Hays County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Hays 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 storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 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.

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 24, 2015Flash Flood$100 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding. Rainfall totals of 10 to 13 inches were reported upstream in southern Blanco County and all of this water entered the Blanco River and Little Blanco River. The Fischer Store Rd. bridge over the Blanco River was destroyed by flood waters west of Wimberley. The Blanco River, down stream from the bridge, at Wimberley reached a record crest. The gauge failed at 40 feet and the USGS later estimated the crest at 44.9 feet with 175,000 cfs. This height was more than 10 feet over the previous record height of 33.3 feet from 1929. Homes along the banks of the Blanco River from the City of Blanco, through Wimberley, and down to…

2. May 24, 2015Flash Flood$100 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding in Kyle and San Marcos. The majority of the flooding was along the Blanco and San Marcos Rivers. A massive floodwave came down the Blanco River from Wimberley. Huge amounts of debris came with the flood waters. Four people were trapped on a roof awaiting a helicopter rescue in Kyle. I-35 was closed in both directions in San Marcos when the Blanco River flooded and overtopped the interstate. Hwy 80 bridge was also overtopped with flood water just east of I-35. Highway 80 was closed with debris bumping into a bridge structure. Water flooded the Aspen Apartment complex and water was reported to be up to the top of car tires…

3. Apr 20, 2006Hail$100 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The team began the survey along IH-35 near Center Point Road. They noted widespread damage to trees and vegetation beginning near that point and continuing northward to the San Marcos Tanger Outlet Mall and Prime Time Outlet Mall. The damage was caused by a combination of large hail and winds gusting 40 to 50 mph. NWS NEXRAD Radar late Thursday afternoon had indicated severe thunderstorms in that area moving toward the northeast.At the south end of the Malls, the parking lot surface was covered with dents and impressions produced by the wind and hail. Hundreds of vehicles had been damaged in this event but only a few remained in the area. Most of these had all of the window glass…

4. Oct 30, 2015Flash Flood$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Massive flooding occurred along and just west of Interstate 35 on the morning of October 30th as a supercell thunderstorm merged with another line of storms. Torrential rains with rain rates of 7+ inches per hour caused massive runoff and quickly flooded the Blanco River, Onion Creek, Plum Creek, the San Marcos River and other smaller creeks and streams. Rainfall totals along I-35 were as high as 16 inches which led to significant flooding in Kyle and Buda as well. Sections of I-35 were shut down as water made the interstate impassable. Areas of San Marcos were inundated with water, trapping people and school kids. Dozens of swift water rescues continued during the morning and…

5. May 9, 2024Hail$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A thunderstorm produced three inch diameter hail south of Dripping Springs. As of this writing there is no official estimate of monetary loss due to the hail across Hays County including Dripping Springs and the Wimberley area. Will go with an initial 10 million dollars and this will be updated at a later time if more accurate estimates come in from city or county officials.

6. Jun 2, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A line of thunderstorms formed along a cold front in central Texas and moved quickly southward. As the storms moved through Hays County, they produced a downburst that struck the town of San Marcos and spread southeastward into Caldwell County. An NWS Storm Survey Team reported numerous large tree limbs of diameter from 6 to 12 inches broken or blown over in San Marcos and along the I-35 corridor. Blown over trees and limbs were generally pointed toward a southeast direction. Many business signs and awnings were damaged along with roof damage to several businesses. Metal or tin roof in some businesses was peeled off on the side of the incoming high winds. Based on the damage and…

7. Sep 4, 2011Wildfire, Hays$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Pedernales Bend Wildfire started in Travis County on September 4 behind Tropical Storm Lee and a cold front that brought strong northerly winds. The peak wind at Austin Bergstrom International Airport was 36 mph. The fire burned into Hays County and eventually consumed 6500 acres and destroyed 67 homes.

8. Oct 17, 1998Flood, Hays$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding along the Blanco RiverAt Wimberley, the Blanco River crested at 26.7 feet, with flood stage at 13 feet. Several businesses in Wimberley were flooded. The worst flooding was along Cypress Creek, which may well have been produced as the Blanco River backed up into the Wimberley business district, and runoff coming down Cypress Creek.

9. Oct 17, 1998Flood, Hays$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding along the San Marcos RiverIn Hays County, the flooding along the San Marcos River was most devastating to the eastern part of San Marcos, with many permanent homes flooded and several mobile homes washed from their sites, Homes and apartments were flooded along the San Marcos River on Riverside and Riviera Drives, along Purgatory Creek, and along Uhland and Post Roads.Downstream in and near Martindale in Caldwell County, the San Marcos River flooded several subdivisions. At Luling, the river gauge appears to have hung at 38.7 feet and rising, where flood stage is 20 feet. In Luling, the golf course was completely inundated and in the nearby south section of Luling had…

10. Jun 8, 1997Flash Flood$2.5 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    As a result of general 3 to 4 inch rainfall in less than 4 hours, and isolated totals near 5 inches, widespread flash flooding developed along the Blanco River across southern Blanco and Southern Hays Counties from Blanco to Wimberly. In all, over 40 homes in Hays County were flooded by the heavy rainfall and over 40 cars were washed away. More than 25 Hays County roads were flooded out, with the worst flooding taking place along Dry Cypress Creek. Several high water rescues were made during the early morning hours. Two young adults in separate vehicles attempted to cross the Blanco River shortly after midnight, but one vehicle became stalled. The two got into the second vehicle…

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

111°F2 times, most recently Sep 5, 2000

All-time low

−2°FJan 31, 1949

Warmest night

82°FJul 23, 2026

Coldest day

21°FJan 26, 1897

Wettest day

15.78 inOct 17, 1998

Snowiest day

6.0 in2 times, most recently Jan 24, 1926

Hottest year

1927mean 73.7°F

Coldest year

1976mean 64.6°F

Wettest year

199858.51 in

Driest year

195412.00 in

Snowiest season

10.0 in1929-30

Station San Marcos (USC00417983), 665 ft elevation, 8.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1895 to October 1, 2026; 91.9% 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 USC00417983.
• 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.