Texas

Storm History: Zapata County, Texas

411 episodes, 496 events since 1956

Every storm the National Weather Service has filed in Zapata County, Texas: floods, hail, damaging wind, tornadoes, winter storms, heat and the rest, with the most serious on record. Events filed by forecast zone count for every county the zone covers.

The record

Events
496
Deaths
0
Injuries
40
Damage
$8.8 million
Episodes
411

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

Open the live radar over Zapata County

Every year

From 1996 the record holds 48 kinds of event with each office’s narrative; before that, tornadoes, hail and thunderstorm wind only, and before 1955 tornadoes alone.

By kind of event

Counted under the kind that heads each episode.

Kind of eventEventsDeathsInjuriesDamage
Drought21600$180,000
Frost/Freeze6400
Flash Flood5400$626,000
Hail4900$1.0 million
Excessive Heat2100
Tornado18040$5.6 million
Thunderstorm Wind1700$329,000
Flood1300$1.1 million
Heat1200
Wildfire900$11,000
Heavy Rain800
Ice Storm500
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill500
High Wind100$2,000
Lightning100$10,000
Heavy Snow100
Strong Wind100$25,000
Astronomical Low Tide100

The deadliest

None recorded.

The costliest

Damage within this county, in the dollars of its year.

The largest hail

The largest stone in each episode, which may have fallen in a neighboring county of the same episode.

The strongest tornadoes

Every tornado in Zapata County, with its track

Every episode, newest first

Earlier years, state by state:

More

Tornadoes in Zapata CountyEvery warning in Zapata County since 1986Every county in Texas

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24.