Briscoe County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Briscoe County: 25.
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 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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jan 29, 1999Winter Storm, Briscoe$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The same winter storm mentioned above also affected Briscoe, Hale, Lubbock, and Hockley Counties, though to a lesser extent and for less time. Four inches of snow fell in the city of Lubbock, and 4 to 6 inches fell across these four counties. In addition, Briscoe County received significant accumulations of freezing rain, which helped snap trees and power poles, down power lines, and cause lengthy power outages.

2. May 29, 2001Hail$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Storm spotters reported that hail tennis ball size and larger broke windows.

3. Mar 28, 2007Tornado$125,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Many storm chasers observed a large multiple vortex tornado that developed north of Quitaque shortly after 17:30 CST. The tornado initially touched down immediately north of Texas Highway 256, and tracked northeastward across the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River. The tornado cut a twelve mile long path through the mesquite thickets of eastern Briscoe County, however, it continued across northwestern Hall County and into extreme southern Donley County before ending at 17:09 CST. The total path length was nearly twenty miles in length. |Despite the rural nature of the area, a few structures sustained significant damage. A trailer house was destroyed about five miles south of…

4. Jun 17, 2004Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Storm chasers reported several roads flooded in the eastern portion of the county. The Texas Tech West Texas Mesonet station located 7 E Silverton measured 3.94 inches of rain between 1640 and 1905 CST. Several roads were washed out in Caprock Canyons State Park.

5. May 1, 1996Drought, Briscoe$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The drought continued through most of the month of May, causing significant crop damage. Some areas received several inches of rain during the severe weather of the 25th and 26th, but this was not nearly enough to break this long term drought.

6. May 31, 2022Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The fire department in Silverton reported baseball size hail and numerous windshields destroyed.

7. Jun 1, 1996Drought, Briscoe$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Despite periodic thunderstorms this month, the long drought continued across the extreme southern Texas Panhandle, the South Plains, and the Low Rolling Plains. The very dry weather adversely impacted the early cotton crop that dominates this area.

8. Jun 21, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Storm chaser reported 12 power poles snapped. Several center pivot irrigation systems were destroyed.

9. Jun 13, 2009Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The public and local fire department officials reported that predominately golfball size hail was mixed with intermittent hail stones as large as softballs in Quitaque. The hail reportedly combined with damaging thunderstorm winds to knock out many windows in Quitaque. Combined damages from wind and hail were estimated to approach $200,000. No injuries were reported.

10. Dec 4, 1999Heavy Snow, Briscoe$60,000

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

111°FJun 27, 2011

All-time low

−10°FDec 25, 2004

Warmest night

79°FAug 13, 2026

Coldest day

4°FFeb 15, 2021

Wettest day

5.25 inJun 24, 1979

Snowiest day

15.0 inJan 31, 1994

Hottest year

2012mean 61.2°F

Coldest year

1979mean 55.1°F

Wettest year

200437.83 in

Driest year

20116.57 in

Snowiest season

33.5 in1982-83

Station Silverton (USC00418323), 3,275 ft elevation, 4.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1961 to October 23, 2026; 98.6% 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 USC00418323.
• 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.