Swisher County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Swisher County: 4.
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.

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.

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. May 5, 2002Tornado$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Storm chaser video indicated that shortly after the large tornado dissipated, another tornado developed just west of town. This tornado tore a 150-yard wide path across the southern part of town. Fifteen homes were destroyed, including at least ten mobile homes, another seventeen received major damage, and eighteen others received minor damage. The storm survey team estimated wind speeds associated with the damage to be in the 115 to 130 mph range. Two fatalities occurred in a mobile home on the southeast side of town; the mobile home was rolled about 50 yards and destroyed. Four injuries also occurred in mobile homes that were in the same area. The church on the west side of town…

2. Apr 21, 2007Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong tornado delivered a crippling impact on the local economy of Tulia, Texas, when it devastated industrial and residential sections of the small community of 5,000 residents around 19:00 CST on the 21st. A two block wide swath of damage paralleled U.S. Highway 87 in west Tulia for fifteen blocks. Three persons were treated at area hospitals for injuries, almost thirty homes sustained damage or were destroyed along with twenty businesses, and approximately five hundred people were displaced or made homeless.|Local officials and newspaper accounts indicated that several of the businesses that were heavily damaged during the tornado served as staples to the Tulia economy prior…

3. Apr 22, 2015Hail$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A slow-moving high precipitation supercell produced copious amounts of damaging hail across northern Swisher County with some hailstones as large as baseball size in Happy. A 12-mile stretch of Interstate 27 from Happy to north of Tulia was covered in hail up to six inches deep. In addition to damaging roofs of homes and businesses, intense straight line winds in the rear flank downdraft of the supercell carried hail sideways which shattered many north and west facing windows. Countless vehicles along Interstate 27 suffered broken windows and significant hail dents. It is estimated that 500 acres of winter wheat were flattened by this barrage of hail, wind and torrential rains…

4. Apr 16, 2009Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms began to impact portions of Swisher County just before 13:00 CST on the 16th. These storms quickly became severe and displayed occasional supercellular characteristics as they effectively trained over the Interstate 27 corridor. ||A combination of heavy rainfall and accumulating hail resulted in a prolonged closure of Interstate 27 during the afternoon and overnight hours of the 16th and into the morning of the 17th. The most significant impacts occurred between Kress and Tulia. Up to 50 vehicles became stranded on the interstate as high water and hail covered the driving surface. Some motorists were rescued from their stalled automobiles with the use of boats and…

5. Apr 16, 2009Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm which developed over portions of northern Hale and southern Swisher Counties evolved into a small convective complex which effectively trained over Interstate 27. As a result, vast amounts of large hail and very heavy rainfall resulted in dangerous travel conditions.||Hail up to the size of half dollars accumulated to depths greater than half a foot in places along Interstate 27 between Kress and Tulia. The hail combined with nearly six inches of rainfall produced significant flooding. A local law enforcement official was quoted as saying that it was just like an ice jam...it looked like North Dakota, referring to recent national headlines concerning…

6. Mar 13, 2019High Wind, Swisher$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet near Tulia.

7. Jun 7, 2014Thunderstorm Wind$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large downburst damaged several power poles across northern Swisher County and blew over a semi-trailer on Interstate 27 near Tulia. It was not known if the driver was injured or not. Also, multiple homes in and around Tulia sustained varying degrees of roof and fence damage. Large swaths of crop damage were also noted to area corn and grain fields, mostly from wind blown sand and dirt.

8. Dec 26, 2015Blizzard, Swisher$200,000
   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…

9. Feb 28, 2017Wildfire, Swisher$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   In the wake of thick high clouds this morning and one rogue high wind gust from virga near Vigo Park (Swisher County), intense southwest winds expanded east across all of the South Plains and far southwest Texas Panhandle under clearing skies. High winds sustained at 40 mph or greater were commonplace, along with several peak wind gusts of 58 to 60 mph. Widespread blowing dust was prevalent, with visibilities as low as three miles at Lubbock International Airport during the height of the wind late in the afternoon. An Emergency Manager confirmed that part of a roof was blown off a small business in Brownfield (Terry County) during the height of the windstorm.||The high winds along…

10. Jan 1, 2006Wildfire, Swisher$175,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A wildfire near the rural community of Claytonville (Swisher County) destroyed two homes. No injuries were reported.A second wildfire ignited near the intersection of Regis and Interstate 27, one mile southwest of Lubbock International Airport. The fire destroyed horse stables, and one fire fighter was hospitalized for smoke inhalation related injuries.Another large wildfire near Levelland burned two mobile homes and injured fire fighters. Two firemen were hospitalized due to minor burn injuries and smoke inhalation.A wildfire that initiated near Tatum, New Mexico, burned several thousand acres of rangeland and threatened structures as it spread across the Texas/New Mexico…

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 Jun 26, 2011

All-time low

−12°FFeb 15, 2021

Warmest night

78°F2 times, most recently Jul 25, 2026

Coldest day

3°FFeb 15, 2021

Wettest day

5.90 inApr 17, 2009

Snowiest day

12.0 in2 times, most recently Dec 14, 1987

Hottest year

2024mean 61.2°F

Coldest year

1961mean 55.7°F

Wettest year

201537.88 in

Driest year

19708.12 in

Snowiest season

58.0 in1982-83

Station Tulia (USC00419175), 3,450 ft elevation, 3.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 23, 2026; 98.4% 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 USC00419175.
• 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.