Guadalupe County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Guadalupe County: 0.
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.

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

River crests

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.

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 county boundary (or inside the county).
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.

Volcanoes within 100 miles

1. U.S. volcanoes within 100 miles, from the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. The threat category is the USGS 2018 National Volcanic Threat Assessment, which ranks volcanoes by how hazardous their past eruptions were and how many people and how much infrastructure lie near them. It is not a forecast of eruption.

USGS Volcano Hazards Program, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by USGS Conterminous (7).

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. Sep 11, 2013Flood$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Law enforcement and emergency management reported major flooding along El Rito Creek and at Power Dam. NM 91 was closed between mile markers 0 and 9. The El Rito Creek South Bridge was nearly topped. Large chunks of concrete from Power Dam were destroyed. A railroad bridge over El Rito Creek was compromised and engineers closed rail traffic to assess the bridge. Extensive damage was done to nearby Park Lake Trail. A bridge carrying a water line to Puerto de Luna was extensively damaged. Low lying areas near Brush Dam were flooded in Puerto de Luna. Extensive road damaged has occurred to city and county roads.

2. Jan 8, 2024Blizzard, Guadalupe County$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Santa Rosa AWOS measured low visibility below a quarter statute mile for 3 hours while a public weather station north of Santa Rosa measured peak wind gusts of 40 to 47 mph during the morning. There were two reports of 3 and 4 inches of snow north and south of Santa Rosa. The NMDOT reported a 43 to 45 vehicle crash along I-40 at Cuervo, NM that involved one fatality. Media reports shared an official report that weather and driver inattention resulted in the semi-truck driver crashing into a van in front of them. The driver of the van died while the passenger was injured.

3. Aug 1, 2015Flash Flood$120,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   State police had to pull 3 vehicles out of mud on Highway 91 created by the heavy rains. Reilly Road between Highway 91 and Blue Hole was later closed as it was covered by flash flood water. These waters also went into the nearby senior center.

4. Jul 3, 2013Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Nickel to golfball sized hail pounded the Santa Rosa area resulting in major damage. Partial roof collapses and broken skylights were common throughout the central and western portions of the community. Smaller hail accumulated to depths of up to two feet in areas. Snow plows were required to clear roads. Many local residents and motorists described the scene as snow in July.

5. Jun 5, 2023Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding reported across Santa Rosa via NM State EOC and County EM. Extent of impacts and potential damages are unknown.

6. Jul 6, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large wooden doors were blown off a barn. Several trees had severe damage. A plastic roof on a greenhouse was blown off. A metal tail of a windmill was wrapped around the wheel base.

7. Jul 10, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm produced 30 minutes of large hail and high winds estimated at 70-80 mph. A survey showed 52 structures with damage, ranging from broken windows to missing roofs and collapsed walls. Many of the structures were older adobe construction located in the historic plaza of Anton Chico. Heavy rain of 2 inches in a hour also caused considerable water damage following the wind damage. No injuries were reported.

8. Aug 1, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   State police reported thunderstorm winds causing damage to the roofs of several buildings along old route 66 in the center of town.

9. Sep 11, 2013Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   State EOC Situation Report #2 reported Blue Hole Road closed due to flooding. The Santa Rosa golf course and a pump house flooded with extensive damage. Entire golf course was under water. Flooding was also reported near the KSRR transmitter.

10. Jul 29, 2014Flash Flood$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Five to 6 feet of water from the Alamogordo Creek drainage over Highway 156. Pavement was stripped. Half a mile of fence line was tore out due to the flooding. A bunkhouse located near the water crossing took on water damage and water filled up the basement. Two water retention ponds were over-topped. Part of the Pacific Railroad tracks were left dangling because the base was washed out from the heavy rains.

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

112°FJun 12, 2022

All-time low

−15°FFeb 3, 2011

Warmest night

76°FJul 20, 2022

Coldest day

9°F2 times, most recently Feb 15, 2021

Wettest day

5.63 inOct 4, 2017

Snowiest day

8.0 in2 times, most recently Jan 3, 2015

Hottest year

2024mean 62.1°F

Coldest year

1979mean 55.8°F

Wettest year

201526.07 in

Driest year

20125.12 in

Snowiest season

33.1 in2014-15

Station Sumner Lake (USC00298596), 4,306 ft elevation, 31.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1975 to October 27, 2026; 95.2% 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.

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.

Neighbouring counties

• 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 USC00298596.
• 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.
• Volcanoes USGS Volcano Hazards Program, U.S. volcanoes and 2018 threat assessment.
• 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.