Bandera County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 21, 1997Flash Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The heavy rain Friday night into Saturday afternoon had left South Central Texas soils saturated. The situation worsened Saturday evening into Sunday as heavy rain associated with the upper low pressure system redeveloped over the western Texas Hill Country. Very heavy rains over the Texas Hill Country Saturday night and Sunday morning caused widespread flooding as well as flash flooding across numerous counties. The heavy rains moved into San Antonio Sunday morning and into the Austin area later in the morning. By Sunday afternoon and evening, areas of showers and thunderstorms had diminished over South Central Texas as the upper low moved into North Texas. Late Sunday evening,…

2. Aug 16, 2007Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   From Bexar County the extremely heavy rainfall associated with the remains of Tropical Storm Erin spread in Bandera County. Between 3 and 5 inches of rain was reported in general, with up to 7 inches to the northwest of Medina near the Kerr County line. Roads across the north part of county were closed due to high water requiring several high water rescues. High water also closed bridges north of Medina on SH16 and northwest of Medina on FM2107. Residents were evacuated from over 50 homes in the Lakeshore area. Three cars were washed off bridges and numerous rescues were required. A bystander noted that one truck attempted to cross Privilege Creek and was warned away by everyone…

3. Jul 21, 2007Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extremely heavy rainfall was reported from eastern Bandera County into northern Medina County. Most parts of eastern Bandera County reported 3 to 4 inches of rain, but the highest amount was in Bandera where up to 8 inches fell. Flash flooding was both widespread and severe, closing SH16, SH173, FM1283 and FM470.

4. Jul 23, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   As the line of thunderstorms moved through the eastern part of Bandera County, it produced a downburst that damaged roofs of homes and knocked over trees in the Lakehills area of Medina Lake.

5. Apr 23, 2001Flash Flood$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorm winds tore roofs off buildings, knocked over trees and damaged sheds in and around Vanderpool.

6. Sep 7, 2002Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   General 2 inch rainfall with isolated totals to 6 inches. Damage to roads and bridges.

7. Nov 15, 2001Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall redeveloped over Bandera County in the early morning hours, with totals since the previous night approaching 5 inches in the western part of the county around 7 am. Flash flooding developed just before sunrise and continued into the early afternoon. Road closures were widespread, with most of the damage to bridges and roads. Emergency officials noted that in spite of the widespread flooding and road closures across the county, only a few rescues were required. Apparently that the public stayed out of vehicles and very safe.

8. Sep 5, 2001Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms that formed north of Leakey near noon spread slowly southward, producing general 1 to 2 inch rainfall, with totals of up to 4 inches from southeast of Leakey to near Vanderpool in western Bandera County. Widespread flash flooding was reported over low water crossings along the Real-Bandera County line first in the western part of the county, then spreading eastward across the county by noon.

9. Oct 13, 2004Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Bandera County Emergency Manager reported that a car was washed off the road just north of Medina and a bridge was damaged as thunderstorms dropped between 2 and 3 inches countywide. The highest totals were 6 inches near Medina.

10. Oct 18, 1998Flash Flood$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The Great October FloodIn advance of a very slow-moving upper level trough of low pressure over West Texas, a cold front drifted slowly southeastward into West Central Texas during the evening of Friday, October 16th. Deep moisture was in place across South Central Texas as the two systems approached, being fed at the mid and upper levels by two nearly stationary hurricanes, Madeline near the tip of Baja Mexico, and Lester, anchored just off Acapulco, Mexico, and in the low levels by a strong flow from the Gulf of Mexico. A very moisture-rich environment was in place across South Central Texas as the event developed. Near 3 am CST, with the cold front still west of San Angelo,…

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°FAug 23, 1925

All-time low

−4°FJan 31, 1949

Warmest night

82°FOct 4, 1928

Coldest day

17°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

9.04 inOct 2, 1913

Snowiest day

8.0 inJan 23, 1926

Hottest year

1933mean 69.7°F

Coldest year

1919mean 62.1°F

Wettest year

199264.17 in

Driest year

195410.29 in

Snowiest season

11.5 in1925-26

Station Boerne (USC00410902), 1,445 ft elevation, 18.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1898 to October 23, 2026; 98.8% 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 USC00410902.
• 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.