Swisher County, Texas

What hazards hit Swisher County most?

The most frequent records are hail reports: 232 since 1962. 72% of its hail reports since 1962 fell in May and June. 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 Swisher County had?

NOAA records 75 tornadoes in Swisher County from 1953 to 2023, the strongest rated F4, with 4 deaths and 11 injuries recorded in the county. That is 23rd of 254 Texas counties and 293rd of 3,080 U.S. counties by days with tornadoes per 1,000 square miles since 1950. 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 78 tornadoes whose track touched Swisher County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 75: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 23 people, 4 of them in Swisher 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 Swisher County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the October 25, 2020 winter storm (1 death).

A significant ice storm affected most of the Rolling Plains along with significant accumulations of ice and snow on the South Plains over a four-day period from the 25th through the 28th. Unseasonably warm temperatures preceded this event. Temperatures rapidly dropped on the 25th behind a strong cold front and continued to steadily drop through the evening and overnight hours. Temperatures fell below the freezing mark across the southern Texas Panhandle on the evening of the 25th. The freezing line advanced southward through the South Plains and Rolling Plains through early Monday morning. As this occurred, an upper level low was moving southward into southwestern United States advecting warm and moist air above the shallow cold air. Three rounds of wintry precipitation occurred over the four-day period. …
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 919878)

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

A damage figure marked "step" is a record from before 1993: NOAA then filed damage by category, and the figure is the category as entered, in the dollars of that year, not an estimate of the loss.

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 Swisher 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).

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

What time of year?

72% of its hail reports since 1962 fell in May and June. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Swisher County

FEMA's register lists 15 declarations that include Swisher County: 9 major disasters, 6 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for fire (4) and severe storm (3).

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 Swisher County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 20 flood or flash flood records for Swisher County from 1996 to 2025, on 19 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Swisher County ranks 2830th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $9,064 on 1 claim filed in Swisher County; the most in one year was 1 in 2017. 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 Swisher County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Swisher County Very Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $9.1 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 Swisher County

1. Randall County 1,882
2. Hale County 1,025
3. Armstrong County 779
4. Castro County 777
5. Swisher County 765
6. Floyd County 721
7. Briscoe County 619

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 Swisher CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Swisher County's FEMA declarations (CSV)15 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis