NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Plainview, 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
No tropical storm or hurricane has passed within 75 miles of Plainview, Texas since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 220 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 220
- EF3 or stronger
- 5
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
12 deaths in all
What the records show for Plainview
The highest rating among the 220 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 2 times; the most recent, on April 17, 1970, came within 1 mile. Of the 220, 31 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 42 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 72. The most recent tornado was on April 24, 2025. Plainview has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 94% of the 753 Texas cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 121 times since 1959, with stones up to 4.5 inches (grapefruit size). Plainview has more hail reports within 10 miles than 70% of the 753 Texas cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Plainview
By decade
- 2020s5
- 2010s12
- 2000s25(1 EF3+)
- 1990s44
- 1980s38(1 EF3+)
- 1970s41(2 EF3+)
- 1960s40(1 EF3+)
- 1950s15
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 1970 | F4 | 1 mi | 96.6 mi | 5 / 51 |
| Jun 2, 1965 | F4 | 3 mi | 39.3 mi | 4 / 76 |
| Apr 15, 1973 | F3 | in town | 7.6 mi | 2 / 26 |
| Jun 9, 2005 | F3 | 23 mi | 15 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 28, 1980 | F3 | 24 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 25, 2019 | EF2 | 2 mi | 1.69 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 21, 2007 | EF2 | 23 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Apr 21, 2007 | EF2 | 21 mi | 28.75 mi | 0 / 1 |
| May 12, 2005 | F2 | 23 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 26, 1998 | F2 | 9 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 6, 1989 | F2 | 4 mi | 2.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 28, 1980 | F2 | 23 mi | 4.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 220, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Plainview
The Storm Prediction Center has 121 hail reports within 10 miles of Plainview since 1959, made on 88 separate days. Of these, 89 were 1 inch across or larger, and 20 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4.5 inches (grapefruit size), fell on July 9, 1979. The most recent report is from May 6, 2025. May has the most reports, 49.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Plainview
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Plainview Wtr Productn, TX, 1 mile west of Plainview at 3,450 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 67°F; January is the coolest, at 53°F and 24°F. June is the wettest at 3.0 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 0.5 inches; the year adds up to 18.5 inches over 33 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 73 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 108 nights a year. Snowfall averages 7.0 inches a year, most of it in December. That 18.5 inches is more than at 23 of the 312 Texas stations used on this site (7%). Lockney, 19 miles east, has its own station (Floydada, TX): 20.3 inches a year, 1.8 more than here, and a July average high of 92°F against 91°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 53 | 24 | 0.7 | 1 | 0.9 |
| Feb | 57 | 27 | 0.5 | 2 | 1.8 |
| Mar | 65 | 34 | 1.0 | 3 | 0.7 |
| Apr | 73 | 42 | 1.5 | 3 | 0.2 |
| May | 81 | 53 | 2.5 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 89 | 63 | 3.0 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 91 | 67 | 2.1 | 3 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 90 | 65 | 2.3 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 83 | 57 | 1.8 | 3 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 74 | 45 | 1.5 | 3 | 0.1 |
| Nov | 62 | 33 | 0.9 | 2 | 0.9 |
| Dec | 53 | 26 | 0.7 | 2 | 2.4 |
| Year | 73 | 45 | 18.5 | 33 | 7.0 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Plainview Wtr Productn, TX (3,450 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 Plainview
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 94 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Plainview: 76 thunderstorm wind reports, 6 floods, 5 flash floods, 5 heavy rain events and 2 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $7.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 94 mph, on May 8, 1998. May has had the most flash floods, 3 of 5. Of the 745 Texas cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 68 have had fewer than Plainview.
June 12, 2015: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Plainview — 1 injured, $2.5 million damage.
NWS: “A particularly intense series of downbursts with winds from 60 to 80 mph traveled east-southeast from about five miles west of Plainview to three miles west-southwest of Aiken.”
July 28, 2009: thunderstorm wind 2 miles from the centre of Plainview — $2.0 million damage.
NWS: “The KVII-TV Schoolnet initially measured a 74 mph thunderstorm wind gust in Plainview at 20:38 CST. By 20:40 CST the Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet recorded gusts up to 62 mph south of Plainview.”
May 25, 2019: flash flood 8 miles from the centre of Plainview — $1.0 million damage.
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 Plainview's ZIP code 79072 have filed 13 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1985, and were paid $34,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 15% 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, 31 have fewer than Plainview.
Hale County, which includes Plainview, has been named in 15 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 9 of them major disasters (by incident: 3 fires, 3 hurricanes, 3 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storms, on February 19, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Hale County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for hail; Relatively High for strong wind; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes and lightning; Relatively Low for inland flooding; Very Low for hurricanes and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $30.9 million a year, the 62nd highest of 254 Texas counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $16.0 million (52%), is from hail.
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 Plainview
- Hale Center, TX14 mi
- Lockney, TX19 mi
- Olton, TX23 mi
- Tulia, TX24 mi
- Abernathy, TX25 mi
- Floydada, TX30 mi
- Idalou, TX34 mi
- Shallowater, TX38 mi
- Littlefield, TX40 mi
- Dimmitt, TX44 mi
- Lubbock, TX45 mi
- Wolfforth, TX52 mi
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