Texas Tornadoes and Central Severe Weather
One of the severe storm disasters on NOAA’s billion-dollar list: $2.1 billion in losses at 2024 prices ($1.7 billion at the time) and 2 deaths.
What the offices filed during it
The 31 most significant severe storm episodes filed in these dates, colored by kind.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Losses, 2024 dollars
- $2.1 billion
- Losses at the time
- $1.7 billion
- Deaths
- 2
The losses and deaths are NCEI’s, counting everything the disaster did. The episodes below are only what the Weather Service filed in its Storm Events record, which counts damage differently and often not at all, so the two never add up and are shown apart.
By state, as filed
| State | Events | Deaths | Injuries | Damage filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 116 | 0 | 3 | $2.0 billion |
| Florida | 9 | 0 | 0 | $11 million |
| Arkansas | 56 | 1 | 4 | $6.8 million |
| Tennessee | 12 | 1 | 0 | $1.6 million |
| Missouri | 87 | 0 | 0 | $879,000 |
| Oklahoma | 78 | 1 | 1 | $316,000 |
| Washington | 1 | 0 | 0 | $150,000 |
| Louisiana | 13 | 0 | 1 | $77,000 |
| Idaho | 38 | 0 | 4 | $65,000 |
| South Carolina | 1 | 0 | 0 | $25,000 |
| Georgia | 7 | 0 | 0 | $18,000 |
| Mississippi | 1 | 0 | 0 | $10,000 |
| Kansas | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Illinois | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Episode by episode
- Damaging Wind in Kansas, October 18, 2019A cold front swept across the area late in the day with very strong winds occurring behind the frontal passage. Gusts were frequently to near 50 MPH. Along the front there was one thunderstorm gust of over 50 MPH.
- Tornadoes in Florida, October 18 to 19, 2019Tropical Storm Nestor developed in the Gulf of Mexico and moved northeast, making landfall on St. Vincent Island in the Florida Panhandle on the afternoon of the 19th.
- Tornado in Washington, October 18, 2019Between approximately 6:02 - 6:07 PM on the evening of October 18, a tornado touched down near Shelton in Mason County, Washington before moving over the water of Pickering Passage and dissipating as a waterspout.
- Damaging Winds in Florida, October 19, 2019Tropical Storm Nestor continues over the northern Gulf of Mexico, just to the south of the Florida Panhandle. Convection remains focused to the east and southeast of the center of Nestor. Furthermore, a warm front has advanced into Central Florida.
- Damaging Winds in Florida, October 19, 2019The center of Post-Tropical Cyclone Nestor was near Apalachicola on the Florida Big Bend coast by midday with a warm front extending east across Apalachee Bay and along the Interstate 10 corridor.
- Damaging Winds in Idaho, October 19, 2019Severe thunderstorms developed across the Treasure and Magic valleys in Southwest and South Central Idaho as a strong low pressure system and a fast moving cold front barreled through the Pacific Northwest.
- Tornado in Florida, October 19, 2019A weak, short-lived tornado (landspout) occurred in rural, western Indian River County as rain bands from Tropical Storm Nestor moved through the area.
- Damaging Winds in Idaho, October 19, 2019A strong cold front brought widespread severe thunderstorm activity to southeast Idaho.
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in Georgia, October 19 to 20, 2019During the afternoon and evening hours of Saturday, October 19th, the post-tropical remains of what was once Tropical Storm Nestor swept across south Georgia bringing moderate winds, isolated severe thunderstorms and flash flooding to portions of north and central Georgia.
- Tornado in South Carolina, October 20, 2019The remnants of tropical storm Nestor spawned a tornado in Myrtle Beach.
- Damaging Wind in Texas, October 20, 2019A thunderstorm produced strong winds that caused tree and power line damage.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Texas, October 20 to 21, 2019A longwave trough dug south into the Southern Plains during the daytime hours of October 20th, with southerly winds increasing ahead of the trough helping to return low level moisture north from the Gulf of Mexico.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Texas, October 20 to 21, 2019Thunderstorms erupted across the DFW Metroplex as a strong upper level system and a cold front impacted the region on the evening of October 20 through the early morning hours of October 21st.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Oklahoma, October 20, 2019A strong upper wave and a cold front initiated numerous thunderstorms with a variety of severe hazards on the evening of the 20th.
