Parmer County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Dec 26, 2015Blizzard, Parmer$8.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Following a mild Christmas, a strong cold front arrived early on the morning of the 26th ahead of temperatures falling to freezing territory throughout the course of the afternoon all in advance of a slow-moving upper low in the Desert Southwest and far north-central Mexico. Northerly winds increased in intensity during the day and by early evening were frequently gusting between 50 and 60 mph over the entire South Plains. These winds created several power outages, minor roof damage, downed tree limbs, and even toppled some trees completely. By mid-evening on the 26th, exceptionally rich moisture from the Gulf of Mexico deepened over the shallow dome of cold air and resulted in…

2. Dec 25, 2000Winter Storm, Parmer$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong upper level disturbance translated into the southern Rockies on the 25th and across West Texas on the 26th. A shallow cold air mass was in place over the Southern Plains well ahead of this system. Widespread precipitation developed over the region as the system approached as warm and moist air was drawn over the shallow cold air near the surface. Freezing rain produced a layer of glaze on exposed surfaces that was one quarter to three quarters of an inch thick. The freezing rain became mixed with sleet and snow during the early morning hours on the 26th and eventually changed to snow over most of the area shortly before daybreak on the 26th. The snow continued into the…

3. Apr 24, 1997Cold/Wind Chill, Parmer$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A prolonged wet and unseasonably cold/windy period killed at least several hundred head of cattle in Castro and Parmer Counties. The same area suffered damage to its wheat crop.

4. Mar 7, 2000High Wind, Parmer$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong upper level disturbance over southern Arizona moved northeast into New Mexico during the day on the 7th. Low pressure quickly deepened over southeastern Colorado in response to the approach of this system. As a result, the pressure gradient strengthened over the Southern Plains. The dryline surged east of the Caprock during the late morning hours leaving very dry air over much of the South Plains, Southern Panhandle, and Low Rolling Plains. Deep mixing into this dry air combined with a strong pressure gradient resulted in very strong west winds of 35-45 mph with gusts exceeding 50-60 mph at times. Numerous reports of downed power lines and trees were received across the…

5. Jun 17, 2008Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Local law enforcement officials reported that golf ball size hail was occasionally mixed with stones up to the size of baseballs in Friona. The very large hail caused widespread damage across the city, with a number of vehicles and structures sustaining hail damage. The hail punctured a portion of the town's elementary school, and subsequently contributed to flooding several class rooms. No injuries were reported.

6. Jul 3, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet measured two severe wind gusts during a downburst. The first gust of 77 mph occurred at 845 PM CST followed by a gust to 67 mph at 850 PM CST. About two miles northeast of this mesonet, a meteorologist with Texas Tech University discovered damage consistent with winds around 90 mph. This damage consisted of three completely destroyed center pivots, about one mile of heavily damaged or flattened sorghum crops, two collapsed grain silos, moderate damage to a barn, and light to moderate damage to several hundred acres of corn crops. The value assigned to these large center pivot irrigation systems is estimated at $80,000 per unit.

7. Jan 27, 2001Winter Storm, Parmer$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong upper level low pressure system moved from California into the Southern Rockies on the 27th. Cold air spread into West Texas ahead of this system and the stage was set for the development of precipitation as warm and moist air was drawn up over the shallow cold air that was in place in the lowest several thousand feet of the atmosphere. The precipitation began as freezing rain early on the 27th and by late afternoon had resulted in a heavy glaze on exposed surfaces. The freezing rain changed to snow over the northwestern South Plains and extreme southwestern Panhandle during the night as the cold air slowly deepened. This region received between four and eight inches of…

8. Apr 6, 2001High Wind, Parmer$140,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The cold front associated with a rapidly deepening low pressure system over the Central Plains moved through West Texas during the afternoon. Westerly wind behind this front increased to 40 to 50 mph with gusts near 70 mph measured in several locations. Fairly widespread but minor damage resulted from the strong wind including numerous power lines and power poles blown down; signs blown down; several tractor trailers blown over; damage to the siding and roofs of buildings; and trees blown down. Widespread blowing dust resulted in visibilities of less than two miles across the South Plains and extreme southern Texas Panhandle.The West Texas Mesonet sites near Morton and Levelland…

9. May 1, 1996Drought, Parmer$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The drought continued through most of the month of May, causing significant crop damage. Some areas received several inches of rain during the severe weather of the 25th and 26th, but this was not nearly enough to break this long term drought.

10. Jun 1, 1996Drought, Parmer$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Despite periodic thunderstorms this month, the long drought continued across the extreme southern Texas Panhandle, the South Plains, and the Low Rolling Plains. The very dry weather adversely impacted the early cotton crop that dominates this area.

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

109°FJun 18, 2017

All-time low

−15°FJan 13, 1963

Warmest night

77°FJul 14, 2020

Coldest day

4°F2 times, most recently Feb 15, 2021

Wettest day

3.90 inOct 30, 1998

Snowiest day

18.0 inDec 27, 2015

Hottest year

2024mean 60.6°F

Coldest year

1987mean 54.0°F

Wettest year

194140.57 in

Driest year

20117.34 in

Snowiest season

48.5 in1982-83

Station Friona (USC00413368), 4,025 ft elevation, 8.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1962 to October 23, 2026; 99.1% 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 USC00413368.
• 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.