Clay County, Texas

What hazards hit Clay County most?

The most frequent records are hail reports: 450 since 1958. 64% of its hail reports since 1958 fell in April and May. The rank column places the county among Texas's counties by days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land over each hazard's complete period.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (county and forecast-zone records attributed to the county; a zone record shows its own totals on each county it covers). Days: dates with at least one record of the hazard in the county. Ranks: days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer), since 1950 for tornadoes, 1955 for hail and thunderstorm wind, 1996 for the rest.

How many tornadoes has Clay County had?

NOAA records 43 tornadoes in Clay County from 1954 to 2026, the strongest rated F4, with 0 deaths and 42 injuries recorded in the county. A tornado that crossed a county line is counted in each county it touched, with the length of its path inside the county.

Counted as whole tornadoes rather than county records, the Storm Prediction Center's database holds 40 tornadoes whose track touched Clay County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 43: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 43 people, 0 of them in Clay County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Texas.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, tornado records by county (path length in the county, maximum width); ratings as published: F scale before February 1, 2007, EF scale after. Whole-track figures: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database (1950-2025). SPC severe weather database.

When was the last damaging storm in Clay County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the April 25, 2026 tornado ($50,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

This tornado destroyed a hay barn approximately 4 miles northeast of Shannon off of the Old Joy-Shannon Road and windows were broken at an adjacent farmstead. Except for this damage, the path of the tornado is estimated.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1330707)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database; every record of 2025-2026 is listed, earlier ones when they caused deaths, injuries or $250,000 of damage (2025 dollars), and every tornado.

The deadliest and costliest records

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths and injuries direct and indirect; damage is property plus crops as estimated by the National Weather Service, converted to 2025 dollars.

Is it getting more frequent?

Records per decade for Clay County's most frequent hazards. Counts rose everywhere after 1996, when NOAA began recording every event type, so compare decades within a hazard's complete period only (the shaded cells come before it).

Drought in the 2010s: 57 records against 14 in the decade before, 57 of them forecast-zone records. Cells marked z rose mostly through zone records. The local National Weather Service office files these once per forecast zone, so a change in how it draws its zones or splits a storm into records moves this count as much as the weather does; read it beside the Clay County days with a record above.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records per calendar decade; zone records from the CZ_TYPE field (Z).

What time of year?

64% of its hail reports since 1958 fell in April and May. The two busiest months are in violet.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began.

Federal disaster declarations for Clay County

FEMA's register lists 21 declarations that include Clay County: 12 major disasters, 7 emergencies and 2 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for fire (7) and severe storm (4).

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), declarations through October 2, 2026; one declaration is counted once however many areas it names. OpenFEMA dataset page.

How many floods has Clay County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 25 flood or flash flood records for Clay County from 1997 to 2025, on 14 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Clay County ranks 1678th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $1.7 million on 48 claims filed in Clay County; the most in one year was 15 in 1990. Claims count insured losses only: uninsured flood damage is not in this file.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims, as of September 8, 2026; claims by year of loss, payments in the dollars of the year paid. OpenFEMA dataset page.

FEMA's modeled risk for Clay County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Clay County Very Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $5.7 million. These are FEMA's model estimates of future loss from 18 hazards, not a count of what happened; they can differ from the record above.

Source: FEMA National Risk Index, county table, December 2025 release. FEMA's National Risk Index map.

Counties that share a border with Clay County

1. Wichita County 1,595
2. Clay County 865
3. Archer County 859
4. Montague County 832
5. Jefferson County, OK 830
6. Cotton County, OK 811
7. Jack County 623

Source: U.S. Census Bureau county adjacency file; NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1950. The Census Bureau's adjacency file.

Next

• Tornadoes in TexasEvery Texas tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Hail in TexasThe state's hail reports, by county, year and month
• The Texas recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Clay CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Clay County's FEMA declarations (CSV)21 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis