Stephens County

Every recorded tornado

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

Claims by ZIP code

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.

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 13, 2011Wildfire, Stephens$100 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Possum Kingdom West fire began in Stephens County near FM 1148 and FM 3253. However, strong winds on critical fire weather days also drove this fire into Palo Pinto and Young County. On the 18th, it made a fast run towards Graham in Young County resulting in evacuations for the town of Bunger. The fire also caused several hundred people to be evacuated around PK Lake. It scorched 90% of the 1500 acre Possum Kingdom Lake State Park on April 17th, but no structures were lost at the park. On April 15th, this fire merged with the Hohertz Fire in Palo Pinto County and the fires were renamed the PK Complex. On April 17th, the PK East Fire in Palo Pinto County was added to this…

2. Feb 14, 2026Lightning$2.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Videos and articles from social and news media reported that a wind turbine south of Caddo was struck by lightning the morning of February 14th and caught on fire as a result. As per pictures, the shell at the top of the turbine was destroyed along with one of the blades.

3. Apr 9, 2008Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The second tornado began approximately a half mile west of Highway 183 and south of FM 2231. Power poles were damaged along FM 2231 and Highway 183 and roof and barn damage was noted along Highway 183. The most significant damage occurred at and just west of the Stephens County Airport where several homes had considerable damage along CR 150. Several airport buildings had overhead doors blown in, roof damage, and damage to girders. Power poles were also damaged northeast of the airport near the eastern end of FM 2231. Damage to mobile homes, roofs, power poles, and storage buildings continued across Highway 180 and between Highways 67 and 207. This tornado has been rated as an…

4. Apr 3, 2025Lightning$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fire and rescue reported that a storage building and guest house were struck by lightning and destroyed in a fire shortly after 6am. Two adjacent homes received heat damage.

5. Jul 26, 2011Wildfire, Stephens$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The CR 156 Fire began July 26th approximately 16 miles south of Breckenridge near Highway 183. The fire was first contained on July 28th after burning a total of 4321 acres. Two homes, two deer shelters, a vehicle, and an outbuilding were lost in the fire. On August 4th, this fire reignited and consumed another 614 acres for a final total of 4935 acres. The fire was finally completely controlled on August 14th.

6. Mar 4, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two tractor trailer rigs were blown over in the Wal-Mart parking lot, Wal-Mart roof blown several hundred yards, at least 8 utility poles blown down, and car windows were blown in. The Certified Auto Glass building was destroyed, there was widespread roof and sign damage, storage building and garage doors were damaged, windows were blown out, and numerous reports of fences, trees, and utility poles blown down.

7. Aug 1, 2011Wildfire, Stephens$230,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The CR 156 Fire began July 26th approximately 16 miles south of Breckenridge near Highway 183. The fire was first contained on July 28th after burning a total of 4321 acres. Two homes, two deer shelters, a vehicle, and an outbuilding were lost in the fire. On August 4th, this fire reignited and consumed another 614 acres for a final total of 4935 acres. During the rekindle, another home, vehicle, a barn, and several more outbuildings were lost. The fire was finally completely controlled on August 14th.

8. Apr 12, 2021Hail$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two inch hail was reported at the Stephens County Airport.

9. Mar 2, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Notable damage was reported along FM 576 due to damaging straight line winds. A few roofs were removed from homes, metal doors were blown in, outbuilding and trees were damaged.

10. Apr 15, 2026Hail$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Several reports and pictures on social media indicated golf ball sized hail in Breckenridge.

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°FJun 27, 1972

All-time low

−8°FJan 4, 1947

Warmest night

88°FJun 28, 1907

Coldest day

12°F3 times, most recently Jan 25, 2026

Wettest day

29.05 inAug 4, 1978

Snowiest day

12.0 inJan 27, 1895

Hottest year

1921mean 68.2°F

Coldest year

1914mean 59.3°F

Wettest year

194146.47 in

Driest year

195611.07 in

Snowiest season

13.2 in1946-47

Station Albany (USC00410120), 1,448 ft elevation, 23.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1901 to October 23, 2026; 94.1% 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 USC00410120.
• 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.