Texas leads the United States in severe weather, with 9,908 confirmed tornadoes, 53,354 large-hail events, and 35,096 damaging-wind events recorded by the National Weather Service since 1950. The state averages 132 tornadoes a year, has the most cumulative tornado damage of any state, and is the only state that overlaps both Tornado Alley and the southern hail corridor. The interactive map below plots every significant severe-weather event in Texas from the official NOAA Storm Events Database (1950 through September 2025).

Use the map to find your county, click any marker for the date, magnitude, and casualty details of that event, and switch between tornadoes, hail and wind using the chips. For the national view across all 50 states, see our NOAA Storm Reports interactive map. For tornado tracks specifically, see the US Tornado Tracks map; for hail size and frequency, the US Hailstorms map.

Texas Severe Weather by the Numbers (1950–2025)

• 9,908 tornadoes recorded — more than any other state
• 1,879 violent tornadoes rated F2/EF2 or stronger
• 6 confirmed F5 tornadoes — Waco 1953, Wichita County 1964, Lubbock 1970, McLennan County 1973, Brown County 1976, and Jarrell 1997
• 594 direct tornado deaths and 9,605 direct injuries
• 53,354 large-hail events, including the largest hailstone ever measured in Texas: 7.02 inches (Swisher County, June 2024)
• 35,096 damaging-wind events, with the highest measured gust at 99 knots (114 mph) in Hall County, February 2023
• 132 tornadoes per year on average across the past 75 years
• May is the peak severe-weather month, accounting for roughly one in three Texas tornadoes

When Texas Severe Weather Happens

Texas tornado activity is heavily concentrated in spring. March, April, May and June account for 71% of all Texas tornadoes, with May alone responsible for roughly 31%. The state has a small secondary peak in late autumn and winter, driven by Gulf-of-Mexico moisture and southern-tracking jet streams that can spawn tornadoes in the eastern third of the state from October through January — a pattern that gives Texas one of the longest active severe-weather seasons in the country.

• March: 827 tornadoes (8.3% of total)
• April: 1,757 tornadoes (17.7%)
• May: 3,050 tornadoes (30.8% — peak month)
• June: 1,386 tornadoes (14.0%)
• October: 503 tornadoes (5.1%)
• November: 383 tornadoes (3.9%)

Top 10 Texas Counties by Tornado Frequency

Tornado activity in Texas is geographically broad — every county has had at least one report — but a handful of counties have logged many times the state average, driven by a combination of population density (more spotters), land area (the bigger Panhandle and West Texas counties cover more storm tracks), and climatology.

The Deadliest Tornadoes in Texas History

Texas has lost at least 594 lives to tornadoes since the National Weather Service began systematic tornado record-keeping in 1950. The single deadliest event remains the 1953 Waco F5, which killed 114 people and stands as one of the deadliest tornadoes in modern American history.

Texas Tornado Strength Distribution

Most Texas tornadoes are weak: roughly 80% are rated F0/EF0 or F1/EF1. But the state has produced enough F4 and F5 events that violent tornadoes (F2+/EF2+) account for almost 19% of rated tornadoes — well above the national average. Texas is one of only a handful of states with multiple confirmed F5 tornadoes on record.

• F0/EF0 (weak): 4,881 tornadoes — 51.5% of rated events
• F1/EF1: 2,718 tornadoes — 28.7%
• F2/EF2 (strong): 1,386 tornadoes — 14.6%
• F3/EF3: 404 tornadoes — 4.3%
• F4/EF4 (violent): 83 tornadoes — 0.9%
• F5/EF5 (incredible): 6 tornadoes — Waco (1953), Wichita County (1964), Lubbock (1970), McLennan County (1973), Brown County (1976), and Jarrell (1997)

Record-Setting Severe Weather in Texas

Largest hailstone: 7.02 inches in diameter, observed in Swisher County (Texas Panhandle) on June 2, 2024 — among the largest hailstones ever documented anywhere in the United States. Texas has logged hailstones of 6 inches or larger in three separate events between 2021 and 2024, all in the western and Panhandle regions.

Highest measured wind gust: 99 knots (114 mph) recorded in Hall County (Panhandle) in February 2023, with multiple other measured gusts above 90 knots in Stonewall County (June 2023, 95 kt) and Ellis County (December 2015, 91 kt). Most damaging Texas wind events are estimated rather than measured because anemometers are sparse across the rural areas where supercells most often produce destructive thunderstorm winds.

How Texas Compares Nationally

Texas ranks #1 in the nation across all three primary severe-weather categories — tornadoes, hail and damaging thunderstorm wind. The full national rankings since 1950:

• Tornadoes: #1 Texas (9,908) — more than twice as many as #2 Kansas (4,890) and #3 Oklahoma (4,856)
• Large hail (≥1″): #1 Texas (53,354) vs #2 Kansas (39,134) and #3 Oklahoma (30,254)
• Damaging thunderstorm wind: #1 Texas (35,096) vs #2 Kansas (24,664) and #3 Georgia (23,248)

The combined size of Texas (the second-largest state by area) and its position straddling the Gulf moisture corridor and the dryline produce the nation’s most varied severe-weather climate — Panhandle supercells, Gulf-Coast hurricanes, Hill Country flash floods and East-Texas pine-belt thunderstorms all contribute to the state’s totals.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many tornadoes does Texas have on average per year?

Texas averages 132 tornadoes per year over the 1950–2024 period. Counts vary widely year to year — quiet years can see fewer than 60, while active years have produced more than 220 tornadoes statewide. Roughly 60% of those tornadoes occur in March, April, May and June.

What was the deadliest tornado in Texas history?

The May 11, 1953 Waco tornado, rated F5 on the Fujita scale, killed 114 people and injured 597 in McLennan County. It remains the deadliest tornado in Texas history and one of the ten deadliest in the modern US record.

Where in Texas are tornadoes most common?

The single county with the most tornadoes on record is Harris County (Greater Houston) with 252 events, but the highest tornado density relative to population is generally in the Panhandle and West Texas. Hale, Pecos, and other rural West Texas counties have logged 90+ tornadoes apiece despite small populations, indicating much higher per-capita exposure than the urban counties.

Does Texas get more tornadoes than Oklahoma or Kansas?

Yes — Texas has roughly twice as many recorded tornadoes as either Kansas (4,890) or Oklahoma (4,856) since 1950. A large part of the difference is land area: Texas covers about three times the area of either state, so its absolute tornado count is correspondingly higher. The combined Panhandle, Hill Country, Coastal Plain and Pineywoods regions all contribute, giving Texas more total severe-weather exposure than any other state.

How recent is the data on this map?

The map and statistics on this page are pulled from NOAA’s official Storm Events Database, which currently runs from January 1950 through September 2025 and is updated as the National Weather Service finalizes new event records. Significant events typically appear in the database within 30–90 days of the event date once damage surveys and ratings are complete.

Compare Texas to Neighboring States

Severe weather doesn’t stop at state lines. The same supercell systems that produce Texas tornadoes regularly cross into Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and New Mexico. Compare Texas’s storm history to its neighbors:

• Oklahoma severe storm history — heart of Tornado Alley, #3 nationally for tornadoes
• Arkansas severe storm history — northern edge of Dixie Alley, frequent overnight tornadoes
• Louisiana severe storm history — Gulf Coast hurricane corridor and winter tornado season
• New Mexico severe storm history — mostly hail and high wind on the eastern plains

→ Explore the national NOAA Storm Reports map · US Tornado Tracks map · US Hailstorms map