PlainHazard

Texas extreme cold

Every recorded extreme cold record since 1996 · 234 counties with a record

NOAA's Storm Events Database records 2,340 extreme cold records in Texas from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 96 a year since 2000. The deadliest was the February 12, 2021 cold/wind chill: 59 deaths and $65.2 million in damage in 2025 dollars across 14 records. Texas ranks 6th of 51 states and territories by count and 35th of 50 per square mile.

Extreme cold in Texas, 1996 to 2026

Cold records per year (NOAA Storm Events); 2026 to June 30, 2026.

  • recorded, no damage figure
  • under $1 million
  • $1 million or more
  • $10 million or more
  • $100 million or more, or 10 deaths
  • $1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
  • a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
  • a year with a death
Records
2,3401996 to June 30, 2026
A year since 2000
96average
Deaths
15121 injuries
Damage, 2025 dollars
$773Mas filed
Busiest year
2021297 records

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; deaths and damage as filed, damage in 2025 dollars. Search the record at NCEI.

Are extreme cold records common in Texas?

Texas averages about 96 extreme cold records a year since 2000, 6th of 51 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2021 (297). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Texas records 90 extreme cold records since 1996, 35th of 50 states and territories by that measure.

  1. 1. Maryland 1039
  2. 2. New Jersey 901
  3. 3. West Virginia 808
  4. 4. Vermont 703
  5. 5. New York 602
  6. 6. Kentucky 578
  7. 7. Delaware 565
  8. 8. Minnesota 532
  9. 9. Iowa 492
  10. 10. Illinois 483
  11. 35. Texas 90

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1996, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.

Which counties in Texas have the most extreme cold records?

Per square mile, Willacy County leads Texas: 47 days with a extreme cold record since 1996, 79.6 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Kenedy County has the most cold records (106 since 1996); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).

  1. Willacy County 79.6 (92)
  2. Brooks County 76.3 (80)
  3. Zapata County 63.1 (70)
  4. Jim Hogg County 58.1 (78)
  5. Rockwall County 55.0 (7)
  6. Kenedy County 52.1 (106)
  7. Starr County 50.7 (67)
  8. Aransas County 47.6 (22)
  9. Somervell County 43.0 (8)
  10. Cameron County 42.6 (72)
  11. Hidalgo County 36.3 (88)
  12. Camp County 35.7 (7)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1996 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.

When is the cold season in Texas?

68% of its extreme cold records since 1996 fell in January and February. The busiest month is January (1,010 records).

The values, month by month

Jan 1,010 · Feb 583 · Mar 12 · Apr 234 · May 87 · Jun 0 · Jul 1 · Aug 0 · Sep 0 · Oct 99 · Nov 67 · Dec 247 (records).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.

What were the deadliest extreme cold records in Texas?

Texas: the storms with the most deaths since 1996
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2021-02-12 Cold/Wind ChillHarris County · forecast zone Inland Harris One storm episode: 14 records in 13 places, 2021-02-12 to 2021-02-15; the totals are the episode's. Record cold and windy conditions gripped Southeast Texas behind the passage of an Arctic front. The extreme cold and increased demand led to widespread power outages, loss of heat for many and led to the bursting of pipes with some losing water for many days. Numerous fatalities resulted both from hypothermia, carbon ... 59 0 $65M
2021-02-14 Extreme Cold/Wind ChillDallas County · forecast zone Dallas One storm episode: 29 records in 29 places, 2021-02-14 to 2021-02-15; the totals are the episode's. A historic winter storm, that began on February 9th, 2021, continued to cripple the region through February 19th. One wave of winter precipitation moved across the region February 13-15th, with another round of snow and ice on February 16-17th. Snowfall totals for both rounds ranged from 1 inch to nearly 10 inches ... 28 0 $123M
2021-02-15 Extreme Cold/Wind ChillTravis County · forecast zone Travis One storm episode: 9 records in 9 places; the totals are the episode's. A series of weather systems brought several rounds of winter weather to South Central Texas from February 11 through February 18. The second round came on the 13th and 14th with cold air still in place in the low levels, another upper level shortwave trough moved across Texas providing lift for precipitation. The ... 19 0 –
2026-01-24 Extreme Cold/Wind ChillTarrant County · forecast zone Tarrant One storm episode: 56 records in 46 places, 2026-01-24 to 2026-01-28; the totals are the episode's. The only winter weather event of the season occurred January 23-25. A mix of sleet and snow fell across the region, but sleet was the predominant precipitation type. The highest sleet and snow totals were north of Interstate 20, and the highest freezing rain totals were in our far eastern counties. In addition to the ... 6 2 –
1996-01-22 Cold/Wind ChillDallas County · forecast zone Dallas Overnight temperatures fell into the mid to upper teens two consecutive nights and several homeless people were found frozen to death around the city. 4 0 –
2017-12-07 Cold/Wind ChillKenedy County · forecast zone Kenedy One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. The coldest weather since January 7-8, 2017, descended on Deep South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley December 6 through 8, 2017. Temperatures fell nearly 40 degrees between the afternoon of December 5 and 6, from the mid 80s to the upper 40s; wind chill values fell to between 40 and 45. Temperatures continued to ease ... 3 2 –
2021-02-14 Extreme Cold/Wind ChillPotter County · forecast zone Potter One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. A historic outbreak of arctic air resulted in record breaking cold temperatures during an extreme cold spell that lasted almost two weeks for some locations across the combined Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. The cold air moved over the northeastern combined Panhandles as early as Feb 8th, and spread southwest through ... 3 0 –
2018-01-02 Extreme Cold/Wind ChillHarris County · forecast zone Harris One storm episode: 3 records; the totals are the episode's. Two persons were discovered deceased from hypothermia due to outdoor exposure to subfreezing temperatures. 3 0 –
2011-02-01 Extreme Cold/Wind ChillLubbock County · forecast zone Lubbock One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. A winter storm impacted west Texas during the pre-dawn hours of the 1st, and marked the onset of a prolonged outbreak of arctic air in the Southern Plains. This invasion of arctic air brought the coldest temperatures experienced in more than a decade to the South Plains of west Texas, and was the first of two ... 2 6 $1.3M
2015-01-13 Cold/Wind ChillTarrant County · forecast zone Tarrant A 27 year-old woman and her 13 month old daughter died of hypothermia with paradoxical undressing according to local news outlets. This occurs when the victim begins to feel hot in the cold weather and undresses unknowingly in an attempt to stay cool. The bodies were located about 500 yards from their wrecked sedan ... 2 0 –

