San Miguel County, New Mexico

What hazards hit San Miguel County most?

The most frequent records are drought records: 725 since 1996. The rank column places the county among New Mexico'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 San Miguel County had?

NOAA records 18 tornadoes in San Miguel County from 1957 to 2025, the strongest rated F2, with 0 deaths and 0 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 16 tornadoes whose track touched San Miguel County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 18: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 0 people.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in New Mexico.

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 San Miguel County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the December 3, 2025 winter weather (1 death, 1 injury and $250,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

Local news station KOB reported a deadly semi-truck crash along I-40 just east of Clines Corners. The semi-truck lost control and rolled over with another semi-truck crashing into it, with two other trucks crashing into them. The first semi-truck is likely the one that caught fire and became engulfed in flames. There was unfortunately one fatality reported while another was taken to the hospital. Damage is an estimate of the four crashed trucks.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1296292)

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 San Miguel 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: 331 records against 108 in the decade before, 331 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 San Miguel 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?

Records by month in San Miguel County. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for San Miguel County

FEMA's register lists 21 declarations that include San Miguel County: 11 major disasters, 3 emergencies and 7 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for fire (10) 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 San Miguel County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 71 flood or flash flood records for San Miguel County from 1997 to 2025, on 60 days, with 4 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), San Miguel County ranks 1137th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $824,000 on 139 claims filed in San Miguel County; the most in one year was 90 in 2024. 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 San Miguel County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates San Miguel County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $20.9 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 San Miguel County

1. San Miguel County 2,594
2. Santa Fe County 2,498
3. Torrance County 1,625
4. Mora County 1,412
5. Quay County 1,009
6. Guadalupe County 606
7. Harding County 445

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 New MexicoEvery New Mexico tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Drought in New MexicoThe state's drought records, by county, year and month
• The New Mexico recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in San Miguel CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download San Miguel County's FEMA declarations (CSV)21 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis