Bowie County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Bowie County: 2.
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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 4, 1999Tornado$125 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado moved directly through the downtown district of De Kalb and across a high school. Numerous homes and businesses were severely damaged or destroyed. The high school suffered severe damage. Sirens sounded 15 minutes prior to arrival of the storm. The damage resulted in a Presidential Disaster Declaration. This tornado moved from Red River county, TX across Bowie county, TX into Little River county, AR.

2. Mar 31, 2008Hail$120 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fire department reported that car windows and sky lights and the roofs of many homes throughout the city were damaged from this devastating hail storm. Preliminary monetary estimate at the time of this publication was near 90 million dollars with local emergency management officials saying this amount would likely increase.

3. Nov 4, 2022Tornado$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The supercell thunderstorm which produced a second tornado ending in northwestern Cass County continued on to the northeast and produced another tornado just north of the Sulphur River in southwestern Bowie County. This tornado was determined to be the strongest one produced by this particular thunderstorm and generated a few spots of low end EF-3 damage in several locations along its nearly 16-mile long path, with estimated maximum winds near 140 mph. This tornado first touched down along U.S. Highway 67 to the southwest of Simms and quickly grew in strength and width after tracking a few miles, briefing reaching a width of nearly a half mile at times. Just west of Simms and…

4. Jan 21, 2018Tornado$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-2 tornado with maximum estimated winds around 125 mph touched down along Highway 259 just southwest of Dekalb and tracked northeast across the intersection of County Road 4231 and Farm to Market Road 44. Here, it caused significant damage to a well constructed two-story home shifting it off its foundation, and significantly damaging eight chicken houses, two of which were destroyed. The tornadic storm continued northeast where it crossed County Road 4230 and significantly damaged the Dekalb Water Treatment Plant, before crossing the intersection of Farm to Market Road 990 and Farm to Market Road 1840 where a one-story home had its roof removed and several hardwood and…

5. Mar 3, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Straight line winds over a 6 mile stretch and up to 2 miles wide caused major damage in and around the Old Boston, Texas community 5 miles south of New Boston, Texas. Several hundred large trees were snapped or uprooted and some of these fell on homes and businesses. Numerous powerlines were downed as a result and roof damage was common throughout the community. Damage was also reported at the Red River Army Depot just east of Old Boston, Texas.

6. Jun 1, 2015Flood$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Excessive heavy rainfall during the month of May resulted in very high water on the Red River bordering McCurtain County in Southeast Oklahoma and Red River and Bowie Counties in Northeast Texas during the entire month of June. Rainfall amounts during the month of May across the Upper and Middle Red River basins of Southern Oklahoma and Northern Texas totaled over 20 inches of rain. The Oklahoma state climatologist reported that May of 2015 was the all time wettest month of any month in state history. Lake Texhoma, a flood control reservoir to the Red River upstream of Arthur City, Texas rose to its highest pool stage on record early on June 1st at 645.66 feet with peak releases…

7. May 28, 1998Flash Flood$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Excessive rain over a short period of time caused numerous flooding problems across the city. Cars were stranded and stalled with several underpasses flooded. A 21 year old woman was critically injured when her car was swept off a road into a drainage ditch. A 20 year old man riding with her managed to pull himself free of the vehicle by grabbing onto a branch hanging over the ditch. An estimated 500 residents were evacuated from their homes including 50 residents of a Texarkana, TX nursing home.

8. Mar 31, 2008Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail broke out windows at the Alumax Plant at interstate 30 and Nash.

9. Apr 10, 2008Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Most of the tornado damage was north of interstate 30 with some structures showing EF2 damage. In particular, the cinderblock and brick lawnmower business just north of Hwy 82 was completely destroyed with roofing debris and lawnmower parts thrown to the west and north of the building location. A brick home several hundred yards from the lawnmower business sustained significant damage to its roof and exterior walls. A metal shop building built with large metal I-beams was completely destroyed. I-beams were twisted and thrown in a northerly and westerly direction up to 200 yards from the building location with concrete still attached. The trees between the large metal building and…

10. Feb 16, 2021Winter Storm, Bowie$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    On the heels of the first winter storm and historically cold temperatures observed earlier in the week across all of the Southern Plains and much of the Lower Mississippi Valley, a second significant winter storm developed across much of these areas from February 16th-17th, with areas of snow (some heavy) falling across Northeast Texas. Strong forcing and moisture associated with the next upper level trough to move atop the extensive arctic air mass in place resulted in widespread snowfall totals of two to five inches falling across Red River, Franklin, Wood, Titus, Camp, and Morris Counties, with higher amounts up to 10 inches observed across Central and Eastern Bowie County.…

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

117°FAug 10, 1936

All-time low

−9°FFeb 13, 1899

Warmest night

84°F2 times, most recently Aug 4, 2011

Coldest day

15°FJan 10, 1962

Wettest day

10.48 inMay 28, 1998

Snowiest day

9.0 inJan 30, 1982

Hottest year

1921mean 69.0°F

Coldest year

1905mean 61.5°F

Wettest year

200978.08 in

Driest year

189622.48 in

Snowiest season

13.4 in1965-66

Station Texarkana Webb Field (USW00013977), 380 ft elevation, 12.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1892 to October 26, 2026; 99.8% 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 USW00013977.
• 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.