Skip to content

NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Portland, 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

42 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Portland, Texas since 1851, 19 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Harold in 2023. Since 1950, 148 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 3 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
19

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
23

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
148

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
3

1 deaths in all

What the records show for Portland

The strongest storm to pass near Portland was an unnamed storm in 1886, a Category 4 hurricane with 142 mph winds when its centre passed 32 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was Celia in 1970, whose centre crossed the city. The record near Portland begins with an unnamed storm in 1851; the most recent system was Harold in 2023, a tropical storm 54 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1910s, with 5 systems, 3 of them at hurricane strength. Of the 42 systems, 10 have come since 2000. Portland has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 92% of the 753 Texas cities on this site. The highest rating among the 148 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 3 times; the most recent, on September 20, 1967, came within 21 miles. The deadliest, an F2 on October 24, 2002, killed 1 person. Of the 148, 14 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 51 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 26. The most recent tornado was on June 19, 2024. Portland has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 78% of the 753 Texas cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 46 times since 1975, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Of the 753 Texas cities, 71% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Portland.

Compare Portland's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Portland

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Portland, Texas, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2023HaroldAug 2254 miTropical storm (55 mph)Tropical storm
2021NicholasSep 1362 miTropical storm (70 mph)Category 1
2020BetaSep 2266 miTropical storm (48 mph)Tropical storm
2020HannaJul 2573 miCategory 1 (92 mph)Category 1
2017HarveyAug 2625 miCategory 3 (125 mph)Category 4
2015BillJun 1644 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
2011DonJul 3066 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
2010HermineSep 749 miTropical storm (52 mph)Tropical storm
2003ClaudetteJul 1547 miTropical storm (72 mph)Category 1
2002FaySep 775 miTropical storm (54 mph)Tropical storm
1999BretAug 2367 miCategory 2 (107 mph)Category 4
1998FrancesSep 1129 miTropical storm (49 mph)Tropical storm
1998CharleyAug 22overheadTropical storm (41 mph)Tropical storm
1993ArleneJun 2054 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1978AmeliaJul 3146 miTropical storm (43 mph)Tropical storm
1971FernSep 1111 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 1
1970CeliaAug 3overheadCategory 3 (129 mph)Category 4
1968CandyJun 2312 miTropical storm (69 mph)Tropical storm
1964AbbyAug 871 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1961CarlaSep 1163 miCategory 4 (138 mph)Category 4
1960Unnamed 1960 stormJun 2426 miTropical storm (45 mph)Tropical storm
1958EllaSep 627 miTropical storm (54 mph)Category 2
1945Unnamed 1945 stormAug 2720 miCategory 3 (115 mph)Category 3
1942Unnamed 1942 stormAug 3051 miCategory 3 (110 mph)Category 3
1936Unnamed 1936 stormJun 2713 miTropical storm (72 mph)Category 1
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJul 2516 miCategory 1 (82 mph)Category 1
1929Unnamed 1929 stormJun 2858 miCategory 1 (84 mph)Category 1
1919Unnamed 1919 stormSep 1445 miCategory 2 (105 mph)Category 4
1916Unnamed 1916 stormAug 1956 miCategory 2 (102 mph)Category 4
1913Unnamed 1913 stormJun 2848 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 1
1912Unnamed 1912 stormOct 1719 miTropical storm (55 mph)Category 2
1910Unnamed 1910 stormSep 1468 miCategory 2 (104 mph)Category 2
1902Unnamed 1902 stormJun 267 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 1
1886Unnamed 1886 stormSep 2410 miCategory 1 (79 mph)Category 2
1886Unnamed 1886 stormAug 2032 miCategory 4 (142 mph)Category 4
1881Unnamed 1881 stormAug 1325 miTropical storm (41 mph)Tropical storm
1875Unnamed 1875 stormSep 164 miCategory 2 (107 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormJul 471 miTropical storm (47 mph)Tropical storm
1869Unnamed 1869 stormAug 1719 miCategory 1 (83 mph)Category 2
1867Unnamed 1867 stormOct 374 miCategory 2 (104 mph)Category 2
1866Unnamed 1866 stormJul 1549 miTropical storm (61 mph)Category 2
1851Unnamed 1851 stormJun 2625 miCategory 1 (76 mph)Category 1

