Sweetwater

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 Nolan County, the county that contains Sweetwater.

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 Nolan County, the county that contains Sweetwater.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 4, 2002Hail$12.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to the size of baseballs fell for nearly 40 minutes on the city of Roscoe causing damage to the school. Numerous homes received roof and window damage.

2. Mar 19, 2020Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-2 tornado touched down in southeast Nolan County and continued into Taylor County. About 14.5 miles southeast of Sweetwater, drone footage provided by AES Wind Generation Plant showed the EF-2 tornado damaged a large windmill turbine and tore off other windmill blades. The twister also caused roof damage to a residence and knocked down some high powered transmission poles and power lines.

3. May 27, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant damage was noted in the southern portions of Sweetwater due to 80 mph winds and golf ball size hail.

4. May 27, 2004Hail$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several homes and businesses on the south side of Sweetwater received significant damage due to golf ball size hail in combination with 80 mph winds.

5. Oct 17, 2018Flood$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Prolonged heavy rainfall flooded roads across Nolan County and this flooding damaged some roads and bridges in the county. This damage and flooding was exasperated by all of the rainfall since September.

6. Jun 12, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense swift moving thunderstorm from the Conco Valley to the Big Country, packing wind gusts to near 90 mph, the night of the 12th wreaked most of its havoc on the community of Blackwell. The storm felled large trees, damaged roofs, and destroyed at least one trailer home. No one was seriously injured in the storm, though one woman broke her ankle while entering a storm cellar at her home.

7. Jun 14, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds uprooted trees, downed power lines, and damaged roofs in northern Nolan County.

8. May 27, 2004Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An NWS survey team found evidence of tornado damage that extended from near Champion to about 3 miles east of Champion. Several power poles were snapped and a barn was totally destroyed. Irrigation equipment was also thrown about and twisted.

9. Mar 4, 2004Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous manufactured homes were damaged or destroyed by a tornado around Lake Sweetwater.

10. May 27, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The rear flank downdraft impacted the Champion community with estimated winds at 80 mph. Trees were uprooted and fell into several houses.

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°FJun 27, 1994

All-time low

−11°FJan 5, 1947

Warmest night

86°FJul 2, 1980

Coldest day

9°FDec 22, 1990

Wettest day

8.28 inSep 9, 1980

Snowiest day

10.0 inNov 16, 1980

Hottest year

2011mean 66.4°F

Coldest year

1945mean 61.0°F

Wettest year

199137.05 in

Driest year

19989.35 in

Snowiest season

24.0 in1972-73

Station Roscoe (USC00417743), 2,380 ft elevation, 7.0 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1937 to October 27, 2026; 95.9% 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 Nolan 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 USC00417743.
• 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.