Kenedy County
Population 319 (2025) 1,459 sq mi
40 tropical storms and hurricanes have passed within 50 miles of Kenedy County since 1851, 19 of them at hurricane strength; the strongest was Celia in 1970 (Category 4).
Hazard fingerprint Each spoke is this county’s percentile among U.S. counties where that hazard occurs. How it is computed
- Tornado damage paths since 19506
- Tropical cyclone tracks within 100 miles since 1851, wider where stronger64
- Wildfire burn scars since 198417
At a glance
The record for Kenedy County in eight numbers. Each links to its section below.
Acres burned since 1984
61,571
47th of 254 in Texas
17 large fires; the largest was Hayfield South, 2022
DetailsTornadoes since 1950
6
240th of 254 in Texas
Fewer than the typical Texas county, which has had 35
DetailsStrongest tornado
F3
June 5, 1965, 1.0 mile path
Strongest tropical cyclone
Cat. 4
Hurricane Celia, 1970, 39.1 miles away
Tornadoes
About one every 13 years since 1950, one of them rated F3/EF3 or stronger.
Strongest
June 5, 1965
F3, 1.0 mile path
100 yards wide.
Most recent
Monday, April 16, 2012
EF0, 0.8 mile path
14 years ago.
Every recorded tornado
| Apr 16, 2012 | EF0 | 0.8 | 0 | 0 |
| May 10, 2006 | F0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 14, 2000 | F0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Aug 9, 1980 | F0 | 2.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Jun 26, 1973 | F0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Jun 5, 1965 | F3 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 |
- Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Kenedy County: 0.
- 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.
Hurricanes and tropical storms
40 passed within 50 miles since 1851; 19 at hurricane strength, 7 as major hurricanes.
Strongest within 50 miles
August 3, 1970
Celia, Category 4
39.1 miles at closest approach, winds near 138 mph.
Most recent
July 8, 2024
Beryl, Tropical storm
97.9 miles at closest approach.
Every storm within 100 miles
| Beryl | 2024 | 97.9 | Tropical storm |
| Harold | 2023 | 0.0 | Tropical storm |
| Nicholas | 2021 | 40.6 | Tropical storm |
| Beta | 2020 | 95.3 | Tropical storm |
| Hanna | 2020 | 0.0 | Category 1 |
| Harvey | 2017 | 47.8 | Category 4 |
| Bill | 2015 | 75.0 | Tropical storm |
| Hermine | 2010 | 0.0 | Tropical storm |
| Dolly | 2008 | 3.6 | Tropical storm |
| Erika | 2003 | 84.9 | Tropical storm |
| Claudette | 2003 | 86.0 | Tropical storm |
| Bret | 1999 | 0.0 | Category 3 |
| Frances | 1998 | 62.8 | Tropical storm |
| Charley | 1998 | 39.1 | Tropical storm |
| Barry | 1983 | 79.8 | Tropical storm |
| Allen | 1980 | 2.4 | Category 2 |
| Amelia | 1978 | 0.0 | Tropical storm |
| Edith | 1971 | 72.2 | Category 1 |
| Fern | 1971 | 1.5 | Tropical storm |
| Celia | 1970 | 39.1 | Category 4 |
| Candy | 1968 | 25.7 | Tropical storm |
| Beulah | 1967 | 0.0 | Category 2 |
| Carla | 1961 | 83.3 | Category 4 |
| Unnamed | 1960 | 0.0 | Tropical storm |
| Ella | 1958 | 15.0 | Tropical storm |
| Alma | 1958 | 47.5 | Tropical storm |
| Alice | 1954 | 49.9 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1947 | 42.9 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1945 | 25.7 | Category 3 |
| Unnamed | 1942 | 83.0 | Category 3 |
| Unnamed | 1936 | 0.0 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1936 | 44.5 | Category 1 |
| Unnamed | 1934 | 58.4 | Category 1 |
| Unnamed | 1933 | 34.7 | Category 3 |
| Unnamed | 1933 | 56.5 | Category 1 |
| Unnamed | 1931 | 0.0 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1929 | 88.3 | Category 1 |
| Unnamed | 1925 | 50.1 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1921 | 97.2 | Category 1 |
| Unnamed | 1919 | 2.7 | Category 2 |
| Unnamed | 1916 | 0.0 | Category 3 |
| Unnamed | 1913 | 0.0 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1912 | 2.0 | Category 2 |
| Unnamed | 1910 | 0.0 | Category 1 |
| Unnamed | 1910 | 54.1 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1909 | 34.6 | Category 2 |
| Unnamed | 1902 | 14.5 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1895 | 69.1 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1887 | 34.6 | Category 1 |
| Unnamed | 1886 | 0.0 | Category 1 |
| Unnamed | 1886 | 65.9 | Category 4 |
| Unnamed | 1886 | 86.5 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1885 | 79.4 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1881 | 53.6 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1880 | 21.7 | Category 2 |
| Unnamed | 1875 | 26.3 | Category 3 |
| Unnamed | 1874 | 6.2 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1869 | 61.1 | Category 1 |
| Unnamed | 1867 | 26.7 | Category 2 |
| Unnamed | 1866 | 91.1 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1865 | 41.6 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1857 | 19.7 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1854 | 19.5 | Tropical storm |
| Unnamed | 1851 | 66.6 | Category 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.
Wildfire and smoke
61,571 acres burned in 17 large fires since 1984, equal to 6.6% of the land.
Largest
March 24, 2022
Hayfield South Fire, 11,034 acres
11,037 acres inside Kenedy County.
Most recent
April 19, 2024
Mile Marker 32 Fire
1,429 acres in total.
Every large fire
| Mile Marker 32 | 2024 | 1,428 | 1,429 |
| Deer | 2022 | 1,659 | 1,656 |
| Hayfield South | 2022 | 11,037 | 11,034 |
| Polo | 2022 | 5,573 | 5,575 |
| Baffin | 2021 | 3,221 | 3,222 |
| 20 Mile | 2020 | 1,465 | 1,470 |
| Lightning14 | 2018 | 2,823 | 4,243 |
| Trust | 2018 | 6,648 | 6,644 |
| Cane | 2017 | 8,800 | 8,803 |
| Baffin 2 | 2017 | 1,662 | 1,663 |
| 28 Mile | 2014 | 3,719 | 3,722 |
| King Ranch | 2011 | 3,075 | 3,071 |
| Turtle | 2009 | 5,454 | 5,469 |
| San Carlos | 2009 | 2,848 | 2,846 |
| Stillman | 2009 | 1,465 | 1,467 |
| Cameron | 2007 | 91 | 1,122 |
| Pan Am | 1986 | 594 | 1,515 |
- 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
Smokiest year
2023: 42 days
Heavy smoke on 1 day in 2022, the most of any year.
Last 10 years
14.5 days a year
Medium or heavy smoke, 2016 to 2025.
2025
7 days
Medium or heavy smoke. 15 so far in 2026.
- 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.
Floods and flood insurance
1 federal flood insurance claims since 2020, with $59,000 paid.
Flood events since 1996
- Heavy Rain3
- Coastal Flood1
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.
Drought
In severe drought or worse for 240 of 1,581 months since 1895 (15%); the longest spell lasted 31 months.
240
Months in severe drought or worse since 1895
75
Months in extreme drought
15%
Share of all months, severe or worse
214
Drought reports to the Weather Service since 1996
Lowest reading
March 2013
−5.58, extreme drought
Longest severe spell
31 months
May 2011 to November 2013.
Latest month
September 2026
−3.44, severe drought
- 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.
Earthquakes
2 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more within 50 miles since 1997; none reached magnitude 4.
0
Magnitude 2.5+ inside the county since 1973
2
Magnitude 3+ within 50 miles since 1973
0
Magnitude 4+ within 50 miles since 1900
0
Magnitude 5+ within 50 miles since 1900
Largest within 50 miles
April 24, 2010
Magnitude 3.9
10 km WNW of Driscoll, Texas; 29.5 miles away, 3.1 miles deep.
Most recent, magnitude 3 or more
April 24, 2010
Magnitude 3.9
10 km WNW of Driscoll, Texas; 29.5 miles away.
- 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).
- 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.
Severe weather and other events
488 events in the National Weather Service record, 479 of them since 1996.
17
Hail reports, 1 inch or larger
1
Hail, 2 inches or larger
12
Damaging gusts, 58 mph+
3
Winter weather events since 1996
81
Heat events since 1996
106
Cold events since 1996
Largest hail
May 10, 1999
2.75 inches
Strongest measured or estimated gust
August 10, 1980
104 mph
More event types since 1996
| High surf and sneaker waves | 1 | 0 |
| Storm surge and tide | 10 | 0 |
Costliest events since 1996
- Jul 25, 2020Storm Surge/Tide, Coastal Kenedy County$12,000
National Weather Service narrative
Storm surge generated by Hurricane Hanna pushed tide levels above ground in excess of 3 feet along coastal Kenedy County beginning by mid afternoon of July 25th and likely continuing through landfall at approximately 4 PM local standard time on the mid-Kenedy County coast along the Padre Island National Seashore (PINS). Though high water marks had not been specifically provided on PINS at the time of this writing, ground and aerial surveys suggested water levels above ground may have exceeded 4 feet above normally dry ground on portions of PINS in Kenedy County. Levels up to 5.48 feet above normally dry ground at the shoreline (Mean Higher High Water) were noted along the Coastal…
- May 10, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$3,000
- May 26, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$2,000
- Mar 27, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$1,000
- Sep 23, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$500
- 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.
Weather records
From Kingsville, 29.7 miles from the county’s population centre, with records from 1902.
- All-time high
- 111°F2 times, most recently Sep 6, 2000
- All-time low
- 10°FDec 24, 1989
- Warmest night
- 92°FJul 27, 1984
- Coldest day
- 26°FDec 24, 1983
- Wettest day
- 10.95 inMay 19, 2021
- Snowiest day
- 2.0 inDec 8, 2017
- Hottest year
- 2023mean 75.8°F
- Coldest year
- 1976mean 70.1°F
- Wettest year
- 195852.66 in
- Driest year
- 191111.98 in
- Snowiest season
- 2.0 in2017-18
80 of 84 winters had no measurable snow.
Station Kingsville (USC00414810), 57 ft elevation, 29.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1902 to October 23, 2026; 96.7% 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.
Federal disaster declarations
21 since 1953. The most recent: Hurricane Beryl, July 9, 2024.
| Jul 9, 2024 | Hurricane | DR-4798-TX |
| Feb 19, 2021 | Severe Ice Storm | DR-4586-TX |
| Feb 14, 2021 | Severe Ice Storm | EM-3554-TX |
| Aug 24, 2020 | Hurricane | EM-3540-TX |
| Jul 26, 2020 | Hurricane | EM-3530-TX |
| Mar 25, 2020 | Biological | DR-4485-TX |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | EM-3458-TX |
| Jun 29, 2010 | Hurricane | EM-3313-TX |
| Sep 10, 2008 | Hurricane | EM-3294-TX |
| Aug 29, 2008 | Hurricane | EM-3290-TX |
| Jul 24, 2008 | Hurricane | DR-1780-TX |
| Mar 14, 2008 | Fire | EM-3284-TX |
| Aug 18, 2007 | Hurricane | EM-3277-TX |
| Jan 11, 2006 | Fire | DR-1624-TX |
| Sep 24, 2005 | Hurricane | DR-1606-TX |
| Sep 21, 2005 | Hurricane | EM-3261-TX |
| Sep 2, 2005 | Hurricane | EM-3216-TX |
| Aug 22, 1999 | Hurricane | DR-1287-TX |
| Aug 26, 1998 | Severe Storm | DR-1239-TX |
| Aug 11, 1980 | Hurricane | DR-627-TX |
| Sep 28, 1967 | Hurricane | DR-232-TX |
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.
How this compares
Where Kenedy County stands among 254 counties in Texas and 3,143 in the United States.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 6 | 240 / 254 |
| Tornadoes rated F3/EF3 or stronger | 1 | 128 / 254 |
| Tropical cyclones within 50 mi | 40 | 11 / 254 |
| Hurricane-strength passes within 50 mi | 19 | 8 / 254 |
| Wildfire acres since 1984 | 61,571 | 47 / 254 |
| Flood insurance claims | 1 | 200 / 254 |
| Flood insurance paid | $59,000 | 175 / 254 |
| Disaster declarations | 21 | 103 / 254 |
| Flood events since 1996 | 4 | 252 / 254 |
| Hail and wind events since 1996 | 33 | 254 / 254 |
| Winter storm events since 1996 | 3 | 251 / 254 |
| Reported damage since 1996 | $18,000 | 254 / 254 |
| River crests at major flood stage | 0 | — |
| High tide flooding days a year, last 10 years | 0.0 | — |
| Months in severe drought since 1895 | 240 | 37 / 254 |
| Medium or heavy smoke days a year, last 10 years | 14.5 | 17 / 254 |
| Earthquakes M4+ within 50 mi since 1900 | 0 | — |
| Earthquakes M2.5+ in the county since 1973 | 0 | — |
Neighbouring counties
| Brooks County | 5 | 23 |
| Hidalgo County | 41 | 33 |
| Kleberg County | 30 | 32 |
| Willacy County | 21 | 39 |
Sources and vintage
Every number on this page comes from these public records.
- 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 USC00414810.
- 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.