Willacy County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 25, 2020Hurricane (Typhoon), Willacy$142 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Hanna moved across the western Gulf of Mexico and made landfall on the mid-Kenedy County coastline at around 5 PM Central Time Saturday, July 25th, carrying sustained 90 mph winds with gusts over 100 mph in a small portion of the inner eye wall. While there aren't many observations in Willacy County during this event, Buoy RSJT2 is just off the coastline in the Laguna Madre just north of Willacy County and can be used as a reasonable proxy. Based on the proxy observations, sustained winds likely reached near hurricane force (71 mph).With observations from RSJT2, along with radar analysis, it is reasonable to assume that portions of Willacy County experienced…

2. Jul 25, 2020Hurricane (Typhoon), Coastal Willacy$60.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Hanna moved across the western Gulf of Mexico and made landfall on the mid-Kenedy County coastline at around 5 PM Central Time Saturday, July 25th, carrying sustained 90 mph winds with gusts over 100 mph in a small portion of the inner eye wall. While there aren't many observations in Willacy County during this event, Buoy RSJT2 is just off the coastline in the Laguna Madre just north of Willacy County and can be used as a reasonable proxy. Based on the proxy observations, sustained winds likely reached near hurricane force (71 mph). With observations from RSJT2, along with radar analysis, it is reasonable to assume that portions of Willacy County experienced…

3. Jul 23, 2008Tropical Storm, Willacy$52.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The approach of Hurricane Dolly to the barrier shoreline of South Padre Island early on the morning of July 23rd brought sustained tropical storm force winds inland to the east side of Willacy County away from the immediate coast, at approximately 10 AM CDT on the 23rd. Prior rainbands may have produced frequent gusts to 40 mph, but the arrival of sustained tropical storm winds would be followed by wind damage and power outages, particularly during the afternoon. Prior to Dolly's landfall along the Cameron/Willacy County line, the western and southern eyewall intensified. The core of the eyewall traversed southern Willacy County, generally between 1230 PM and 6:30 PM, before…

4. Jul 23, 2008Hurricane (Typhoon), Coastal Willacy$20.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   After edging northward just off the Cameron County coastline during the early to mid morning, the intensifying inner western eyewall nudged into Willacy County along the Laguna side shoreline from Port Mansfield to the Cameron County line at approximately Noon CDT. The eyewall continue to rotate through eastern, then southern, Willacy County until 2 PM, before conditions weakened to tropical storm strength for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening.||While no verifying observations of sustained hurricane force winds exist from the county, it can be inferred that at similarly exposed locations near the coast, including along the east facing Laguna Madre shoreline, where the…

5. Jun 24, 2019Flash Flood$15.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Measured and estimated rainfall between 8 and 12 or more inches that fell predominantly from early evening June 24th through a bit after midnight on June 25th produced widespread flash flooding across western Willacy County. Hardest hit locations were Sebastian, Lyford, Raymondville, and La Sara. ||In the tri-county area (western Willacy, northwestern Cameron, and southeastern Hidalgo), 1188 homes were considered destroyed or with major damage, with an additional 182 homes with minor damage. Hundreds of streets flooded, including 30 Texas-managed highways. This included the frontage roads of Interstate 2 and Interstate 69E. ||More than 100 persons were evacuated to higher ground…

6. Jul 25, 2020Flash Flood$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Reports of high flowing water blocking passage along SR-186 just west of Port Mansfield were received during the evening of July 25th, when feeder bands into the eastern semicircle of then-Tropical Storm Hanna dropped an additional 4 to 8 inches of rainfall into central and eastern Willacy County. Other flooding was noted in poor drainage locations of Raymondville, and there was an unknown amount of field flooding in eastern Willacy County due to an estimated 11 to 13 inches of rainfall through the duration of the event, which began during the mid afternoon of July 25th. ||Water depths of 2 to 3 feet were likely in some areas, though specifics were unknown. A known poor drainage…

7. Jun 24, 2019Lightning$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong cloud to ground lightning bolt struck and set ablaze a wind turbine and tower at the Willacy County Los Vientos wind farm during the initial severe thunderstorm that impacted the county during the early evening of June 24, 2019. Another strike destroyed a small grain silo just to the west of Lyford and Raymondville. Time of the strike is estimated from peak lightning frequency, which exceeded 300 cloud to ground strikes in 15 minutes.

8. Oct 25, 2015Flood$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hazardous, high water on roadways, in homes, and across cropland continued across nearly all of eastern Willacy County.

9. Oct 24, 2015Flash Flood$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The heavy rainfall on October 24th led to much of eastern Willacy County being under several feet of water. Water rescues were underway prior to the heaviest rains and continued through the afternoon. Though homes are few and far between (mainly farm houses or workers homes), the majority likely had water inside them by late in the day. Hazardous, high water was found across nearly all of the County east of the expressway (and the larger communities).

10. Mar 30, 2012Flash Flood$2.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Runoff from storms in Hidalgo County was moving so swiftly that it caused the collapse of a weir in Willacy County. Estimates for repair of the structure are around $2 million.

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

107°F3 times, most recently May 9, 2024

All-time low

17°FJan 12, 1962

Warmest night

84°F2 times, most recently Sep 1, 2020

Coldest day

29°FJan 10, 1962

Wettest day

13.79 inMar 27, 2025

Snowiest day

1.0 inDec 8, 2017

Hottest year

2012mean 77.2°F

Coldest year

1960mean 72.2°F

Wettest year

202139.03 in

Driest year

20118.05 in

Snowiest season

1.0 in2017-18

Station Harlingen Rio Grande Vly International (USW00012904), 31 ft elevation, 17.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1952 to October 12, 2026; 98.5% 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 USW00012904.
• 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.