McMullen County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Apr 16, 2010Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms with very heavy rainfall trained for much of the night across northern McMullen county, dumping up to 10-15 inches of rainfall and producing widespread flash flooding. Highways 16, 72, and 99 were all closed near Tilden due to flooded roads. A portion of FM 3445 was washed out and a vehicle swept into the high water. A successful high water rescue was performed.

2. Oct 2, 2017Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The flood wave continued to produce major river flooding along the Nueces River as it moved downstream through McMullen County during the first couple of weeks of October. Roads near the river were flooded. Hunting cabins, pump jacks, tank batteries, and irrigation pumps were flooded.

3. Oct 18, 2013Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Farm and ranch equipment were inundated by major flooding along the Nueces River. Some oil field equipment were flooded also.

4. May 10, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds blew down four power poles and caused damage to a garage northeast of the community of Cross.

5. May 23, 2017Hail$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Spotter submitted picture of tennis ball sized hail.

6. Nov 7, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees were blown down by winds estimated to be around 60 mph.

7. Apr 30, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Power poles snapped along F.M. 624 roughly 8 miles west of Hwy 16.

8. Mar 31, 2013Hail$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   NWS storm survey observed dented road signs from hail along U. S. Highway 16.

9. May 10, 2013Hail$2,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Spotter reported quarter sized hail occurred northeast of Cross.

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 6, 2000

All-time low

11°FDec 26, 1983

Warmest night

82°F4 times, most recently Jun 5, 2024

Coldest day

27°FFeb 16, 2021

Wettest day

7.94 inJul 17, 1990

Snowiest day

6.0 inDec 25, 2004

Hottest year

2025mean 75.2°F

Coldest year

2007mean 69.6°F

Wettest year

200745.60 in

Driest year

20116.23 in

Snowiest season

6.0 in2004-05

Station Choke Canyon Dam (USC00411720), 230 ft elevation, 16.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1983 to October 23, 2026; 99.5% 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 USC00411720.
• 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.