Upshur County, Texas

What hazards hit Upshur County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 216 since 1959. 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 Upshur County had?

NOAA records 27 tornadoes in Upshur County from 1957 to 2025, the strongest rated F3, with 0 deaths and 25 injuries recorded in the county. That is 79th of 254 Texas 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 26 tornadoes whose track touched Upshur County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 27: 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 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 Upshur County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the April 4, 2025 tornado ($125,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

This is a continuation of the Wood County tornado. This EF-1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 110 mph widened as it was crossing into Western Upshur County across Palm Road, FM 1092, Tangerine Road, Nutmeg Road, and FM 49. It continued northeast snapping and uprooting more trees as it crossed Highway 154, where it destroyed a home at the intersection of Highway 154 and Alligator Road. The survey team determined that the home was not built on a concrete slab foundation and was not well-constructed, with trees nearby receiving little to no damage. This was also consistent with damage recorded along the rest of the tornado's path. The tornado continued northeast, crossing FM 852, before finally lifting along Armadillo Road on the north side of Lake Gilmer. …
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1256346)

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 Upshur 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).

Winter storms in the 2010s: 15 records against 5 in the decade before, 15 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 Upshur 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 Upshur County. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Upshur County

FEMA's register lists 24 declarations that include Upshur County: 15 major disasters, 9 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for hurricane (6) and fire (5).

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 Upshur County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 42 flood or flash flood records for Upshur County from 1997 to 2025, on 25 days, with 1 death. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Upshur County ranks 2436th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $181,000 on 8 claims filed in Upshur County; the most in one year was 2 in 2025. 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 Upshur County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Upshur County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $21.4 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 Upshur County

1. Smith County 1,252
2. Harrison County 1,103
3. Gregg County 811
4. Wood County 708
5. Upshur County 612
6. Marion County 464
7. Morris County 412
8. Camp County 405

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
• Severe thunderstorm wind in TexasThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, 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 Upshur CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Upshur County's FEMA declarations (CSV)24 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis