Jackson County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Aug 25, 2017Tropical Storm, Jackson$500 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Harvey made landfall as a category 4 hurricane near Rockport, Texas during the evening of August 25th then slowed and looped back tracking over SE Texas, back over the Gulf of Mexico then making a second landfall along the Louisiana coast during the early morning hours of August 30th. Matagorda and Jackson counties experienced moderate storm surge along Matagorda Bay, Tropical Storm force winds and major lowland flooding along the Palacious and Navidad Rivers.

2. Aug 1, 1998Drought, Jackson$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Drought conditions continue from July. After months of extremely dry and hot weather across SE Texas, relief came late in the month with welcomed rainfall and slightly cooler temperatures. Over 20 people across the region lost their lives due to the extreme heat and property and crop damage averaged $8.3 million per county since May. Locations across the region were finally catching up with rainfall toward the end of the month as the drought was coming to an end. NOTE: CROP AND PROPERTY DAMAGE LISTED HERE ARE FOR THE PERIOD MAY-AUGUST 1998.

3. Jul 14, 2003Hurricane (Typhoon), Jackson$594,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Claudette made landfall along the middle Texas coast at Port O'Connor around 10:30 AM CDT on Tuesday, July 15, 2003. Claudette was the first hurricane to strike the Port O'Connor and Matagorda Bay area since Hurricane Fern on September 10, 1971. Historical records dating back to 1851 indicate Claudette is the first July hurricane to make landfall in this area. Claudette developed from a tropical wave over the central Caribbean Sea on July 8th. The storm moved westward until July 10th, when it turned northwestward over the northwestern Caribbean Sea. This motion brought the center over the northeastern Yucatan peninsula of Mexico on July 11th. Claudette briefly became a…

4. Nov 21, 2004Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread major flooding in Edna and Ganado with aerial rescues. Only Ganado's main street passable. 79 homes and businesses received minor or major flood damage with 56 of these facilities in Ganado.

5. Sep 25, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread straight line wind damage was reported across parts of Jackson County as a strong thunderstorm moved through the area. This included extensive tree damage as well as damage to power lines and some buildings.

6. Apr 22, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An emergency manager shared a photo of a snapped power line along FM 530. This represented the most intense wind damage from this storm, estimated at 118 mph based on ETL with a DoD of 4.||In the aftermath of this storm, an extensive coordination effort between local agencies, power companies and contractors were needed to clean up and repair damages across Jackson county. In total, 1,636 outages occurred across Jackson county as a result of these storms. 24 wooden power poles were broken with 52 broken crossarms. 61 poles had their wires pulled off from the winds. 80 field personnel and 25 office staff were necessary to coordinate recovery. Total damages from the storm were…

7. Sep 25, 2023Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Eye witness observed small funnel passing over eastern end of Cottonwood Apartments, damaging a building there, then proceeding to strike a metal storage unit. Swirling tin, debris was observed.

8. May 10, 2023Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Streets and homes were flooded across the Boca Chica Subdivision along County Road 473.

9. Feb 15, 2021Cold/Wind Chill, Inland Jackson$133,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Very cold air and gusty winds overspread SE Texas behind an Arctic front with wind chill indices from near zero to single digits for much the period from Sunday night to Tuesday morning. Increased power demand, wind and ice led to widespread power outages. Bursting pipes caused many to be without water as well.

10. Feb 15, 2021Cold/Wind Chill, Inland Jackson$133,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Very cold air and gusty winds overspread SE Texas behind an Arctic front with wind chill indices from near zero to single digits for much the period from Sunday night to Tuesday morning. Increased power demand, wind and ice led to widespread power outages. Bursting pipes caused many to be without water as well.

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°FSep 5, 2000

All-time low

9°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

84°FAug 12, 2023

Coldest day

27°F3 times, most recently Dec 23, 1989

Wettest day

9.87 inApr 5, 1991

Snowiest day

3.3 inFeb 12, 1958

Hottest year

2023mean 73.4°F

Coldest year

1979mean 68.0°F

Wettest year

200473.65 in

Driest year

201113.08 in

Snowiest season

3.3 in1957-58

Station Victoria Regional Airport (USW00012912), 111 ft elevation, 21.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1953 to October 26, 2026; 99.9% 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 USW00012912.
• 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.