Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Rio Hondo, TX

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Harlingen Rio Grande Airport, TX, 8 miles west of Rio Hondo at 34 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 97°F and low of 75°F; January is the coolest, at 72°F and 50°F. September is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 0.7 inches; the year adds up to 24.1 inches over 35 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 66% of the year's precipitation (15.8 of 24.1 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 43 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (15); a normal September there has highs of 92°F and 5.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 163 days a year, almost all from March to November. Lows fall below freezing on about 1 nights a year. That 24.1 inches is more than at 71 of the 312 Texas stations used on this site (23%). San Benito, 12 miles southwest, has its own station (Harlingen, TX): 28.3 inches a year, 4.2 more than here, and an August average high of 98°F against 97°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Realitos Peninsula, TX, 15 miles east, averaged 88°F in August and 62°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to October. Sea level at the Port Mansfield tide gauge, 22 miles from Rio Hondo, has risen 1.56 ± 0.12 inches per decade from 1963 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 15.6 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 94 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 28 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Rio Hondo: 20 thunderstorm wind reports, 6 flash floods, 1 flood and 1 heavy rain event. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $403,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 86 mph, on May 16, 2008. September has had the most flash floods, 4 of 6. Of the 745 Texas cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 91 have had fewer than Rio Hondo.

Flood insurance policyholders in Rio Hondo's ZIP code 78583 have filed 113 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1980, and were paid $2.3 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Dolly in 2008: 44 claims (39% of all) and $467,000. 57% 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, 237 have fewer than Rio Hondo.