Lipscomb County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

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. Jan 14, 2017Ice Storm, Lipscomb$2.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Resident count of 701 affected. There were 12 business that also reported economic injuries. Damages and economic impact also resulted from: debris cleanup (downed trees, etc), numerous downed power lines and broken power poles, and damaged to roads and bridges.

2. Feb 24, 2013Blizzard, Lipscomb$660,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Blizzard conditions reported by the National Weather Service COOP Observer in Lipscomb and 14.0 inches storm total snow.

3. Feb 24, 2000Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado track was estimated and the tornado damaged nine irrigation sprinklers. Trees were uprooted and fences were blown down three miles east of Follett. The tornado also damaged roof tops, outbuildings, water wind mills, and one tractor cab along with several power line poles. The tornado exited LIpscomb County of Amarillo's County Warning Area and continued moving northeast into Ellis County of Norman's County Warning Area.

4. May 24, 2007Flood$220,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Very heavy rainfall caused tremendous runoff into the Wolf Creek in Ochiltree and Lipscomb Counties. The flooding caused road closures along the south Wolf Creek in Ochiltree County and along the main stem of the Wolf Creek as it passed through Lake Fryer on into Lipscomb County. The flooding caused damage to some fifth wheel campers at Lake Fryer as they were drawn into the lake. The crest on the Wolf Creek at the gage site on the north side of Lipscomb was just over fifteen feet on the morning of May 24. The creek at Lipscomb was out of its banks for nearly four days and was running above the flood stage for almost thirty hours. This crest was the highest crest for the period of…

5. Mar 18, 2014Wildfire, Lipscomb$190,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Higgins Wildfire began around 1230CST around 7 miles west southwest of Higgins Texas or between Higgins and Glazier off of U.S. Highway 60 in Lipscomb county and spread eastward into Oklahoma. The wildfire consumed an estimated twenty-nine thousand six hundred and eleven acres. There were two homes and four outbuildings which were destroyed. However, there were no reports of injuries or fatalities. The two homes destroyed were not occupied and one of the houses was apparently abandoned and the other had just been renovated. There were also fifteen rural homes which were evacuated during the wildfire. The exact cause of the wildfire remains under investigation and the wildfire…

6. Feb 24, 2000Hail$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail damaged automobiles and mainly the roofs of buildings.

7. Aug 14, 2008Hail$63,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Booker Fire Department reported lots of hail damage in Booker due to tennis ball size hail. Car windows and the windows of businesses were broken...most roofs of buildings sustained hail damage...and a large trampoline was reported to be in a tree. The time of the damage was estimated to be between 1645 and 1715 CST.

8. Jun 13, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$55,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds reportedly caused an empty trailer of a semi truck to slide into an automobile and then overturn along US Highway 83 in the southwest corner of Lipscomb County. Three people in the automobile were reportedly injured.

9. Apr 6, 2001High Wind, Lipscomb$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Train cars were reported blown off the tracks by non-thunderstorm winds.

10. Jan 28, 2008High Wind, Lipscomb$38,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The roof was blown off of a grocery store knocking down power lines and causing damage to cars in the nearby parking lot. No injuries were reported.

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°FJul 19, 2022

All-time low

−20°FJan 15, 1905

Warmest night

82°FAug 13, 2026

Coldest day

−1°FFeb 12, 1905

Wettest day

4.94 inMay 7, 1950

Snowiest day

18.0 inFeb 21, 1971

Hottest year

2024mean 62.2°F

Coldest year

1979mean 55.6°F

Wettest year

195734.74 in

Driest year

20117.62 in

Snowiest season

41.3 in1972-73

Station Gage Airport (USW00013975), 2,185 ft elevation, 33.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1904 to October 26, 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 USW00013975.
• 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.