mountain, tracked across CR 146, and did the most notable damage along CR 148. Several large trees along CR 148, in multiple locations, were damaged ranging from broken trunks to large trees uprooted. The property of a sporting range was damaged with the shooting range cover being blown across the…

6. Mar 2, 2025Wildfire, Bell$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A fire that started near a storage facility located near Atkinson Road and Freedom Drive in Killeen spread north with winds gusting up to 30 mph. The storage facility and storage boxes were destroyed along with a nearby apartment complex. A total of 36 people were displaced from the apartment complex. Another facility also burned and a fourth building sustained minor damage. Some school buses at a nearby bus barn were also damaged.

7. Apr 12, 2022Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Many social media reports of large hail ranging up to 4 inch in diameter hail was reported in and around the Salado, TX area. This was in addition to the 5.6+ inch hail stone that is noted separately. The large hail fell for several minutes.

8. Apr 20, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   At least 20 mobile homes were damaged or destroyed. Several were rolled off their foundations and virtually disintegrated. Numerous barns and outbuildings were destroyed. Four people were injured. Winds were estimated at 80 MPH.

9. May 27, 1997Tornado$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The fourth tornado that was produced by the large supercell thunderstorm developed on the north side of Lake Belton, near Morgans Point where a marina was destroyed. Over 100 boats at the marina were destroyed by the strong tornado that moved slowly south-southwest. Ten homes along the lakeshore also sustained severe damage and damage to trees was nearly total. The tornado dissipated just northeast of Woodland.

10. Jun 27, 2007Flood$750,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Runoff from heavy rains caused Mills Creek to flood portions of Salado, including Mill Creek Drive and Smith Bluff. About 30 homes were evacuated and one man had to be rescued from his rooftop. A water rescue was required on the Little River, and Salado Creek flooded the Interstate 35 access roads and the bridge on Main Street by four feet of water. One vehicle was washed off the road and a high water rescue was needed.

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

111°F2 times, most recently Sep 6, 2000

All-time low

−2°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

84°FJul 11, 2022

Coldest day

18°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

14.57 inSep 8, 2010

Snowiest day

3.5 inJan 11, 2021

Hottest year

2023mean 70.6°F

Coldest year

1983mean 64.1°F

Wettest year

199254.09 in

Driest year

201115.36 in

Station Georgetown Lake (USC00413507), 874 ft elevation, 26.7 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1981 to October 28, 2026; 90.1% 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 Bell 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 USC00413507.
• 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.