Mills County

Every recorded tornado

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

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

The National Weather Service sets flood stages for 1 gauge here but lists no crests for it.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Feb 20, 1997Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Six to eight inches of rain fell across the area causing numerous roads to flood. Sixty percent of the 485 miles of gravel roads across the county were washed away by flood waters.

2. Aug 5, 2011Wildfire, Mills$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A 1701-acre grass fire started in Center City along Hwy 84 by a car that likely blew a tire. The blaze began on the 5th, was contained on the 6th, and the fully controlled on the 8th. The fire burned two houses, 8 mobile homes, two sheds, several other barns, and some bales of round hay.

3. Dec 5, 2013Winter Storm, Mills$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   According to the sheriff's office, up to 2 of ice and sleet accumulated in Mills County. Roads became covered in ice and several accidents due to vehicles sliding off the roadways were reported. The local police reported Highway 84 west of Evant was especially treacherous. Many tree branches and trees were broken or damaged from the weight of the ice.

4. Feb 14, 2021Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Mills$490,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extreme cold gripped the county for several days. Overnight lows were near or below 20 degrees Fahrenheit almost all week. The period of February 15-16th was the coldest with low temperatures in the single digits to slightly below degrees Fahrenheit. The maximum temperature on the 15th was only in the teens. Wind chill values during the 14th-16th were between 5 to -20 degrees Fahrenheit most of the time. The cold temperatures resulted in an extreme amount of damage to pipes, infrastructure, and power.

5. May 4, 2023Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A lingering upper trough provided several days of thunderstorm activity across the region, with a dryline providing focus for development each day from Thursday May 4 through Monday May 8. Several of these storms were severe with damaging winds and large hail.

6. May 4, 2024Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   BNSF Railroad reported on their radio frequency that there was a track washout in the Goldthwaite area.

7. May 15, 2013Hail$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trained spotters reported hail to the size of baseballs in the city of Caradan.

8. Jan 5, 1998Tornado$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado severely damaged a mobile home.

9. Mar 4, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A mobile home was damaged by high winds and there were numerous reports of barns destroyed.

10. Apr 13, 2014Hail$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    There were several broadcast media reports of golf ball sized hail near the community of Castor, in Mills County.

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

110°FAug 6, 1964

All-time low

−7°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

84°FSep 14, 1984

Coldest day

16°F2 times, most recently Dec 22, 1990

Wettest day

8.32 inMay 5, 2024

Snowiest day

10.0 inJan 23, 1926

Hottest year

2023mean 67.8°F

Coldest year

1976mean 62.9°F

Wettest year

199745.19 in

Driest year

195416.80 in

Station Goldthwaite 1 Wsw (USC00413614), 1,507 ft elevation, 3.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1960 to October 18, 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 USC00413614.
• 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.