Crosby County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 1, 2018Thunderstorm Wind$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A rapidly intensifying thunderstorm produced an intense downburst that struck the west half of the city of Ralls before continuing south for about one mile south of Ralls. In addition to disrupting power to 2400 people in the area for much of the night and inflicting various degrees of damage to many homes and buildings, three large cotton compress buildings on the west side of town were completely destroyed with debris strewn up to 1/4 mile south of Highway 82. The extent of debris required the closure of the 4-lane highway for nearly one hour until debris could be cleared for passage. A nearby power sub-station belonging to Excel was heavily damaged and a total of 42 power poles…

2. Sep 17, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large and particularly destructive macroburst (downburst winds more than 2.5 miles in width) tracked east across most of northern Crosby County this evening, accompanied by winds ranging from 80 to 100 mph at times. Data from radar and damage patterns during a NWS storm survey indicated these intense winds were about five miles in width, and traveled for a distance of almost 30 miles. The community of Cone was struck especially hard by these winds. An older, single family home had a west-facing wall partially collapse, and the roof to a grain store was blown off and deposited on US Highway 62 forcing a temporary closure of the road. Additional damage in Cone consisted of several…

3. Nov 27, 2015Ice Storm, Crosby$650,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Following a sharp cold front which ignited a few strong thunderstorms during the late afternoon hours on Thanksgiving Day, brisk northerly winds and freezing temperatures overspread the region and remained in place for nearly 48 hours. Atop this shallow layer of cold air, anomalously moist air from the Gulf of Mexico combined with a strong subtropical upper jet to produce periodic rounds of mostly freezing rain from Thanksgiving night through the morning hours on the 28th. A few periods of sleet and even very light snow accompanied this multi-day storm; however, all significant impacts were the direct result of icing from freezing rain. As the brunt of the freezing rain fell on…

4. Jun 1, 2018Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Very large hail up to baseball size driven sideways by intense winds caused extensive damage to many north-facing windows, cars and home siding in Ralls. The hail also caused severe damage to the Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet on the south side of Ralls.

5. May 15, 2018Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive hail damage was observed in the city of Crosbyton. Many building suffered heavy roof and siding damage from wind driven hail up to the size of baseballs. Most south facing windows were shattered in town along with significant damage to vehicles.

6. May 12, 2005Tornado$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   F3 tornado in Ralls.A strong tornado developed approximately 9 miles to the southwest of Ralls around 8:40 PM and tracked to the northeast for six miles. Along the path of this tornado, several power poles were blown over or snapped and a few center pivots were overturned or twisted. A residence was completely destroyed with debris entirely removed from the foundation. The majority of the debris from this structure was blown to the northeast approximately 10 to 30 feet from the foundation...with other related debris dispersed over a mile away. Two pickup trucks were lifted and deposited upside down 5 to 30 feet from former locations. Trees were mud-splattered and stripped of bark…

7. Jun 4, 2002Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Spotters affiliated with the Crosby County Sheriff's office reported baseball size hail.

8. Apr 9, 2011Wildfire, Crosby$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A potent spring-time storm system impacted the western and central U.S. during the 9th and 10th of April. Strong wind through a deep layer of the atmosphere overspread the Southern Plains on the 9th as the parent storm system initially approached the southern Rockies. The strengthening wind fields overspread pronounced surface heating and drying over the Southern Plains. This resulted in an outbreak of wind-driven wildfires across portions of five states. ||Locally on the South Plains, winds that gusted upwards of 59 mph (Hockely County) contributed to two significant and damaging wildfires. The 'Prentice' Fire ignited in Terry County around midday on the 9th. The fire consumed…

9. Jul 3, 2010Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Local law enforcement officials initially reported flash flooding along U.S. Highway 82 between Lorenzo and Ralls, where several cars were reportedly stalled in flowing flood waters and high-water rescues were underway. Portions of that highway remained impassable through at least 02:35 CST. Additional motorists were stranded in flowing flood waters along Texas Highway 207 near Ralls.||Flash flooding in Blanco Canyon resulted in dramatic run-off and swelling of the White River. This run-off and associated river rises caused unusually high water flows at Silver Falls along the Caprock escarpment near U.S. Highway 82 east of Crosbyton, which persisted well into the daylight hours of…

10. Jun 10, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Law enforcement personnel estimated wind gusts to 70 mph in Ralls. There was a report of one dozen power poles downed south of Lorenzo as well as a center pivot irrigation system destroyed.

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°FJun 28, 1994

All-time low

−14°FFeb 12, 1899

Warmest night

83°FJun 24, 1907

Coldest day

5°FFeb 3, 1905

Wettest day

5.78 inJun 30, 1913

Snowiest day

15.0 inFeb 21, 1961

Hottest year

1927mean 63.7°F

Coldest year

1905mean 57.3°F

Wettest year

194144.42 in

Driest year

20117.59 in

Snowiest season

37.0 in1960-61

Station Crosbyton (USC00412121), 3,052 ft elevation, 4.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 23, 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 USC00412121.
• 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.