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths direct and indirect, as filed by the National Weather Service, summed over each storm (one episode, or one named storm filed by several offices). Storm names from the titles of FEMA declarations that name the storm's counties.

The costliest extreme cold records in Texas

Texas: the most damaging storms since 1993, 2025 dollars
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2021-02-14 Frost/FreezeBrooks County · forecast zone Brooks One storm episode: 6 records in 4 places; the totals are the episode's. 1 0 $501M
2021-02-14 Extreme Cold/Wind ChillDallas County · forecast zone Dallas One storm episode: 29 records in 29 places, 2021-02-14 to 2021-02-15; the totals are the episode's. 28 0 $123M
2021-02-12 Cold/Wind ChillHarris County · forecast zone Inland Harris One storm episode: 14 records in 13 places, 2021-02-12 to 2021-02-15; the totals are the episode's. 59 0 $65M
2021-02-14 Cold/Wind ChillRunnels County · forecast zone Runnels One storm episode: 6 records in 6 places, 2021-02-14 to 2021-02-15; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $34M
2021-02-14 Cold/Wind ChillNueces County · forecast zone Coastal Nueces County One storm episode: 7 records in 6 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $17M
2011-02-03 Frost/FreezeHidalgo County · forecast zone Hidalgo One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $7.9M
2011-02-01 Extreme Cold/Wind ChillEl Paso County · forecast zone El Paso 0 0 $6.6M
2026-01-26 Frost/FreezeHidalgo County · forecast zone Southern Hidalgo County One storm episode: 55 records in 8 places, 2026-01-26 to 2026-01-27; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $3.0M

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

Are extreme cold records becoming more frequent in Texas?

Texas's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996, so earlier decades are not comparable; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.

Extreme cold: Texas and the United States by decade (2020s to June 30, 2026)
DecadeTexasUnited StatesTexas's share
1996-99385,5390.7%
2000s10814,7920.7%
2010s87418,1624.8%
2020-261,32015,3298.6%

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.

The most recent extreme cold records in Texas

The 12 most recent records, to June 30, 2026
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2026-02-01 Cold/Wind ChillBee County · forecast zone Bee 0 0 –
2026-02-01 Cold/Wind ChillLa Salle County · forecast zone La Salle 0 0 –
2026-02-01 Cold/Wind ChillCalhoun County · forecast zone Inland Calhoun County 0 0 –
2026-02-01 Cold/Wind ChillVictoria County · forecast zone Victoria 0 0 –
2026-01-31 Cold/Wind ChillLive Oak County · forecast zone Live Oak 0 0 –
2026-01-31 Frost/FreezeLive Oak County · forecast zone Live Oak 0 0 –
2026-01-29 Frost/FreezeVictoria County · forecast zone Victoria 0 0 –
2026-01-29 Frost/FreezeLive Oak County · forecast zone Live Oak 0 0 –
2026-01-28 Cold/Wind ChillMills County · forecast zone Mills 0 0 –
2026-01-28 Cold/Wind ChillMilam County · forecast zone Milam 0 0 –
2026-01-28 Cold/Wind ChillMcLennan County · forecast zone McLennan 0 0 –
2026-01-28 Cold/Wind ChillLampasas County · forecast zone Lampasas 0 0 –

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.

Federal disaster declarations for extreme cold records in Texas

FEMA has declared 2 disasters in Texas for extreme cold, counting its incident type and declarations that name freez in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 2 were major disasters, the latest on January 9, 1990.

The 12 most recent
DeclaredNumberTitleAreas named
1990-01-09DR-850Severe Freeze10
1984-01-07DR-696Severe Freezing Weather6

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.

Next