Wheeler County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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. Jun 11, 1997Tornado$1.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado occurred near Pakan community on CR 453. Twelve homes damaged or destroyed along with 13 vehicles on Interstate 40. Two inch diameter hail fell along most of the tornado path. Tornado track was determined by official storm survey.

2. Apr 4, 2009Wildfire, Wheeler$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Magic City Wildfire began around 1135 CST about four miles east of Kellerville in Wheeler County...just north of Farm to Market Road 2473. The wildfire consumed seventeen thousand acres which was measured using the Global Positioning System from a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter. A total of forty-four various fire departments and other agencies responded to the wildfire including the Texas Forest Service. The wildfire was determined to have been caused by transmission lines. Four firefighters were injured due to smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion and fifteen head of cattle were lost. Three hundred and fifty homes and sixty businesses were saved.…

3. Feb 24, 2013Blizzard, Wheeler$660,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Blizzard conditions reported by the Wheeler County Emergency Manager in Wheeler, stranded motorist, and 14.0 inches storm total snow.

4. Jun 25, 2026Thunderstorm Wind$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A combination of a storm survey, eyewitness reports, and radar data indicated that damage from a severe storm across western Wheeler County was caused by a strong rear-flank downdraft on the backside of a powerful supercell. The path of the most significant damage was approximately one mile wide. The most severe damage occurred in an RV park, where 16 unanchored travel trailers were rolled and destroyed. The south end of the trailer park was downstream from open areas, which likely contributed to higher wind speeds and greater damage in that specific section of|the park. One injury was reported, but most residents had either evacuated to a shelter or were not home at the time. An…

5. Jun 9, 1997Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous reports of golfball to baseball size hail in Shamrock and there was extensive damage.

6. May 15, 2003Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   No injuries were reported. The tornado severely damaged several homes and outbuildings...uprooted or snapped large trees...and knocked down powerlines. The tornado crossed the Oklahoma and Texas state line along State Highway 152...fifteen miles east of the town of Wheeler.

7. Jan 14, 2017Ice Storm, Wheeler$188,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong upper level low pressure system moved due east near the US/Mexico border and was centered over northern Mexico near the New Mexico state line by the morning of the 15th. With the jet streak around the base of the upper level low to the south and a northern stream jet with its western extent over Nebraska, a large region of vertical ascent with upper level divergence was also present. The strong mid level winds helped to steer the south-southeasterly 850-700 hPa flow. As a result, throughout the 14th and early on the 15th, upper air soundings showed a pronounced warm nose of around 5C between 800-850 mb. With below freezing temperatures right at the surface, this was ideal…

8. Apr 24, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Cattle truck was blown over by damaging winds.

9. Apr 10, 2001Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An official storm damage survey was made of the estimated tornado path length and width. A home and farm equipment were severely damaged. Several large trees and power poles were also knocked down. Several areas of non-tornadic downburst winds were also assessed...primarily in the west and southwest areas of Wheeler county.

10. May 15, 2003Tornado$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    No injuries were reported. The tornado completely overturned several vehicles along Interstate 40 near Lela...damaged several homes and a few businesses in Lela...and destroyed a manufactured home northeast of Lela.

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.

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.
• 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.