Ochiltree County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Ochiltree County: 5.
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.

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 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. Mar 6, 2017Wildfire, Ochiltree$25.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Perryton Wildfire began around 1450CST about thirteen miles southwest of Wolf Creek Park in Ochiltree County. The wildfire was caused by downed power lines or sparks from a transformer and the wildfire consumed three hundred and eighteen thousand and fifty six acres. There was a report that this wildfire spread east across southern Lipscomb and northern Hemphill counties. The Perryton wildfire has been determined to be the third largest wildfire in the history of the Texas A&M Forest Service. The wildfire threatened homes north of Canadian and residents were urged to evacuate at a moment���s notice. The town of Higgins was also threatened briefly. There were two hundred…

2. Jan 14, 2017Ice Storm, Ochiltree$5.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The number of residents affected were 3066. There were 413 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.

3. Jun 15, 2023Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado touched down to the northwest of Perryton and crossed|Highway 143. It entered town, where it caused significant damage|to a mobile home community. Dozens of mobile homes were|completely destroyed. It continued into downtown and caused|structural damage to several downtown shops, some with collapsed|walls. A microwave tower was also folded in half. The tornado|intensified and caused low end EF3 damage to a few retail stores|in downtown and along Ash Street, some of which were completely destroyed. |As the tornado continued to the southeast across Birch and Cedar |Streets, it damaged numerous mobile homes and single family structures, |continuing as an EF2 in this area.…

4. Feb 24, 2013Blizzard, Ochiltree$660,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Blizzard conditions reported by a trained spotter in Perryton and 15.0 inches storm total snow.

5. Sep 18, 1996Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive flooding occurred along Wolf Creek in southeast Ochiltree County. At Lake Fryer along the creek water ran 8 feet over the spill way. Two campers were washed downstream and water flood sic other campers and four homes. People had to be rescued from the Wolf Creek County Park by helicopter.

6. Jul 22, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
7. Apr 6, 2001Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down southwest of Perryton and then moved northeast clipping the southern sections of the city. The tornado then lifted northeast of the city near the airport. Damage occurred to homes and businesses along the tornado's path. The path length and width were made following an official storm survey taken of the event.

8. Jun 16, 1997Hail$500,000
9. Jun 15, 2023Tornado$114,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several land spouts developed along the flanking line of a|tornadic supercell storm just north of the area. Two of these|grew significantly and became rather strong and long lived|tornadoes that were documented by several storm chasers in the|area. The stronger of the twins was rated an EF2 based on snapped|power poles along the path, but both mostly remained in open|grasslands.The tornado remained in open county and produced very|little damage outside the occasional prairie scrub brush which it|ripped from the ground. It did cross Highway 70 snapping power|poles at its peak which provided the EF2 rating. The tornado also|crossed Highway 83 before roping out near Wolf Creek Park.

10. Apr 10, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Visible damage was reported across northeastern Ochiltree county with one home and a barn sustaining severe damage. The Highway 15 storage units were totaled by the extremely high winds and a roundtop at the Roy Hughe place was lifted by the damaging winds and moved about twenty feet. Two large overhead doors were blown down at Tom McGee's building on the west end of Highway 15.

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°F3 times, most recently Jul 20, 2022

All-time low

−14°F4 times, most recently Feb 16, 2021

Warmest night

79°FAug 2, 1964

Coldest day

2°FDec 23, 1990

Wettest day

9.72 inJun 13, 2010

Snowiest day

14.0 inJan 29, 2010

Hottest year

2024mean 60.0°F

Coldest year

1997mean 53.6°F

Wettest year

201538.37 in

Driest year

20228.81 in

Snowiest season

42.0 in1982-83

Station Gruver (USC00413787), 3,170 ft elevation, 34.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1962 to October 23, 2026; 97.1% 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 USC00413787.
• 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.