Luna County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by USGS Conterminous (73).

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. Jul 12, 2008Flash Flood$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   About 3 inches of rain fell within an hour over already-saturated ground in the western portion of Deming. Major street flooding occurred, with most roads closed west of Highway 11. This same area was under 2 to 3 feet of water which entered homes and businesses. Power was out in the majority of the city as water logged power poles were easily knocked over by 45 mph wind gusts.

2. Aug 12, 2005Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   At least 3 inches of rain in a short period of time caused widespread flash flooding in Deming. Numerous roads were closed, and some houses and businesses were flooded. Sandbags were put up by law enforcement.

3. Aug 29, 2006Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large cluster of thunderstorms dropped 3 to 5 inches of rain on much of the triangle between Las Cruces, Hatch and Deming, which is an unusually large area for such rainfall amounts in the desert southwest. The Placitas Arroyo near Hatch breached for the third time in 3 weeks, flooding mainly farm land. A flood wave resulted in minor flooding of the Rio Grande River downstream into the El Paso area, the third time this month. Before August 1st, the previous time was August 1999. On the north side of the Sierra De La Uvas Mountains, a huge amount of runoff flooded the desert and led to the closure of Interstate 10 between Deming and Las Cruces for several hours. Closing the…

4. Jul 18, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Scattered power and phone lines were down throughout Deming.

5. Sep 20, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong thunderstorm produced a microburst which destroyed two open-sided barns and partially removed the roof of a nearby mobile home. Several outbuildings in the general area were also destroyed. Brief heavy rain and small hail accompanied the event.

6. Aug 28, 2006Flash Flood$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large cluster of thunderstorms dropped 3 to 5 inches of rain on much of the triangle between Las Cruces, Hatch and Deming, which is an unusually large area for such rainfall amounts in the desert southwest. The Placitas Arroyo near Hatch breached for the third time in 3 weeks, flooding mainly farm land. A flood wave resulted in minor flooding of the Rio Grande River downstream into the El Paso area, the third time this month. Before August 1st, the previous time was August 1999. On the north side of the Sierra De La Uvas Mountains, a huge amount of runoff flooded the desert and led to the closure of Interstate 10 between Deming and Las Cruces for several hours. Closing the…

7. Feb 1, 2011Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Southwest Desert Mimbres Basin$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High temperatures across the region on Feb 2nd included 16F at Deming and 18F about 10 miles south of Deming. Low temperatures on the morning of Feb 3rd included -3F at Cambray near the Luna/Dona Ana County line on Interstate 10, -1F about 10 miles south of Deming, and 0F at Deming. Numerous frozen and burst water pipes were reported. The Marshall Memorial Library in Deming was closed for some time due to a break in the building's fire suppression system causing damage to the ceiling and insulation.

8. Aug 8, 2022Flash Flood$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding occurred through the mid to late evening hours. Multiple cars were stalled across Deming, underpasses were flooded and at least one house started taking in water.

9. Jul 18, 2008Flash Flood$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads were flooded throughout central Luna County according to the Luna County Road Department.

10. Aug 2, 2001Flash Flood$20,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A series of thunderstorms dropped nearly 4 inches of rain within 90 minutes on the south part of Deming, with 2 to 3 inches elsewhere in town. Highway 180 was closed due to a flooded underpass. Several vehicles were stalled in the significant street flooding that resulted.

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°F2 times, most recently Jul 10, 2020

All-time low

−12°FJan 11, 1962

Warmest night

81°FJun 30, 2012

Coldest day

16°FFeb 2, 2011

Wettest day

2.15 inSep 29, 2026

Snowiest day

6.0 inJan 7, 1968

Hottest year

2025mean 64.8°F

Coldest year

1964mean 58.9°F

Wettest year

200614.03 in

Driest year

20124.28 in

Station Deming Municipal Airport (USW00023078), 4,303 ft elevation, 2.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1961 to October 26, 2026; 87.0% 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.

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 USW00023078.
• 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.