Hall County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Hall 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. May 22, 2016Flash Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The same storm responsible for producing a large, EF-2 tornado near Plaska also produced significant flash flooding over much of northern Hall County late this afternoon. Additional rounds of thunderstorms through the evening would go on to produce eight inches of rain as measured by a NWS CO-OP observer in Estelline. The storm survey discovered significant flood damage to bridges, roads and a golf course in Estelline which had large chasms cut into the property. Also, one SUV was swept off US Highway 256 about five miles northeast of Estelline after driving through raging floodwaters that consumed a shallow bridge. The two occupants of the vehicle were rescued and unharmed, but…

2. Aug 13, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   For approximately 15 minutes, a barrage of northerly winds of 60 mph to as great as 120 mph inflicted heavy damage in the city of Turkey, located in far southwest Hall County. NWS Lubbock meteorologists conducted a ground and aerial damage survey at Turkey the following afternoon. All available evidence including radar, damage patterns, eyewitness accounts, and most notably a 15-minute duration of high winds indicated that a series of wet microbursts moved from north to south across Turkey. Several homes and businesses suffered damage, most notably the Turkey Compress which was totally destroyed. At least two homes suffered major damage and were deemed uninhabitable. Numerous…

3. May 31, 2022Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous thunderstorms repeatedly trained over portions of the extreme southeastern Texas Panhandle causing widespread flash flooding across Hall County. Several roadways were either flooded or completely washed out. Farm to Market Road 2472 near Plaska was washed out. Additionally, Farm to Market Road 1041 near Texas State Highway 256 southwest of Memphis was reportedly washed out.

4. Feb 21, 2009High Wind, Hall$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong Canadian cold front swept southward over the west Texas region during the very early morning hours of the 21st. Winds associated with the front were generally sustained in the 30 mph range, however, a few severe gusts were measured by the Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet and the KVII-TV Schoolnet. ||The winds, which peaked as high as 66 mph at Memphis (Hall County), caused significant damage on the Memphis High School campus. The roof was partially peeled off of the gymnasium. Damages to the facility were estimated at $1 million. The winds additionally caused blowing dust which reduced visibilities to as low as two miles. No injuries were reported.

5. May 5, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong thunderstorm wind gusts overturned four tractor trailers, caused extensive damage to buildings, including the school library, damaged the roofs of at least 50 homes, snapped power poles, and blew down power lines and trees. Portions of Highway 287 were closed due to this damage.

6. May 27, 2015Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   In advance of a diffuse dryline located from near Tulia south to Brownfield, moderate instability developed this afternoon underneath weak capping and modest mid-level winds. Thunderstorms had little problem initiating during the heat of the day and several of these became supercells thanks to sufficient directional shear. Initially, the first supercell developed northwest of Silverton and went on to produce very large hail, flooding and at least one funnel. By late afternoon, another prolific supercell erupted farther southwest near Cotton Center and for the next 1.5 hours remained over southern Hale County producing giant hail to softball size, torrential rains estimated up to…

7. Mar 10, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large damage swath began one mile west of Estelline just north of Texas Highway 86, where a center pivot irrigation system was destroyed. An 18-wheeler tractor-trailer was additionally overturned on the south side of the highway. |The damage extended eastward into the west side of Estillene. A mobile home was rolled toward the east, with part of the structure suspended in a tree and the remainder rested on top of two vehicles. A family of four all sustained minor injuries as the trailer was destroyed by the winds. Other light weight medal sheds and travel trailers also were damaged as the severe winds spread eastward then northeastward across the city.

8. May 5, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong thunderstorm wind gusts, probably associated with the rear flank downdraft of the tornadic supercell, produced major damage to trees, power poles, power lines, center pivot irrigation systems, and the roofs of homes throughout a 10-mile stretch of Highway 256. An NWS storm survey team estimated winds associated with this damage to be in the 80 to 100 mph range.

9. Jul 11, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Texas DPS reported widespread damage in Estelline. Roofs were blown off homes and numerous trees were blown down. Additionally, numerous out buildings were severely damaged. Hail also accompanied the strong winds.

10. May 27, 2015Hail$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Hail ranging from quarter to golf ball size fell in Memphis for about 20 minutes. Damage consisted primarily of dented vehicles.

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, 5.2 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.