Hockley County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Hockley County: 0.
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.

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 29, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$35.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An NWS storm survey team observed damage to utility poles, trees, and center pivots in and around Levelland. Damage escalated in both coverage and intensity east of US Highway 385 with a concentrated area of damage noted in and around Kauffman Park. Here, winds of 90 mph to 120 mph caused partial failures to some roofs and completely destroyed several wooden outbuildings. Many homes and vehicles|suffered broken windows with roughly one dozen trees uprooted. One home lost roughly 30 percent of its roof and insulation while a wooden framed workshop in its backyard was completely destroyed and|blown two homes away. Numerous wooden and metal fences were also heavily damaged or…

2. May 25, 1999Hail$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Golfball- to baseball-size hail fell across Levelland, and caused millions of dollars in damages to roofs, vehicles, and windows all across the city. This same storm would later go on to cause damage in Wolfforth and far southwest Lubbock.

3. Jun 7, 2014Hail$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A left-moving supercell produced a swath of large hail generally from near Sundown northeast to Levelland. Trained spotters estimated the hail ranged in size from ping pong balls to as large as tennis balls. The worst hail damage was noted in Levelland where many vehicles suffered cracked or shattered windows, particularly at the Covenant hospital. Several homes in Levelland also sustained varying degrees of roof damage including some broken windows.

4. Jun 30, 2017Hail$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is the continuation path of the devastating supercell that moved slowly southeast along U.S. Highway 84 from Lamb County. Wind-driven hail as large as baseballs shattered home windows, destroyed siding, punctured roofs, heavily damaged vehicles, wiped out crops, and stripped trees across far northeast Hockley County. The mayor of Anton described the hail damage as the worst he had ever seen in decades of living on the Texas South Plains and declared a state of disaster. The American Red Cross said 100% of the roughly 400 homes in Anton sustained serious damage, with each home requiring on average $6,000 of repairs. One resident of Anton was bruised by the large hail and cut…

5. Jul 4, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A significant downburst with winds estimated as high as 110 mph struck the northern half of the city of Levelland causing widespread damage to buildings, trees, utility poles, and even rolling two cars from the road. An NWS damage survey team determined the most intense winds were focused about 2.5 miles east of downtown Levelland. It was in this area that a pole barn's metal support beams were ripped from their anchors and a car along State Highway 114 was blown off the road and flipped over. The driver of the car was shaken, but not injured. Damage elsewhere was consistent with winds of 70 to 90 mph and was comprised of peeled back roofs on some buildings and mobile homes, some…

6. Mar 12, 2019Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A fast-moving tornado developed within a line of thunderstorms and moved north-northeast at 40 to 45 mph. Based on the NWS storm survey and radar data, the total track was determined to be 3.4 miles from extreme northeast Hockley County into far southeast Lamb County (the tornado's length in Hockley County was about 1.8 miles). This tornado caused EF1 damage to a well-built home located about one mile east-southeast of Anton and destroyed a large sheet metal building on the same property. In addition to downing large tree limbs, six power poles were snapped and two large center pivots were heavily damaged. Data from the Lubbock WSR-88D radar confirmed a tornadic debris signature…

7. Apr 29, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fences were blown down at FM 1585 and FM 3261. The blown down fences allowed between 50 and 60 head of cattle to become loose and block a roadway.

8. Mar 13, 2019High Wind, Hockley$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

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

9. Feb 27, 2011Wildfire, Hockley$450,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The passage of an intense upper air storm system over the Southern Plains of the U.S. on the 27th caused high winds, blowing dust, and an outbreak of destructive grassland wildfires that affected portions of three states.||Locally on the South Plains of west Texas, intense southwest to westerly winds intensified rapidly in the hours around midday. These winds resulted in widespread blowing dust across region. Visibility at Lubbock's Preston Smith International Airport dropped to less than one-quarter mile in the dust storm. Similar dust storm conditions undoubtedly occurred at many South Plains locales, but went unreported. Damage brought on by the winds and resultant wildland…

10. May 3, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$400,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A complex of severe thunderstorms resulted in a locally intense swath of damaging winds near Anton. Damage was confined to a three mile radius in and around the city, but was fairly widespread within the city limits. Several trees, utility poles, and structures sustained damaged. Numerous roofs sustained at least minor damage, with a few peeled back or completely torn off. Several 1,000 pound "round" hay bales were rolled across Business 84 and over the adjacent railroad tracks. Local officials reported that the railroad tracks were obscured by debris at multiple locations through the city. Many highway signs also were blown toward the east. A large storage shed collapsed as…

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

115°FJun 28, 1994

All-time low

−16°FJan 13, 1963

Warmest night

79°FJul 5, 1951

Coldest day

7°FFeb 15, 2021

Wettest day

4.23 inJun 12, 1999

Snowiest day

18.0 inFeb 20, 1961

Hottest year

1954mean 63.0°F

Coldest year

1982mean 56.3°F

Wettest year

200434.44 in

Driest year

20115.86 in

Snowiest season

46.9 in1960-61

Station Levelland (USC00415183), 3,514 ft elevation, 3.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1937 to October 23, 2026; 99.4% 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 USC00415183.
• 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.