Blanco County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 23, 2015Flash Flood$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding closing FM 1623 along the Blanco River. A 42 year old man died in his vehicle along the Blanco River near downtown Blanco. Flooding along the Blanco River in the town of Blanco was substantial. Water came up to the bottom of the Highway 281 bridge in Blanco. Water overtopped the Loop 163 bridge east of Blanco. The Blanco River overtopped County Road 165 and destroyed that bridge. Portions of the Blanco State Park were heavily damaged with cabins flooded. There were a total of 22 homes either destroyed or heavily damaged. Monetary losses were unavailable at the time of this writing but estimated to be more than several…

2. May 9, 2024Hail$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A thunderstorm produced 6.12 inch diameter hail in Johnson City. This measurement was estimated using a photo of the hailstone with a measuring tape and then adjusting using machine size estimate work from the IBHS (Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety). As of this writing there is no official estimate of property damages from either private insurance (cars, roofs, etc) or from county/city property such as county owned schools, county-city vehicles, etc. Am putting an estimate of 10 million dollars as a starting point guesstimate. Will update at a later time if data allows for a more accurate damage estimate.

3. Feb 1, 2023Winter Storm, Blanco$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Freezing rain began around noon on January 30 and continued off and on through February 2. By 7 AM on the 2nd a half of an inch of ice had accumulated in Twin Sisters. Numerous tree limbs were broken by the weight of the ice. The cost of damages was estimated at $1.4 million. The Pedernales Electric Cooperative, headquarters in Johnson City, provides electricity to most of Blanco and Burnet Counties and parts of Edwards, Real, Kerr, Williamson, Travis, Hays, Comal, and Kendall Counties, reported $13 million in damage. This damage is likely included in the damage estimates reported by the counties.

4. Apr 12, 2020Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A small tornado touched down near Round Mountain in northern Blanco County. It first appeared to touch down near RR 962 then moved northeast by Coyote Trail before impacting two RV parks on Hwy 281 and Hof Brau. Estimates from Blanco County Emergency Management show that a total of approximately 60 residences were impacted with at least 11 being completely destroyed and eight more sustaining major damage. There were two minor injuries. The tornado continued moving northeast and crossed the Blanco/Burnet County line near Creek Ln. and then dissipated in southern Burnet County near CR 401 S.

5. Jun 22, 1997Flash Flood$1.0 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,…

6. Aug 2, 2022Wildfire, Blanco$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Smoke Rider wildfire was discovered on the 2nd at 12:02 CST along CR 165 in Henley near the Blanco Hays county line. Fire weather conditions were near critical and there was a Fire Danger Statement in effect. Two homes and multiple vehicles were lost in the fire. Twenty to thirty other homes were threatened and saved. The fire jumped Hwy 290 and it was closed in both directions from RM 165 to Southern Dr. on the 2nd for about five hours. The fire was brought under control on the 8th after burning 1210 acres most of which was in Blanco County.

7. Jun 3, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds from severe thunderstorms blew down trees down and damaged power lines between Blanco and Johnson City. Power was out to both cities for several hours. The storms also caused damage to roofs in Johnson City, with considerable damage to the roof of the Blanco County Jail.

8. Apr 20, 2006Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A second tornado touched down west of Johnson City very close to the time of the first tornado. This tornado was on the ground for three-quarters of a mile and destroyed 3 barns as it moved east.

9. Nov 15, 2001Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall redeveloped in the early morning hours over Blanco County, with amounts approaching 4 inches by 0500 CST and approaching 6 inches near 0700 CST. Heavy rainfall continued into the mid morning on the 15th, then began to diminish. By that time, general 5 to 6 inch rainfall was reported across the county, with isolated totals of up to 10 inches over much of the central part of the county and maximum amounts just over 12 inches near Twin Sisters. A 64-year old man was drowned when he tried to drive across a low water crossing over CR102. One other passenger in the vehicle was rescued when a passing motorist was able to throw him a rope. The victim was unable to hold onto the…

10. Jun 8, 1997Flash Flood$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    As a result of general 3 to 4 inch rainfall in less than 4 hours, and isolated totals near 5 inches, widespread flash flooding developed along the Blanco River across southern Blanco and Southern Hays Counties from Blanco to Wimberly. In all, over 40 homes in Hays County were flooded by the heavy rainfall and over 40 cars were washed away. More than 25 Hays County roads were flooded out, with the worst flooding taking place along Dry Cypress Creek. Several high water rescues were made during the early morning hours. Two young adults in separate vehicles attempted to cross the Blanco River shortly after midnight, but one vehicle became stalled. The two got into the second vehicle…

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 Aug 29, 2011

All-time low

2°F2 times, most recently Dec 24, 1989

Warmest night

81°FAug 29, 2011

Coldest day

20°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

19.00 inOct 18, 1998

Snowiest day

8.5 inJan 13, 1985

Hottest year

2012mean 70.8°F

Coldest year

1993mean 65.1°F

Wettest year

200764.07 in

Driest year

199917.96 in

Station Canyon Dam (USC00411429), 1,000 ft elevation, 24.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1961 to October 20, 2026; 94.5% 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 USC00411429.
• 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.