NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Brownwood, TX
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
1 tropical system has passed within 75 miles of Brownwood, Texas since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was an unnamed storm in 1886. Since 1950, 67 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 3 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 1
- Tornadoes
- 67
- EF3 or stronger
- 3
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Brownwood
None of the 1 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Brownwood; the strongest was an unnamed storm in 1886, a tropical storm with 55 mph winds when its centre passed 60 miles away. Of the 753 Texas cities on this site, 87% have more tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles than Brownwood. The strongest of the 67 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F5 on April 19, 1976; its path came within 2 miles. Of the 67, 9 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 23 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 29. The most recent tornado was on March 13, 2019. Of the 753 Texas cities, 78% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Brownwood. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 191 times since 1959, with stones up to 5 inches. Brownwood has more hail reports within 10 miles than 85% of the 753 Texas cities.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Brownwood
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1886 | Unnamed 1886 stormAug 21 | 60 mi | Tropical storm (55 mph) | Category 4 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Brownwood: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Brownwood
By decade
- 2010s15
- 2000s8
- 1990s14
- 1980s10(1 EF3+)
- 1970s9(2 EF3+)
- 1960s7
- 1950s4
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 19, 1976 | F5 | 2 mi | 10.5 mi | 0 / 11 |
| May 12, 1982 | F3 | 20 mi | 13 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Apr 19, 1976 | F3 | 25 mi | 2.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 12, 1982 | F2 | 24 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 26, 1970 | F2 | 20 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 2 |
| May 15, 1965 | F2 | 20 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 15, 1965 | F2 | 20 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 13, 1960 | F2 | 5 mi | 4.3 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jun 4, 1955 | F2 | 23 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 13, 2019 | EF1 | 13 mi | 1.39 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 18, 2017 | EF1 | 17 mi | 4.36 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 18, 2017 | EF1 | 22 mi | 3.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 67, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Brownwood
The Storm Prediction Center has 191 hail reports within 10 miles of Brownwood since 1959, made on 125 separate days. Of these, 140 were 1 inch across or larger, and 22 reached 2 inches. The largest, 5 inches, fell on October 13, 1960. The most recent report is from March 29, 2025. May has the most reports, 90.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Brownwood
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Brownwood 2ENE, TX, 4 miles east of Brownwood at 1,394 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 97°F and low of 72°F; January is the coolest, at 60°F and 32°F. May is the wettest at 4.3 inches of precipitation on average and December the driest at 1.4 inches; the year adds up to 30.7 inches over 43 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 116 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 55 nights a year. Snowfall averages 1.3 inches a year, most of it in December. That 30.7 inches is more than at 117 of the 312 Texas stations used on this site (38%). May, 13 miles north, has its own station (Rising Star 1S, TX): 31.6 inches a year, 0.9 more than here, and a July average high of 94°F against 97°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 60 | 32 | 1.6 | 3 | 0.2 |
| Feb | 64 | 36 | 2.2 | 3 | 0.3 |
| Mar | 71 | 44 | 2.4 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Apr | 79 | 51 | 2.4 | 3 | 0.2 |
| May | 85 | 62 | 4.3 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 93 | 69 | 3.8 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 97 | 72 | 2.0 | 3 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 97 | 72 | 2.6 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 90 | 65 | 2.9 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 80 | 53 | 3.4 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Nov | 69 | 42 | 1.7 | 3 | 0.2 |
| Dec | 61 | 34 | 1.4 | 3 | 0.4 |
| Year | 79 | 53 | 30.7 | 43 | 1.3 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Brownwood 2ENE, TX (1,394 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Brownwood
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 122 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Brownwood: 90 thunderstorm wind reports, 26 flash floods, 4 floods and 2 heavy rain events. They killed 3 people and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $1.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on March 2, 2023. Of the 745 Texas cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 518 have had fewer than Brownwood.
February 24, 2001: thunderstorm wind 4 miles from the centre of Brownwood — 1 killed, $10,000 damage.
NWS: “One man was fatally injured when an apparent downburst flipped his mobile home.”
May 12, 2019: flood 10 miles from the centre of Brownwood — 1 killed, $5,000 damage.
July 8, 2015: flash flood 10 miles from the centre of Brownwood — 1 killed.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Brownwood's ZIP code 76801 have filed 458 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $8.9 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Torrential rain in 2002: 104 claims (23% of all) and $2.7 million, then Flooding in 1991 with 103 and Thunderstorms in 2007 with 21. 55% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 433 Texas cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 329 have fewer than Brownwood.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Torrential rain2002 | 104 | $2.7 million |
| Flooding1991 | 103 | $1.7 million |
| Thunderstorms2007 | 21 | $446,000 |
| Early summer severe storms2016 | 17 | $430,000 |
Brown County, which includes Brownwood, has been named in 25 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1989, 15 of them major disasters (by incident: 7 fires, 5 floods, 5 severe storms, 3 hurricanes). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, on May 17, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Brown County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, hail, inland flooding and strong wind; Relatively Low for lightning and heat waves; Very Low for hurricanes. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $19.3 million a year, the 95th highest of 254 Texas counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $11.7 million (61%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.
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