Rains County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Apr 11, 2016Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency management reported golf-ball to baseball sized hail along FM 779 near the county line.

2. Oct 1, 2006Drought, Rains$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Persistent drought conditions continued across portions of north Texas. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, much of the region was still experiencing extreme (D3) drought conditions. The areas which were rated exceptional drought (D4) last month had received enough rainfall to be downgraded into the D3 category this month.|Even though drought conditions were lessened by a few rain events this month, serious hydrological problems remained. For instance, as much water was used from Lake Bridgeport in one month alone as was saved through conservation efforts by north Texas over the summer. Almost every north Texas lake remained well below conservation levels. The rain events this…

3. Feb 15, 2021Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Rains$324,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extreme cold gripped the county for several days. Overnight lows were below 20 degrees Fahrenheit for most of the week. The period of February 15-16th was the coldest with low temperatures in the single digits and even slightly below zero degrees Fahrenheit. The maximum temperature on the 15th was only in the lower teens. Wind chill values during the 14th-16th were between 10 to -10 degrees Fahrenheit most of the time. The cold temperatures resulted in an extreme amount of damage to pipes, infrastructure, and power.

4. Jul 6, 2026Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A social media report indicated golf ball sized hail near Emory and Point, TX in Rains County.

5. Nov 4, 2022Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A trained spotter reported baseball sized hail in Point, TX.

6. Apr 11, 2016Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency management reported golf-ball sized hail near the Lake Tawakoni Dam near the county line.

7. Apr 24, 2026Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency management reported that several county roads were flooded and some sustained culvert damage or failures, including County Roads 1495, 1325, 3425, 2350, and 1150. Additionally, a section of County Road 2300 was flooded due to a small private earthen dam being overtopped due to the locally heavy rain.

8. Apr 11, 2016Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A public report indicated hen-egg sized hail south-southwest of the city of Emory, TX.

9. Feb 11, 2010Heavy Snow, Rains$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Estimates of 8-10 of snow were reported but some locations may have received up to 12 of snow. Only two vehicle accidents were reported but numerous vehicles slid off the road.

10. Apr 29, 2017Tornado$70,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    This tornado was a continuation from Van Zandt County. This tornado began nearly as the last tornado dissipated to the south and west. The parent supercell cycled another tornado about a mile to the east and northeast of the previous storm. This tornado quickly grew to a large tornado, becoming slightly less than one mile wide at its widest point. The tornado was at the strongest near Interstate 20 and FM 17 just north of Canton. The survey crews found continuous damage between Canton and Fruitvale, and then additional damage as far north as Emory, and Lake Fork. Several homes, businesses, and farm buildings were damaged or destroyed in the 40 mile continuous damage path. This…

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

115°FAug 18, 1909

All-time low

−3°F2 times, most recently Feb 17, 2021

Warmest night

84°FAug 23, 1912

Coldest day

13°FFeb 16, 2021

Wettest day

7.08 inJun 12, 1945

Snowiest day

10.8 inFeb 12, 2010

Hottest year

1911mean 68.2°F

Coldest year

1997mean 61.9°F

Wettest year

201572.87 in

Driest year

197223.22 in

Station Wills Point (USC00419800), 520 ft elevation, 18.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1905 to June 30, 2026; 97.7% 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 USC00419800.
• 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.