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Portland: 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 Portland

By decade

  • 2020s7
  • 2010s24
  • 2000s20
  • 1990s17
  • 1980s10
  • 1970s26
  • 1960s35(2 EF3+)
  • 1950s9(1 EF3+)
Strongest tornadoes near Portland, Texas
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Sep 20, 1967F321 mi1.5 mi0 / 3
Nov 8, 1963F321 mi1 mi0 / 1
Oct 22, 1954F3in town20.5 mi0 / 25
Oct 24, 2002F29 mi2.5 mi1 / 20
Jun 2, 2010EF216 mi3.76 mi0 / 0
Aug 9, 1980F21 mi1 mi0 / 0
May 26, 1976F222 mi0.5 mi0 / 1
May 9, 1968F221 mi1.5 mi0 / 1
Sep 22, 1967F26 mi18.2 mi0 / 0
May 15, 1965F27 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Jun 18, 1961F215 mi1 mi0 / 0
Apr 29, 1961F22 mi16 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 148, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Portland

The Storm Prediction Center has 46 hail reports within 10 miles of Portland since 1975, made on 24 separate days. Of these, 29 were 1 inch across or larger, and 3 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on November 1, 2025, the most recent report. May has the most reports, 23.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Radar-estimated hail days in Portland since 2019 →

Weather by month in Portland

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Corpus Christi NWS, TX, 13 miles southwest of Portland at 44 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 93°F and low of 77°F; January is the coolest, at 66°F and 47°F. September is the wettest at 5.4 inches of precipitation on average and January and February the driest at 1.4 inches; the year adds up to 31.2 inches over 41 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 61% of the year's precipitation (18.9 of 31.2 inches); the other six months are drier. Highs reach 90°F on about 113 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 4 nights a year. That 31.2 inches is more than at 122 of the 312 Texas stations used on this site (39%). Gregory, 3 miles northeast, has its own station (Port Aransas, TX): 35.5 inches a year, 4.3 more than here, and an August average high of 89°F against 93°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station La Quinta Channel North, TX, 3 miles east, averaged 88°F in August and 59°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to October. Sea level at the Packery Channel tide gauge, 18 miles from Portland, has risen 2.41 ± 0.21 inches per decade from 1988 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 24.1 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 134 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Corpus Christi NWS, TX
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Water °F
Jan66471.4359
Feb70511.4263
Mar75582.3370
Apr81632.0376
May86713.3382
Jun90753.5487
Jul92762.5487
Aug93772.8488
Sep89735.4787
Oct84662.7381
Nov75562.0372
Dec68491.9365
Year816331.24176

Averages for 1991–2020 at Corpus Christi NWS, TX (44 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station La Quinta Channel North, TX, from NOAA Tides & Currents. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.

Texas weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Portland

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 131 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Portland: 67 flash floods, 59 thunderstorm wind reports, 3 floods and 2 heavy rain events. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $44.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on January 9, 2011. April has had the most flash floods, 16 of 67. Of the 745 Texas cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 709 have had fewer than Portland.

  • July 6, 2021: heavy rain event 5 miles from the centre of Portland — $32.5 million damage.

  • April 16, 2012: flash flood 2 miles from the centre of Portland — $5.0 million damage.

  • June 2, 2010: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Portland — $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 Portland's ZIP code 78374 have filed 204 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $2.0 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Harvey in 2017: 49 claims (24% of all) and $260,000. 33% 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, 291 have fewer than Portland.

Flood insurance claims in Portland by named event
EventClaimsPaid
Hurricane Harvey201749$260,000

San Patricio County, which includes Portland, has been named in 34 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1967, 22 of them major disasters (by incident: 18 hurricanes, 5 floods, 3 fires, 3 severe storms). The latest major disaster declaration was Hurricane Beryl, on July 9, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives San Patricio County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for hurricanes; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, inland flooding, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Low for hail, coastal flooding and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $39.5 million a year, the 45th highest of 254 Texas counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $15.8 million (40%), is from hurricanes.

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).

Portland in the notable storm records: Hurricane Harvey (2017)

What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.

Cities near Portland