Wilbarger County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Wilbarger County: 14.
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. Jun 2, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong wind gusts caused heavy damage at the Wilbarger County Airport. Eleven hangers were damaged as well as nine aircraft. Seven of these aircraft were considered total losses.

2. Jun 20, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A train engine and a following car filled with grain were blown over. The incident occurred at the intersection of FM 1763 and HWY 287. Monetary damages were estimated.

3. Jun 2, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Some structural damage was reported around town.

4. May 4, 2022Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The long-lived Lockett tornado moved into Wilbarger County from Foard County and continued to move northeast. As the tornado approached County Road 138, the tornado created significant tree damage and roof damage to a home, and destroyed an outbuilding. Along County Road 138, at least seven large steel electrical transmission towers were bent over, with the western most tower blown to the south. Roof damage occurred to another home just north of County Road 138 an another outbuilding was heavily damaged along County Road 83. The tornado then turned to the north and damaged another house, destroyed a barn and broke wooden utility poles along County Road 85 to the south of…

5. Apr 23, 2021Tornado$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado initially developed in southeast Hardeman County and moved into Wilbarger County west of Lockett. This may have been a series of tornadoes across southeast Hardeman and far western Wilbarger Counties as the condensation funnel was not visible at times. However one chaser reported observing surface circulation continue even when the condensation funnel was not visible, so it is being documented here as a single tornado. The tornado became more visible and stronger west of Lockett as it was coming out of the breaks of the Pease River. The tornado hit a farmstead about 3 miles west of Lockett where a home suffered significant damage, outbuildings were destroyed or…

6. Jun 20, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Major transmission lines were blown down. A barn was destroyed and two houses had their roofs blown off. Monetary damages were estimated.

7. Apr 30, 2000Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado formed 1.5 miles southeast of Oklaunion on the south side of Highway 287 with information of its existence coming from a Doppler-On-Wheels chase team, but was later confirmed by descriptions of damage from the Oklaunion Fire Department. One tied down mobile home on the north side of Highway 287 was ripped up by the wind and strewn over a half mile area. The base of the mobile home was picked up and placed against the side of a barn 20 feet to its east. Three large barns had roof and wall damage, and one barn had several two by fours stuck sideways into its east-facing wall. Two grain storage bins had their roofs blown off, and the foundation of one bin was moved about…

8. Apr 23, 2021Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado was observed developing about 2 miles east-southeast of Lockett. Soon after developing, it caused significant roof damage to a home 2.5 miles east-southeast of Lockett on FM-433. Outbuildings were destroyed southeast of here along FM-433 and County Road 95 S. Tree, power pole, fence and outbuilding damage continued as the tornado moved southeast. The ending location was estimated based on spotter reports.

9. Aug 14, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The local high school sustained some roof damage. Some highway signs and trees were also downed.

10. May 18, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Two hangars and 6 airplanes sustained damage.

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°F2 times, most recently Jun 28, 1994

All-time low

−6°F2 times, most recently Dec 24, 1989

Warmest night

86°FAug 3, 2011

Coldest day

9°FDec 25, 1983

Wettest day

6.25 inSep 1, 1986

Snowiest day

7.0 inFeb 1, 1985

Hottest year

2012mean 67.6°F

Coldest year

1979mean 61.2°F

Wettest year

201542.83 in

Driest year

201110.37 in

Snowiest season

15.0 in2009-10

Station Lake Kemp (USC00414982), 1,167 ft elevation, 28.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1962 to October 22, 2026; 98.2% 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 USC00414982.
• 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.