NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Giddings, 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
24 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Giddings, Texas since 1851, 1 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Beryl in 2024. Since 1950, 69 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 7 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 1
- Tropical storms
- 23
- Tornadoes
- 69
- EF3 or stronger
- 7
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
1 deaths in all
What the records show for Giddings
The strongest storm to pass near Giddings was an unnamed storm in 1900, a Category 1 hurricane with 87 mph winds when its centre passed 35 miles away. The record near Giddings begins with an unnamed storm in 1854; the most recent system was Beryl in 2024, a tropical storm 69 miles away. Of the 24 systems, 3 have come since 2000. Giddings has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 56% of the 753 Texas cities on this site. The highest rating among the 69 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 7 times; the most recent, on March 10, 2000, came within 22 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on April 7, 1980, killed 1 person. Of the 69, 12 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 16 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 18. The most recent tornado was on March 21, 2022. Of the 753 Texas cities, 77% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Giddings. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 40 times since 1963, with stones up to 3.5 inches. Of the 753 Texas cities, 75% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Giddings.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Giddings
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | BerylJul 8 | 69 mi | Tropical storm (70 mph) | Category 5 |
| 2017 | HarveyAug 27 | 73 mi | Tropical storm (47 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2015 | BillJun 17 | 75 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1989 | ChantalAug 2 | 65 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1983 | AliciaAug 18 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1980 | DanielleSep 6 | 72 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1973 | DeliaSep 6 | 14 mi | Tropical storm (44 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1968 | CandyJun 24 | 41 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1961 | CarlaSep 12 | 31 mi | Tropical storm (68 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1947 | Unnamed 1947 stormAug 25 | 57 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1945 | Unnamed 1945 stormAug 28 | 42 mi | Tropical storm (48 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1943 | Unnamed 1943 stormJul 28 | 38 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1932 | Unnamed 1932 stormAug 14 | 7 mi | Tropical storm (55 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1921 | Unnamed 1921 stormJun 23 | 53 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 17 | 24 mi | Tropical storm (54 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1909 | Unnamed 1909 stormJul 22 | 50 mi | Tropical storm (49 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormJun 27 | 26 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1900 | Unnamed 1900 stormSep 9 | 35 mi | Category 1 (87 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1897 | Unnamed 1897 stormSep 13 | 44 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormJun 18 | 32 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1886 | Unnamed 1886 stormSep 24 | 71 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1875 | Unnamed 1875 stormSep 17 | 36 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1871 | Unnamed 1871 stormJun 4 | 56 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1854 | Unnamed 1854 stormSep 19 | 34 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 2 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Giddings: 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 Giddings
By decade
- 2020s5
- 2010s5
- 2000s6(1 EF3+)
- 1990s18
- 1980s8(1 EF3+)
- 1970s9
- 1960s7
- 1950s11(5 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 7, 1980 | F3 | 21 mi | 31.7 mi | 1 / 5 |
| Mar 10, 2000 | F3 | 22 mi | 21 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Apr 24, 1957 | F3 | 25 mi | 14.7 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Mar 20, 1957 | F3 | 10 mi | 16.9 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Mar 20, 1957 | F3 | 9 mi | 7.2 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Dec 2, 1953 | F3 | 22 mi | 3.3 mi | 0 / 4 |
| Apr 28, 1953 | F3 | 19 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 3 |
| May 3, 2019 | EF2 | 17 mi | 2.44 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 5, 1994 | F2 | 21 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 14, 1991 | F2 | 16 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 15, 1987 | F2 | 1 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 8 |
| May 16, 1981 | F2 | 20 mi | 9.7 mi | 0 / 1 |
The strongest 12 of 69, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Giddings
The Storm Prediction Center has 40 hail reports within 10 miles of Giddings since 1963, made on 31 separate days. Of these, 30 were 1 inch across or larger, and 6 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3.5 inches, fell on March 16, 2000. The most recent report is from May 5, 2025. May has the most reports, 15.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Giddings
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Lexington, TX, 16 miles north of Giddings at 423 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 96°F and low of 73°F; January is the coolest, at 61°F and 39°F. May is the wettest at 4.7 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 2.1 inches; the year adds up to 37.6 inches over 50 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 50% of the year's precipitation (18.9 of 37.6 inches). September has brought the most of the 24 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (8); a normal September there has highs of 90°F and 3.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 111 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 27 nights a year. That 37.6 inches is more than at 187 of the 312 Texas stations used on this site (60%). Paige, 11 miles west, has its own station (Smithville, TX): 37.2 inches a year, 0.4 less than here, and an August average high of 97°F against 96°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 61 | 39 | 3.1 | 5 |
| Feb | 65 | 43 | 2.2 | 4 |
| Mar | 72 | 50 | 2.9 | 4 |
| Apr | 79 | 56 | 2.6 | 4 |
| May | 85 | 65 | 4.7 | 5 |
| Jun | 92 | 72 | 3.2 | 4 |
| Jul | 95 | 74 | 2.1 | 3 |
| Aug | 96 | 73 | 2.6 | 3 |
| Sep | 90 | 68 | 3.1 | 4 |
| Oct | 82 | 58 | 4.6 | 5 |
| Nov | 71 | 48 | 3.3 | 4 |
| Dec | 63 | 40 | 3.2 | 4 |
| Year | 79 | 57 | 37.6 | 50 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Lexington, TX (423 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 Giddings
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 47 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Giddings: 30 thunderstorm wind reports, 15 flash floods, 1 flood and 1 lightning strike. They killed 2 people and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $1.0 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 86 mph, on April 20, 2006. May has had the most flash floods, 7 of 15. Of the 745 Texas cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 332 have had fewer than Giddings.
April 25, 2015: flood 8 miles from the centre of Giddings — 1 killed.
NWS: “An elderly man was working on a fence and may have hit his head and fell into a creek and drown. The creek had flowing water from recent rains.”
May 26, 2016: flash flood 6 miles from the centre of Giddings — 1 killed.
NWS: “A vehicle was swept off the road due to swift water. The driver was found deceased the next day due to apparent drowning.”
April 20, 2006: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Giddings — $200,000 damage.
NWS: “Severe thunderstorms moved into Lee County in the late afternoon. They began producing severe winds as they approached US77, knocking down trees and power lines from near Lincoln eastward to near Dime Box.”
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 Giddings's ZIP code 78942 have filed 21 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1981, and were paid $618,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Harvey in 2017: 12 claims (57% of all) and $271,000. 90% 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, 82 have fewer than Giddings.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane Harvey2017 | 12 | $271,000 |
Lee County, which includes Giddings, has been named in 22 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1987, 15 of them major disasters (by incident: 5 fires, 5 hurricanes, 3 floods, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Hurricane Beryl, on July 9, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Lee County a Very Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Low for hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, strong wind, lightning and heat waves; Very Low for inland flooding. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $11.7 million a year, the 137th highest of 254 Texas counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $2.4 million (20%), 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.
Cities near Giddings
- Paige, TX11 mi
- Lexington, TX17 mi
- Smithville, TX18 mi
- Burton, TX19 mi
- La Grange, TX19 mi
- Mc Dade, TX19 mi
- Bastrop, TX23 mi
- Somerville, TX28 mi
- Caldwell, TX28 mi
- Elgin, TX28 mi
- Brenham, TX32 mi
- New Ulm, TX32 mi
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