Donley County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Donley County: 16.
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.

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

The National Weather Service sets flood stages for 2 gauges here but lists no crests for them.

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. Jan 29, 1999Winter Storm, Donley$8.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A vigorous upper level low pressure system moved from West Texas northeast into Oklahoma producing heavier amounts of snow across the western Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, a mixture of ice and snow across the central Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, and mainly freezing rain and sleet over the eastern sections of the panhandles. There were considerable power outages due to the storm and most roads and highways remained closed across the panhandles. Snowfall amounts ranged from eight to ten inches across the northwest and western Texas panhandle to four to six inches across the central Texas panhandle. Ice accumulations of one quarter to one half inch were reported across the…

2. Feb 24, 2013Blizzard, Donley$660,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Blizzard conditions reported by a trained spotter in Hedley and 4.0 inches storm total snow.

3. May 3, 2001Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding was first reported by a National Weather Service Cooperative Observer in Clarendon with U.S. Highway 287 closed. Water was reported three feet deep on U.S. Highway 287 in Clarendon and water was covering the road on State Highway 70 with both highways being shut down. Vehicles were reported to have been washed away and people had to be rescued. The Texas Department of Public Safety lost three patrol cars in the flood. By late evening...there was one foot of water covering U.S. Highway 287 and everyone had been rescued. By the early morning hours...eight Government apartments had four inches of water in them and four feet of water was found around a house with six…

4. Mar 13, 2021Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down on the southwest side of Clarendon, continuing through Greenbelt Reservoir before dissipating northeast of Howardwick. Minor damage to homes and Clarendon College was observed on the west side of Clarendon. The tornado took on a wider path and strengthened as it progressed toward Greenbelt Reservoir causing considerable damage to mobile homes, recreational vehicles, and boating facilities. In addition, several power poles of varying sizes were downed and many trees were snapped in the area.

5. Mar 28, 2007Tornado$180,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado formed in the northwest part of Donley county at 1839 CST three miles south southwest of Jericho and tracked north northwest for about three miles before exiting Donley county one and a half miles west northwest of Jericho at 1848 CST.The tornado continued in Gray county for about another three miles before dissipating at 1854 CST.|Damage was first noted two miles south of Interstate 40 along County Road 9 in northwest Donley County. The roof of a horse barn was completely destroyed...as was the rear room addition. Beside the barn...welded steel fencing was bent or mildly twisted. A refrigerated boxcar that had contained tools and horse feed was rolled northward eleven…

6. Mar 28, 2007Tornado$170,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed in northern Donley County near where Farm to Market Road 291 ends and then traveled northeast to near the Donley County and Gray County line and dissipated at 1924 CST about eleven miles east of Jericho. The tornado developed over ranch land initially causing sporadic damage to trees and fences. The first continuous track of damage encountered was to a newly constructed home...which sustained total roof loss as the roof was lifted...destroyed...and scattered over a mile northward. The house walls were constructed of reinforced concrete and were left intact...suffering only windblown hail damage to their stucco exterior. A few power poles were also snapped in…

7. Apr 23, 2003Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Roof partially blown off a house...two second story rooms and the front porch of a vacant house were ripped apart...a doublewide trailer house had damage to the roof and windows...two unattached garages destroyed...trees uprooted...other roofs and barns were reported damaged.

8. Jun 29, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A crop pivot was blown over and appeared to be a total loss.

9. Apr 2, 1997Hail$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding also. 100 head of cattle killed.

10. Aug 23, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$70,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Severe thunderstorms with large and damaging hail along with damaging winds occurred across the south-central and southeastern Texas panhandle during the afternoon and early evening hours.

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 Aug 3, 1944

All-time low

−11°FJan 18, 1930

Warmest night

88°FSep 4, 1922

Coldest day

9°FFeb 15, 2021

Wettest day

8.80 inJun 7, 1960

Snowiest day

12.0 inDec 16, 1931

Hottest year

1963mean 64.4°F

Coldest year

1924mean 57.6°F

Wettest year

194139.49 in

Driest year

19708.84 in

Snowiest season

20.0 in1929-30

Station Memphis (USC00415821), 2,065 ft elevation, 23.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1905 to October 22, 2026; 99.2% 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 USC00415821.
• 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.