- Hail in Texas, October 20, 2019An upper level shortwave trough moved across an unusually warm, moist airmass and generated isolated thunderstorms. One of these storms produced large hail.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Oklahoma, October 20, 2019Thunderstorms developed over central Oklahoma during the early evening of the 20th, along and just ahead of a cold front moving into the area. The atmosphere ahead of the front was very unstable.
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Louisiana, October 20, 2019A longwave trough dug south into the Southern Plains during the daytime hours of October 20th, with southerly winds increasing ahead of the trough helping to return low level moisture north from the Gulf of Mexico.
- Damaging Winds in Oklahoma, October 20 to 21, 2019A longwave trough dug south into the Southern Plains during the daytime hours of October 20th, with southerly winds increasing ahead of the trough helping to return low level moisture north from the Gulf of Mexico.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Missouri, October 20 to 21, 2019A line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved across the region from the late evening of the 20th to the pre-dawn hours of the 21st as a cold front and negatively-tilted upper trough moved across the region.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Arkansas, October 20 to 21, 2019A longwave trough dug south into the Southern Plains during the daytime hours of October 20th, with southerly winds increasing ahead of the trough helping to return low level moisture north from the Gulf of Mexico.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Arkansas, October 20 to 21, 2019Thunderstorms developed over central Oklahoma during the early evening of the 20th, along and just ahead of a cold front moving into the area. The atmosphere ahead of the front was very unstable.
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Arkansas, October 20 to 21, 2019Up to this point, there was plenty of rain to talk about, but severe weather was limited. That changed late on the 20th/early on the 21st. Hit and miss thunderstorms popped up quickly in central and eastern Oklahoma.
- Damaging Winds in Texas, October 21, 2019An upper level disturbance that moved over northeast Mexico with remnant tropical moisture from the eastern Pacific Tropical Storm Priscilla produced a short period of potent thunderstorms that developed in northeast Mexico and moved quickly through Cameron County from the late…
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Missouri, October 21, 2019A strong storm system moved east across the region during the early morning hours of October 21st. A line of strong to severe storms developed with numerous reports of large hail and damaging winds.
- Damaging Winds in Missouri, October 21, 2019A few thunderstorms produced damaging winds in the Ozark foothills of southeast Missouri. The storms occurred in a strong southerly wind flow ahead of a cold front over the Ozark Mountains of southwest Missouri.
- Hail in Illinois, October 21, 2019An isolated large hail event occurred. Thunderstorms occurred in a strong southerly wind flow ahead of a cold front over western Missouri.
- Tornadoes in Arkansas, October 21, 2019A cold front moved through during the early morning of October 21st and interacted with an unstable airmass in place over the Delta region. A line of showers and thunderstorms developed along the front.
- Damaging Wind in Missouri, October 21, 2019A cold front moved through during the early morning of October 21st and interacted with an unstable airmass in place over the Delta region. A line of showers and thunderstorms developed along the front.
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Tennessee, October 21, 2019A cold front moved through during the early morning of October 21st and interacted with an unstable airmass in place over the Delta region. A line of showers and thunderstorms developed along the front.
- Damaging Wind in Mississippi, October 21, 2019A line of showers and thunderstorms moved through the ArkLaMiss region ahead of a cold front. A few storms were severe in the Delta region, resulting in wind damage.
- Tornado in Louisiana, October 21, 2019A potent storm system and associated strong cold front delivered a fast moving round of strong thunderstorms, producing one weak tornado.
More
Every billion-dollar disasterEvery storm of 2019Tornadoes in 2019
Sources
NOAA NCEI, U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (2025), https://doi.org/10.25921/stkw-7w73, and the Storm Events Database for the episodes.