Gaines County, Texas severe weather history spans 480 recorded events between 1957 and 2025. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 48.5% of all recorded events. It ranks #949 nationally and #90 in Texas.
480
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
32
Direct injuries
$25.2M
Property damage
The record
What the Gaines County, Texas severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Gaines County, Texas severe weather history averages 7.1 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 176 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 55 events fall before 1990 and 425 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is hail, with $11.8M in reported property damage. In total, 7 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Gaines County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 233 | 0 | $11.8M | 5 | 1963–2025 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 137 | 0 | $8.3M | 87 | 1964–2025 |
| Flash Flood | 67 | 0 | $2.3M | 0 | 1996–2024 |
| Tornado | 40 | 0 | $2.9M | F3 | 1957–2024 |
| Funnel Cloud | 1 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2004–2004 |
| Flood | 1 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2002–2002 |
| Heavy Rain | 1 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2015–2015 |
Decade by decade
Gaines County, Texas severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
43 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 40 touched down inside it and 3 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969-04-19 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 2015-11-16 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 5.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 1997-04-10 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 2.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 1991-06-06 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 4.5 mi | Crossed in |
| 1982-05-12 | EF2 | 0 | 17 | 21.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 1961-06-18 | EF2 | 0 | 2 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1999-05-01 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 1997-04-10 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 2.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 1989-05-16 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 1985-04-28 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Gaines County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 12, 1982 | Tornado | 0 | 17 | $2.5M | |
| Sep 29, 1982 | Tornado | 0 | 9 | $250K | |
| Jun 27, 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | SEMINOLE | 0 | 4 | $5.0M |
| Jun 19, 1961 | Tornado | 0 | 2 | $25K |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A multicell cluster of severe storms that crossed into New Mexico from Reeves and Loving Counties, TX just before 1pm CDT emerged from Lea County, NM at around 6pm. The city of Seminole was pounded by large hail, high winds and flooding rains.
Baseball size hail and larger smashed the windshield of a Police cruiser and shattered windows in several homes. Power was knocked out around town as well. Autos and roofs of houses were smashed by the large hail and accounted for much of the damage total. A local insurance agent said the damage was the worst in 20 years in Seagraves.Storms that were moving eastward into the Seagraves area had been a multicell cluster, but just before arriving at Seagraves one cell developed briefly into an HP Supercell.
Training of numerous cells over Seminole and areas to the east and northeast caused widespread and extensive flooding. The KMAF 88D Storm Total Precipitation measured a strip of 20 by 8 miles that received in excess of 5 inches of rain. Readings from within the swath confirmed this estimation. Residences were flooded in Seminole and cars on FM 1429 east of Seminole were stranded in high water. One new mobile home east of the city became flooded and started to float in the water, only to break apart shortly thereafter. Several people were rescued from vehicles standing in 4-5 feet of water. Numerous animals died in the event, including five horses on a farm that died from hypothermia after being stranded for hours in deep, hail-chilled waters.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
22,232
Population (ACS)
$201K
Median home value
14
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 19, 2021 | Severe Ice Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR |
| Feb 14, 2021 | Severe Ice Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM |
| Mar 25, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| May 29, 2015 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS AND FLOODING | DR |
| Mar 14, 2008 | Fire | WILDFIRES | EM |
Within the county
Most affected places
- Seminole 296
- Seagraves 140
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Gaines County, Texas?
480 events are on record between 1957 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths and $25.2M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Gaines County?
Hail, with 233 recorded events — 48.5% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Gaines County?
43 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 40 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Gaines County?
14 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Gaines County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Gaines County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Gaines County as relatively low risk, placing it in the 58 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Gaines County, Texas severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Frio County 221
- Galveston County 681
- Freestone County 237
- Garza County 358
- Franklin County 252
- Gillespie County 396
Cite this page
“Gaines County, Texas.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/texas/gaines-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.