Borden County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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 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. Aug 1, 1996Drought, Borden$12.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Toward the latter part of August plentiful rains were at last falling over all of the area. This pattern was started by the tropical plume that brought Hurricane Dolly westward through the Bay of Campeche to near Tampico, Mexico, across the Central America to where she dissipated in the eastern North Pacific. Although Dolly was over 1000 miles south of the area, this same plume of deep, tropical moisture locked over Southwest Texas and rained over much of the area on a daily basis through the end of the month.Since a drought is a very loosely defined phenomenon, there is no explicit beginning or end, but for the purposes of Storm Data there is no room for flexibility--only…

2. Jun 5, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorm winds caused extensive damage in Gail. At least two roofs were damaged with one being blown off of a permanent residence. In addition, a small outbuilding was overturned and several large trees downed.

3. Jun 4, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A thunderstorm moved across Borden County and produced wind gusts estimated to be 80 to 85 mph in Gail. Damages include roofs blown off, fences destroyed, trees blown over, sheds blown over, bent poles, and a damaged stop sign. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

4. Jun 5, 2005Tornado$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A significant tornado developed in southern Borden County shortly after 18:00 CST. This tornado initially formed just north of Farm to Market Road 1785 three miles west of that highway's intersection with Farm to Market Road 1205. The tornado then slowly moved southwest, and resulted in a wide swath of damage to mesquite trees, road signs, fences, and utility poles as it crossed Farm to Market Road 1785.The tornado's damaging ground circulation briefly dissipated south of Farm to Market Road 1785 in south-central Borden County. Video provided by the public and storm spotters indicated that this phase of the tornado's life cycle was characterized by a condensation funnel that…

5. Sep 2, 2024Flash Flood$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The emergency manager reports several high-water rescues were conducted near and around Lake J.B. Thomas during the afternoon and early evening. The property damage cost is an estimation.

6. Jun 11, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Scattered thunderstorm wind damage occurred near Lake Thomas that included roofs blown off two carports and a lake pumphouse, a travel trailer overturned, and 15 utility poles broken. The winds were associated with the RFD winds that hit the Mesquite area.

7. Jun 14, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A thunderstorm moved across Borden County and produced wind damage north of Lake JB Thomas. Ten power poles were blown down north of Lake JB Thomas and west of Bull Creek Channel but the exact location is not known. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

8. May 25, 1998Hail$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Although sparsely populated, most of the people of north-central Borden County were pounded by this HP Supercell south of the mesocyclone. Numerous reports of broken windows in houses and vehicles were received. Animals including one coyote and one deer were killed by the hail as well as numerous rabbits, plus cattle had deep injuries and two horses had an eye put out by the wind-driven large hail.

9. Jun 4, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$8,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A thunderstorm moved across Borden County and produced winds estimated to be 100 to 120 mph five miles southeast of Gail. A localized microburst occurred according to a National Weather Service storm survey with three broken powerline poles. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

10. Jun 1, 2018Thunderstorm Wind$8,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A thunderstorm moved across Borden County and produced wind damage ten miles south of Gail. Power poles were blown down along Willow Valley Road. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

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

115°FJun 28, 1994

All-time low

−1°F3 times, most recently Feb 15, 2021

Warmest night

85°FAug 12, 2023

Coldest day

9°FFeb 15, 2021

Wettest day

8.20 inJul 4, 2010

Snowiest day

10.0 inFeb 2, 2014

Hottest year

2024mean 66.8°F

Coldest year

1979mean 59.3°F

Wettest year

194142.96 in

Driest year

19564.99 in

Snowiest season

26.3 in1972-73

Station Post (USC00417206), 2,601 ft elevation, 30.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1962 to October 23, 2026; 98.0% 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 USC00417206.
• 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.