Willacy County, Texas

What hazards hit Willacy County most?

The most frequent records are drought records: 284 since 1996. 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 Willacy County had?

NOAA records 22 tornadoes in Willacy County from 1957 to 2026, the strongest rated F2, with 0 deaths and 3 injuries recorded in the county. That is 111th 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 21 tornadoes whose track touched Willacy County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 22: 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 Willacy County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the January 25, 2026 frost/freeze ($1.0 million in damage in 2025 dollars).

The locus of observations on the Yturria ranch (northern Willacy, near the Kenedy line), northern Cameron (near the Willacy line), and the Texas AgriScience Center (northeast Hidalgo, near the southwest Willacy border) gave a proxy duration of freezing temperatures (32F degrees or lower) for 13.5 hours from 9 PM Jan. 25 through 1030 AM CST on Monday January 26th. A Hard Freeze (temperatures at or below 27F degrees) occurred for 7.5 hours from 2 until 930 AM CST January 26th. Minimum temperatures were in the lower to mid 20s. An unknown amount of minor damage was likely to winter crops, mainly due to the sharp temperature change from prior to the freeze until after it.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1315308)

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 Willacy 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).

Extreme cold in the 2010s: 34 records against 5 in the decade before, 34 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 Willacy 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 Willacy County. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Willacy County

FEMA's register lists 29 declarations that include Willacy County: 18 major disasters, 11 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for hurricane (15) and flood (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 Willacy County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 43 flood or flash flood records for Willacy County from 1996 to 2025, on 39 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Willacy County ranks 485th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $5.0 million on 522 claims filed in Willacy County; the most in one year was 59 in 1980. 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 Willacy County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Willacy 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 Willacy County

1. Cameron County 1,120
2. Hidalgo County 1,069
3. Willacy County 694
4. Kenedy County 488

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
• Drought in TexasThe state's drought records, 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 Willacy CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Willacy County's FEMA declarations (CSV)29 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis