Kleberg County

Every recorded tornado

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

The National Weather Service sets flood stages for 2 gauges here but lists no crests for them.

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. May 31, 2016Tornado$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-1 tornado touched down at the intersection of Brahma Boulevard and East General Cavazos Boulevard. It traveled northwest crossing Business Highway 77 near Otis Street before lifting. Windows were broken and shingles were blown off the roof of an apartment complex. Vehicle windows were smashed. A portion of a roof was blown off of a home. Numerous large trees and power poles were snapped. Estimated peak wind speed was 110 mph.

2. May 31, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damaging straight line winds impacted an area from just west of Kingsville Naval Air Station and then extended northwest into the south central part of the city of Kingsville. |Hundreds of large tree limbs were snapped and several trees were uprooted. Some power poles were blown down. Wind speeds were estimated to be between 70 and 90 mph.

3. May 31, 2016Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-1 tornado touched down near Farm to Market Road 1717 and traveled west across Highway 77 into Dick Kleberg Park. Numerous large trees and utility poles were snapped. Bleachers at the park were tossed 300 yards. A portion of the roof from a metal building was blown off. Estimated peak wind speed was 110 mph.

4. May 15, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several large mesquite trees and one full tree were snapped by winds.

5. Jun 6, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   NWS survey team concluded that a downburst of straight-line winds impacted Kingsville during the early evening. Damaging winds were observed across north Kingsville with the highest concentration of damage along Corral Avenue. Wind speeds were estimated between 80 to 90 mph. Widespread tree damaged occurred along with several large trees being uprooted. Power poles were snapped and moderate to major damage occurred to 15 structures. Wind speeds decreased as the winds propagated to the southeast. Winds were measured at 77 mph by the Naval Air Station Kingsville ASOS. The damage path was 2 miles wide and 9 miles in length.

6. May 12, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   NWS storm survey identified an 8 and a half mile long path of straight line wind damage extending from Riviera to near Loyola Beach. Peak wind gusts were estimated to be between 70 and 80 mph. Hundreds of large trees were damaged or snapped. A few shingles were missing from the roof of a home in Riviera. Several utility poles were damaged. The scoreboard from the Riviera High School football field and the dugout from the baseball field were destroyed.

7. Jun 1, 2006Flash Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An epic flash flood event across much of Kleberg County began in the late evening on the 1st and continued through much of June 2nd. 14.52 inches of rainfall was recorded by a volunteer NWS observer 2 miles east of Ricardo. Satellite precipitation estimates indicated up to 20 inches of rainfall may have fallen just east of the volunteer observer's location. Many Farm to Market and County Roads were flooded as well as U.S. 77 at Ricardo and several streets in Kingsville. About 30 residents in a flood plain along F.M. 1717, southeast of Kingsville, had to be evacuated for their safety from the rising water.Dollar estimates on the damages are rough, conservative estimates and are…

8. May 31, 2016Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Baseball sized hail occurred near Ricardo. Hail caused damage to several vehicles.

9. Sep 7, 2010Tropical Storm, Kleberg$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous large tree limbs and power lines were knocked down across the county causing power outages affecting 9437 customers. A roof was blown off of a local business in Kingsville. Minor damage occurred to homes. Peak wind gust measured was 63 mph at Kingsville Naval Air Station.

10. Jul 25, 2020Storm Surge/Tide, Coastal Kleberg County$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Tide levels reached 2 to 4.5 feet above ground level with the storm surge. Surge damaged many piers at Loyola Beach and Riviera Beach near Baffin Bay.

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 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

Station Kingsville (USC00414810), 57 ft elevation, 2.8 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.

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 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.