Lee County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Mar 16, 2000Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The extremely large hail damaged hundreds of cars windows and bodies and dented and damaged the roofs of dozens of homes. Many consider this to be the most devastating hail storm in the city of Giddings in over 50 years.

2. Feb 1, 2023Winter Weather, Lee$370,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Light freezing rain and freezing drizzle began on the afternoon of the 30th and continued off and on until February 2. The icing was mainly on trees and elevated surfaces. The cost of damage was estimated at $370,000.

3. Aug 26, 2017Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The largest impact across Lee County with Harvey was the rainfall where as much as 20 inches fell near Giddings. The southern half of the county experienced the worst flooding with 25 homes being impacted, many of those having experienced major damage. The tropical storm force winds did bring some trees down across the county. Damage from the flooding is estimated to be near 250K dollars.

4. Mar 19, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread wind damage in the derecho was reported across Lee County by wind gusts estimated at 60 to 70 knots. The storms knocked over trees and power lines, damaged roofs and windows, and destroyed barns and outbuildings.

5. Apr 20, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorms moved into Lee County in the late afternoon. They began producing severe winds as they approached US77, knocking down trees and power lines from near Lincoln eastward to near Dime Box. The storm also destroyed outbuildings and damaged several mobile homes along the path. Near Dime Box the storms destroyed several barns, with the damage estimated near $200,000.

6. Mar 19, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorm winds destroyed severely damaged a large barn northeast of Giddings along FM141. The winds destroyed the roof of the barn.

7. Dec 23, 2002Hail$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damage was reported to roofs and windows of buildings as well as to vehicles in the Lexington area by the softball-sized hail.

8. May 6, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds blew an 18-wheel trailer off a bridge and into a creek along US77 2 miles north of Lexington. Other severe thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and power lines in the city of Lexington. Some residents were left without power for few hours.

9. Aug 26, 2017Tropical Storm, Lee$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Harvey moved onshore as a Category 4 hurricane over San Jose Island east of Rockport during the late evening of August 25th. Harvey moved inland entering southern DeWitt County during the morning of August 26th as a Category 1 hurricane. It continued to weaken as it moved farther inland eventually reaching south central Gonzales County as a tropical storm during the late evening of August 26th. The center of the storm made a loop through Gonzales, Karnes, and DeWitt Counties before exiting our County Warning Area during the afternoon of August 27th moving into Victoria County. ||The largest impact across Lee County was the rainfall where as much as 20 inches fell near…

10. May 10, 1999Hail$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Hail of up to golfball size damaged cars and trucks just west of Lincoln.

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

114°FSep 5, 2000

All-time low

3°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

82°F2 times, most recently Jul 20, 1995

Coldest day

21°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

15.25 inOct 17, 1994

Snowiest day

0.1 inFeb 6, 1967

Hottest year

2006mean 69.9°F

Coldest year

1968mean 65.3°F

Wettest year

196866.57 in

Driest year

198818.94 in

Station Somerville Dam (USC00418446), 263 ft elevation, 26.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1963 to October 21, 2026; 88.1% 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 USC00418446.
• 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.