Childress County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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. Jun 15, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$16.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An extreme convective wind event combined with large hail resulted in widespread and significant damage in the Childress vicinity during the evening hours of Father's Day the 15th.||The Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet site northeast of the city initially recorded a 58 mph wind gust at 19:33 CST. By 19:35 CST winds at the mesonet site had increased to 80 mph. Witnesses described that rain from the storm, which had approached from the northwest, had come to an ended and that the storm appeared to have passed without incident. A rapid onset of damaging winds and hail, however, then struck from the east. ||A National Weather Service disaster assessment found eye witness…

2. May 9, 2006Tornado$5.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado resulted in significant (F2) damage along a one and half mile path through the north side of Childress during the evening hours of the 9th. The tornado developed in a residential are of northwest Childress at 20:30 CST. Damage in the neighborhood was characterized as weak, with numerous downed trees, street signs, and damaged roofs. A resident was injured when a tree fell and struck him, breaking his arm and causing minor lacerations.The tornado then moved east toward the high school. Damage to the high school was extensive. A local television network, KVII-TV in Amarillo, operates an automated weather station on the campus as part of a regional school net. The…

3. May 22, 1996Hail$3.0 million
4. Jul 29, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A complex of severe thunderstorms produced extreme winds and resulted in significant damage in the Childress vicinity during the 21:00 CST hour of the 29th. The Automated Surface Observing System at the Childress Municipal Airport recorded a 102 mph thunderstorm wind gust at 21:29 CST. The nearby Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet recorded a series of severe gusts between 21:35 CST and 21:45 CST, with a peak gust of 80 mph at 21:40 CST. ||Damage across the northwestern half of the city was extensive. Three people were injured when the walls of a motel collapsed just off of U.S. Highway 287. Two other hotels sustained heavy damages. Minor roof damage was additionally reported…

5. Jun 30, 2017Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous photos of hail larger than baseballs were received from the south and southeast parts of the city of Childress. The slow movement of this supercell storm compounded damage to hundreds of vehicles, homes and buildings in the area. Combined property losses are estimated to be around $2 million.

6. Jun 15, 2008Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Up to golf ball size hail combined with extreme downburst winds to result in widespread damage across the city of Childress and a number of surrounding agricultural fields. Wind-driven hail destroyed approximately ninety percent of the east-facing windows in the city of nearly 7,000 residents. Vinyl exterior siding was shredded on a number of structures. In addition, a few hundred vehicles sustained damage and grain sorghum crops suffered extensive damage.

7. Jan 28, 2010Winter Storm, Childress$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A deadly winter storm produced widespread snow and ice accumulations and resulted in significant damage across the west Texas South Plains during the daytime hours of the 28th. ||Wintry precipitation began to overspread the region in the hours after sunrise. Although heavy snowfall (including thunder-snow) was common over the western South Plains and the extreme southwestern Panhandle, the precipitation began to fall as freezing rain over much of the central South Plains, the extreme southeastern Panhandle, and the northern Rolling Plains. A layer of ice, that in some cases became topped by accumulating snow, downed trees and utilities. This led to widespread damages from fallen…

8. Apr 20, 2014Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   On the heels of a supercell that produced golf ball size hail and damage in Childress, a second supercell impacted Childress less than 30 minutes later. This latter storm was more intense and dropped very large hail up to baseball size in the city. Preliminary evidence indicates widespread damage was dealt to vehicles, windows and roofing throughout much of the city.

9. Jul 6, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A destructive downburst with peak winds around 80 mph traveled across the city of Childress causing extensive damage. The winds damaged several small structures, awnings, trees, utility poles, knocked down billboards and road signs, and even toppled two gas station pumps. One brick building had its southwest-facing wall collapse and hundreds of homes suffered light to moderate roof damage from the long duration of severe winds. These severe winds occurred for a period of up to 20 minutes as recorded by a nearby Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet station.

10. Jun 2, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Strong thunderstorm wind gusts derailed 35 to 40 train cars, destroyed two metal buildings, rolled a travel trailer 150 yards, snapped 15 power poles, and blew down trees.

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°F2 times, most recently Jun 26, 2011

All-time low

−5°F2 times, most recently Dec 23, 1989

Warmest night

88°FJul 16, 2001

Coldest day

10°FDec 22, 1990

Wettest day

5.32 inOct 20, 1983

Snowiest day

11.0 inDec 2, 1971

Hottest year

2012mean 65.6°F

Coldest year

1987mean 59.1°F

Wettest year

199539.08 in

Driest year

195610.44 in

Snowiest season

27.4 in1967-68

Station Childress Municipal Airport (USW00023007), 1,949 ft elevation, 3.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 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 USW00023007.
• 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.