Madison County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Madison County: 3.
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

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. Aug 25, 2017Tropical Storm, Madison$80.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Slow moving Tropical Storm Harvey brought heavy rains and flooding to portions of Brazos, Burleson, Austin, Grimes, Washington and Madison Counties. Moderate to major lowland flooding occurred along rivers and numerous creeks and tributaries. This includes the Brazos at San Felipe, Davison Creek, etc.

2. Sep 13, 2008Tropical Storm, Madison$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Ike produced tropical storm force winds in the county. Moderate wind damage with trees and limbs down. Shingle damage to roofs.

3. May 1, 2024Flood$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding from numerous heavy rain events in April and early May led to significant damage.

4. Mar 21, 2022Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This EF1 tornado first touched down along Highway 190/21 just southwest of Madisonville and then tracked to the northeast through town. There was significant damage to several homes and a few businesses, including the brick facade of a building at the intersection of Collard Street and Highway 75. A few power poles were also snapped at this intersection.

5. Aug 1, 1998Drought, Madison$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.

6. Dec 29, 2006Tornado$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado caused three injuries due to a large oak tree falling through a home at Fair Oaks Ranch on the Old Spanish Road. Significant damage to a chicken farm located east of Normangee which killed 15,000 chickens. Numerous trees down, several damaged roofs, and downed power lines along with a power support tower. The most significant damage was reported between Strawther Road and the Willowhold Community with many damaged roofs and downed trees. A horse ranch also received a large amount of damage in the community of Mecca. This tornado was a border-crosser and moved north into Leon County.

7. Jul 26, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorm winds tore the roofs off of several businesses and numerous other structures and residences suffered lesser damage. Emergency management officials reported 22 businesses and 22 homes sustained damage.

8. Jan 21, 1998Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado tore roof off Yellow Rose Cattle Company Restaurant at OSR & I-45.

9. Feb 15, 2021Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Madison$140,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Bitter cold air and wind overspread SE Texas behind and Arctic front on Valentines Day with wind chill indices below zero for much about a 30 hour period Between Sunday night and Tuesday morning. Increased power demand, wind and ice led to widespread power outages. Bursting pipes caused many to be without water as well.

10. May 26, 2016Flash Flood$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous roads were flooded and impassable around Madisonville. SH 21 from Madisonville to FM 2548, Old Spanish Trail between I-45 and US 190, and US 190 from Madisonville to Bedias were all under water, impassable and therefore closed.

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

112°FSep 5, 2000

All-time low

−2°FJan 31, 1949

Warmest night

86°FAug 20, 1952

Coldest day

17°FFeb 16, 2021

Wettest day

8.89 inOct 16, 2018

Snowiest day

4.0 in2 times, most recently Jan 3, 1985

Hottest year

1990mean 70.0°F

Coldest year

2014mean 64.7°F

Wettest year

201874.86 in

Driest year

198823.87 in

Station Madisonville (USC00415477), 252 ft elevation, 1.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1942 to October 23, 2026; 94.2% 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 USC00415477.
• 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.