Callahan County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Callahan County: 5.
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.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Dec 1, 2005Drought, Callahan$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Drought Conditions were beginning to develop across a large portion of West Central Texas by the end of December as the last good rains were received back in the middle of October.

2. Dec 27, 2005Wildfire, Callahan$11.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The "Cross Roads" Fire started just to the west of the small Community of Cross Plains on the afternoon of 27th. This fire was fanned to the east rather rapidly by west winds gusting to near 40 MPH. The fire moved into the community of Cross Plains rather quickly consuming several homes and bussinesses. The town was quickly evacuated, however two elderly individuals failed to escape the rapidly moving flames. 16 firefighters were injured in the blaze. 159 homes were destroyed and around 20 bussinesses.

3. Feb 25, 2008Wildfire, Callahan$2.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A 150 acre wildfire developed in the southern part of Callahan County at the intersection of State Highway 36 and County Road 463. Sixty three cars were lost at the local Dodge dealership, three outbuildings and one home were destroyed. Several homes along Highway 36 were evacuated.

4. May 1, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Survey found widespread significant wind damage in Callahan County and the community of Clyde. Winds were estimated to be around 90 mph. The high winds destroyed one manufactured home, while the neighboring manufactured home was also slightly moved by the high winds. A person living in the destroyed home was slightly injured. The strong winds uprooted numerous trees and numerous roofs. A couple of other mobile homes were also moved and sustained roof damage. The downburst damaged about 8 to 10 square miles which included all of Clyde and areas to the southwest, north and east.

5. Oct 17, 2018Flood$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Prolonged heavy rainfall flooded roads across Callahan County and this flooding damaged some roads and bridges in the county. This damage and flooding was exasperated by all of the rainfall since September.

6. Jul 6, 2002Flash Flood$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Portions of Callhan County received as much as 12 inches of rain in the early morning hours of the 6th. This resulted in flooding throughout the county, however the southern portion of the county took the brunt of the flooding, where one home received major damage and two others received minor damage. The damages to the counties road system was significant with $400,000 in damages to the southern portion of the county alone.

7. Jun 14, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The metal roof of the city hall building was picked up by the winds and landed 250 yards away. There was also wind damage to some nearby housing units. A few power lines were blown down.

8. Jun 4, 2005Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The very large hail that had been falling in Putnam maxed out at softball size producing major damage to roofs and vehicles.

9. Apr 12, 2009Wildfire, Callahan$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wildfire destroyed three motor homes, three travel-trailers and four outbuildings. One home received major damage and two outbuildings received damage. The wildfire was lcoated 4 mile west of Clyde, and it burned 50 acres.

10. Jun 23, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A strong downburst of winds from a thunderstorm resulted in straight line wind damage across the town of Baird. These damaging thunderstorm winds uprooted large trees, blew down power lines and removed a few roofs from buildings. Most of the damage was blown to the north and northeast direction across the City of Baird. The damaging winds also damaged a feed mill in Baird.

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°FAug 21, 2024

All-time low

−7°F2 times, most recently Dec 23, 1989

Warmest night

84°F3 times, most recently Aug 8, 2023

Coldest day

11°FFeb 1, 1985

Wettest day

8.26 inJul 7, 2015

Snowiest day

9.8 inFeb 14, 2021

Hottest year

2024mean 68.7°F

Coldest year

1976mean 62.0°F

Wettest year

201540.40 in

Driest year

19569.78 in

Snowiest season

18.8 in2020-21

Station Abilene Regional Airport (USW00013962), 1,787 ft elevation, 14.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 26, 2026; 99.9% 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 USW00013962.
• 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.