Deaf Smith County, Texas severe weather history spans 598 recorded events between 1956 and 2025. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 58.2% of all recorded events. It ranks #586 nationally and #52 in Texas.
598
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
24
Direct injuries
$1.9M
Property damage
The record
What the Deaf Smith County, Texas severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Deaf Smith County, Texas severe weather history averages 8.7 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2010s, with 206 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 80 events fall before 1990 and 518 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is tornado, with $825K in reported property damage. In total, 6 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Deaf Smith County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 348 | 0 | $132K | 4.5 | 1956–2025 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 179 | 0 | $672K | 100 | 1962–2025 |
| Tornado | 41 | 0 | $825K | F3 | 1957–2025 |
| Flash Flood | 19 | 0 | $276K | 0 | 1998–2023 |
| Flood | 6 | 0 | $1K | 0 | 2019–2025 |
| Heavy Rain | 5 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2013–2019 |
Decade by decade
Deaf Smith County, Texas severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
48 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 46 touched down inside it and 2 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971-04-19 | EF3 | 0 | 24 | 6.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1996-05-25 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1967-06-01 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 4.7 mi | Touched down here |
| 1957-05-24 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 70.1 mi | Crossed in |
| 2025-04-25 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 1987-07-02 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1981-07-07 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 mi | Touched down here |
| 1976-04-15 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 1974-03-09 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1974-05-24 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Deaf Smith County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 19, 1971 | Tornado | 0 | 24 | $0 |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
This tornado blew the roof and some exterior walls of a brick veneer home down and destroyed the adjacent barn. Two other homes were seriously damaged. Two farm hands rode out the storm in the brick veneer home without injuries. The track is an estimate.
The Deaf Smith County Emergency Manager reported that Park Avenue in Hereford was closed between U.S. Highway 385 and U.S. Highway 60. Also…water was reported in a few homes in the San Jose Community just south of Hereford. Water was four feet deep over Farm to Market Road 1055 about one mile south of Hereford. No injuries were reported.
A center-pivot irrigation system was overturned by the damaging winds. Also…the hail damaged thousands of acres of cotton anywhere from a half mile to one and a half miles wide. The winds also nearly flattened a field of sorghum.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
18,460
Population (ACS)
$121K
Median home value
15
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 |
| Feb 9, 2016 | Severe Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Jul 1, 2011 | Fire | WILDFIRES | DR |
Within the county
Most affected places
- Hereford 285
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Deaf Smith County, Texas?
598 events are on record between 1956 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths and $1.9M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Deaf Smith County?
Hail, with 348 recorded events — 58.2% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Deaf Smith County?
48 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 46 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Deaf Smith County?
15 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Deaf Smith County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Deaf Smith County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Deaf Smith County as relatively low risk, placing it in the 62 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Deaf Smith 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
- Dawson County 375
- Delta County 197
- Dallas County 2,012
- Denton County 1,595
- Dallam County 354
- DeWitt County 262
Cite this page
“Deaf Smith County, Texas.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/texas/deaf-smith-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.