Hale County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Hale County: 8.
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

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.

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. May 8, 2015Hail$300 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread hail damage occurred to homes, businesses and vehicles in Plainview with the worst damage reported at newly constructed luxury homes in the southwest side of the city where every home would require new roofing. This hail was as large as golf balls at times and extended east and northeast over the remainder of the city. Preliminary damage estimates from body shops and home insurance adjusters indicate that the area sustained nearly $300M of combined damages.

2. May 8, 1998Hail$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms developed over the Texas South Plains, the extreme southern Texas Panhandle, and the southern portions of the Rolling Plains during the late afternoon of the 8th. Plainview was hardest hit with over $5 million in property damage due to golfball-sized hail and winds in excess of 90 mph. Hundreds of homes and vehicles were damaged. Short-lived, weak tornadoes occurred in Lamb County (near Olton) and over the extreme southern Texas Panhandle near the towns of Quitaque and Turkey. Each tornado touched down in open country and caused no apparent damage.

3. Jun 24, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Substantial damage occurred to a wind turbine near the intersection of Farm to Market Road 37 and County Road BB in Hale County. A wind turbine was completely destroyed as strong outflow winds moved through. This wind turbine had installation completed only one month prior to its destruction.

4. May 26, 2021Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An NWS storm survey revealed extensive damage in Hale County about seven miles northwest of Hale Center. Thunderstorms began bowing out across Lamb and western Hale Counties creating a line of destructive winds. According to a local agricultural producer, at least 35 irrigation center pivots were flipped in the area. An NWS storm survey found an out building that had been destroyed as well as a flipped RV. Several of the flipped irrigation center pivots were also found around the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 179 and 1071. Based on the damages observed, winds were estimated between 80 and 90 mph.

5. May 25, 2019Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous roads in and around Plainview were flooded by torrential rainfall from a supercell thunderstorm. The intersection of Interstate 27 and Farm to Market Road 194 was completely inundated by water. Water may have been reaching into some businesses along the road.

6. May 8, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms developed over the Texas South Plains, the extreme southern Texas Panhandle, and the southern portions of the Rolling Plains during the late afternoon of the 8th. Plainview was hardest hit with over $5 million in property damage due to golfball-sized hail and winds in excess of 90 mph. Hundreds of homes and vehicles were damaged. Short-lived, weak tornadoes occurred in Lamb County (near Olton) and over the extreme southern Texas Panhandle near the towns of Quitaque and Turkey. Each tornado touched down in open country and caused no apparent damage.

7. Jun 12, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A particularly intense series of downbursts with winds from 60 to 80 mph traveled east-southeast from about five miles west of Plainview to three miles west-southwest of Aiken. These winds created swaths of damage consisting of siding and roofing blown from homes, downed power poles estimated at nearly 50 in total across northern Hale County, dozens of downed trees, and even two semi-trucks toppled on Interstate 27. One driver suffered minor injuries and required treatment at a hospital. A broadcast media's weather station four miles south of Plainview recorded a peak gust to 73 mph at 513 PM and a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet one mile south of Plainview registered a…

8. Mar 13, 2019High Wind, Hale$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet near Plainview.

9. May 27, 2015Hail$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A nearly stationary supercell produced a severe hail swath ranging in size from quarters to softballs. Several dozen vehicles traveling along Interstate 27 between Abernathy and the Hale Center rest stop suffered varying degrees of damage; the worst of which involved losing nearly all windows.

10. Aug 14, 2013Hail$300,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A citizen reported golf ball size hail east of Halfway. Damage to center pivots, grain crops, and half a dozen power poles was reported in the area between Edmonson and Hale Center due to the large hail and strong thunderstorm winds.

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

112°F2 times, most recently Jun 18, 2017

All-time low

−8°FFeb 8, 1933

Warmest night

83°F2 times, most recently Jul 14, 2020

Coldest day

6°FFeb 15, 2021

Wettest day

7.00 inJul 8, 1960

Snowiest day

24.0 inFeb 4, 1956

Hottest year

1934mean 62.8°F

Coldest year

1961mean 56.3°F

Wettest year

192638.10 in

Driest year

20115.63 in

Snowiest season

46.5 in1982-83

Station Plainview (USC00417079), 3,370 ft elevation, 3.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1908 to October 23, 2026; 99.7% 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 USC00417079.
• 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.