Brown County

Every recorded tornado

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

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 6, 2002Flash Flood$42.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous showers and thunderstorms developed over Brown County just after midnight on the 6th. These thunderstorms remained nearly stationary through much of the night producing 12 to 14 inch rainfalls. This is in combination to the 6 to 8 inches of rain that had fallen in the days preceding the flood. The rain in Brown County fell directly into the catchments of the Jim Ned Creek, and Pecan Bayou, which empty into Lake Brownwood. Lake Brownwood crested on Sunday morning of the 7th, 7.7 feet over its spillway. Major flooding in Brownwood begins around 6 feet over the spillway. The flooded Pecan Bayou turned much of the Brownwood business district into a giant lake. Commerce Street…

2. Jun 15, 2000Flash Flood$7.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall of up to 10 inches inundated the city of Brownwood during the early morning hours of the 15th. All of the creeks and streams in the city overflowed, with the water flowing into several housing areas. At least 125 people were forced to evacuate their homes, with the Brownwood EMC estimating that 160 homes and businesses suffered some degree of water damage.

3. Feb 14, 2021Cold/Wind Chill, Brown$3.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Brownwood AWOS reported reported wind chill readings of -10 to -15 degrees. Brown County reported the very cold temperatures damaged roads, buildings and some of their public utility systems.

4. Oct 17, 2018Flood$2.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Prolonged heavy rainfall flooded roads across Brown County since September and this new flooding damaged some roads and bridges in the county.

5. Dec 6, 2004Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service storm survey did find tornado damage along the north end of Lake Brownwood. The tornado started at Dominion Point on the west side of Lake Brownwood. This tornado tracked to the northeast for 6 miles and was about 75 yards wide. The tornado lifted at 2:51 PM CST. There was significant damage to mobile homes at Dominion Point and Thunderbird Bay. There was lots of damage to metal out buildings. Also, numerous trees were blown down.

6. Jun 22, 1997Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Streams and creeks rose rapidly and overflowed in heavy rains. A motorist drowned when he attemped to cross a rapidly overflowing low water crossing on County Road 411 near Hogg Creek. His suburban was washed off the road by swift water. The passenger escaped and was rescued unharmed. The attempted crossing occurred around 2340 CST the night of the 22nd.Lake Brownwood rose nearly three feet above its spillway. At least 90 residents near the lake were stranded due to four-foot high waters at a low water crossing. In and around the city of Brownwood, streets and roads were closed due to the flooding.

7. May 8, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The town of Brownwood experienced widespread wind damage across the central part of town. The Walmart, Krogers, Dollar General Store and a few other businesses experienced roof damage. The roofs were peeled off in a northeast to southwest direction. Some large oak trees were also blown over. This is consistent with straight line winds of 80 to 85 mph.

8. Jun 16, 1997Hail$250,000
9. May 29, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds blew down power poles and overturned camper trucks and trailers at Lake Brownwood.

10. May 2, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A wind gust of 87 MPH was measured by a Davis weather station before the anemometer broke. The survey team observed damage to several buildings and they saw numerous downed trees. An apartment wall collapsed and several mobile homes were severely damaged. The winds were part of a squall line that was moving through the area. A funnel cloud was sighted to the south of Brownwood shortly before the winds hit, and was likely associated with the tornado to the east of Brookesmith.

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

113°FJul 19, 1925

All-time low

−6°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

94°FAug 3, 1897

Coldest day

15°F3 times, most recently Jan 15, 2024

Wettest day

6.60 in2 times, most recently Jun 15, 2000

Snowiest day

10.0 inJan 17, 1919

Hottest year

2023mean 69.5°F

Coldest year

1983mean 62.8°F

Wettest year

191945.35 in

Driest year

192111.57 in

Station Brownwood 2NE (USC00411138), 1,551 ft elevation, 1.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 22, 2026; 92.0% 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 USC00411138.
• 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.