Brooks County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Apr 4, 2004Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A powerful and nearly-stationary supercell thunderstorm pounded the Falfurrias area with large hail, gusty winds and heavy rain for a period of approximately three hours. The hail damaged homes, businesses, and automobiles. A damage survey estimated that approximately 980 homes and businesses suffered damage as a result of the hail, wind and rain. Also, the Texas Department of Public Safety reported numerous vehicles damaged by the hail. The supercell thunderstorm was finally forced east of the area as a eastward-moving area of thunderstorms approached the area from the west.

2. Apr 4, 2004Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A powerful and nearly-stationary supercell thunderstorm pounded the Falfurrias area with large hail, gusty winds and heavy rain for a period of approximately three hours. The hail damaged homes, businesses, and automobiles. A damage survey estimated that approximately 980 homes and businesses suffered damage as a result of the hail, wind and rain. Also, the Texas Department of Public Safety reported numerous vehicles damaged by the hail. The supercell thunderstorm was finally forced east of the area as a eastward-moving area of thunderstorms approached the area from the west.

3. Apr 4, 2004Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A powerful and nearly-stationary supercell thunderstorm pounded the Falfurrias area with large hail, gusty winds and heavy rain for a period of approximately three hours. The hail damaged homes, businesses, and automobiles. A damage survey estimated that approximately 980 homes and businesses suffered damage as a result of the hail, wind and rain. Also, the Texas Department of Public Safety reported numerous vehicles damaged by the hail. The supercell thunderstorm was finally forced east of the area as a eastward-moving area of thunderstorms approached the area from the west.

4. Oct 13, 2003Flood, Brooks$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong weather disturbance combined with abundant tropical moisture across the region to produce intense rainfall across Deep South Texas during the period. The heaviest rains fell across Brooks, Jim Hogg, Starr, Hidalgo, Cameron and Willacy counties. La Joya in western Hidalgo county received over 13 inches of rain, Harlingen received 11 inches, with 10 inches falling at Mc Cook and Falfurrias. Unofficial reports of 14 inches of rain falling over southern Brooks county. The heavy rains over Starr county caused a rise of Los Olmos Creek. The creek crested at 13 feet at Rio Grande City, on Oct 14, flood stage is 10 feet. The creek quickly fell from flood stage that same…

5. Mar 18, 2008Wildfire, Brooks$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Burns Ranch Fire, which began along the four county line of Jim Hogg, Starr, Brooks, and Hidalgo County, rapidly spread through an estimated 25,600 acres of extreme southern and southwestern Brooks County within hours of onset, becoming what would be the most significant wild fire for Deep South Texas of the 2008 season. Severe damage to a summer mansion on the ranch was noted in follow-up reports. The fire forced closure of Federal Highway 281 between Farm-to-Market (FM) Road 490 and FM 755 through most of the night of the 18th.

6. Mar 4, 2022Wildfire, Brooks$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The event known as the Miller Fire was estimated to have started around 2:30PM CST near the Brooks County Rest Area just south of Falfurrias. The fire started because of a car running into a tree along US-281, where it then burst into flames. Strong and gusty south to southeast winds then pushed the wildfire from the west side of US-281 north to Baluarte Creek Road and County Road 303, where it eventually damaged or destroyed six homes along Sunrise Road. There were also at least ten cars either damaged or destroyed due to the fire. This wildfire consumed a total of 271 acres and was contained at 7:54PM CST. A Spot Request submitted by the Texas A&M Fire Service on March 4th and…

7. Jun 18, 2011Wildfire, Brooks$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Sparks from a hot catalytic converter on a ranch vehicle most likely set rangeland ablaze in Northwest Brooks County (about 13 miles west-southwest of Falfurrias), beginning at around 10 AM on June 18th. In rapid succession, the fire, driven by near record hot temperatures, humidity near 25 percent, highly cured fine and coarse fuels, and frequent wind gusts near or above 30 mph day and night, spread to 3300 acres by late afternoon on the 18th, 8000 acres by mid evening, and more than 10,000 acres before midnight on the 19th. The fire exceeded 12,000 acres early on the 19th, and continued to grow despite some successful containment efforts. By June 20th, the acreage had reached…

8. Jun 19, 2018Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Measured and estimated rainfall of between 7 and more than 12 inches in north central Brooks County from the pre-dawn hours through around noon on June 19th created high standing water in and around Falfurrias. More than a dozen roads in town were flooded, some with 2 to 3 feet of water depth, and a number of properties saw floodwater inside of them. Farther north, along US 281 but mainly in Jim Wells County, two to three feet of flowing water closed the highway for a time during the morning and early afternoon. Highest rainfall totals for the event included 12.1 inches at the NWS cooperative observing station 4 miles west of Falfurrias and 8 inches near the center of town. Much…

9. Jun 19, 2018Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains of 8 to more than 14 inches (estimated) across northern Brooks, northeastern Jim Hogg, eastern Duval, and much of Jim Wells County allowed substantial water flows into the riverine system of creeks, including Los Olmos, Palo Blanco, and Cibolo. Each creek flowed outside of its banks during and well after the heaviest rains fell, for much of June 19th and June 20th before waters receded below bank full. At Los Olmos Creek along the Brooks/Jim Wells County line, the gage reached flood stage (11 feet) around 4 PM CST on the 19th, and continued to moderate levels (12 feet) shortly after 6 PM. The creek would remain in moderate flood for a few hours, before dipping below 12…

10. May 25, 2010Flash Flood$75,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Slow moving and redeveloping thunderstorms dumped torrential rainfall in and near Falfurrias during the afternoon of May 25th. Urban flooding began in poor drainage locations soon after the rain began, and a little after 1 PM a semi trailer careened off Highway 281, destroying a health care clinic which was later condemned. The driver sustained a minor head injury.||As the rain continued, about a foot of standing water covered a 500 foot section of business Federal Highway 281 on the south side of town. Traffic slowed to a crawl, with several vehicles stalled in the middle of the road. There were several other areas of Business Federal Highway 281 that had at least 8 inches of…

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°F2 times, most recently Sep 6, 2000

All-time low

10°FDec 24, 1989

Warmest night

92°FJul 27, 1984

Coldest day

26°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

10.95 inMay 19, 2021

Snowiest day

2.0 inDec 8, 2017

Hottest year

2023mean 75.8°F

Coldest year

1976mean 70.1°F

Wettest year

195852.66 in

Driest year

191111.98 in

Snowiest season

2.0 in2017-18

Station Kingsville (USC00414810), 57 ft elevation, 28.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1902 to October 23, 2026; 96.7% 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 USC00414810.
• 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.