Yoakum County Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes
Hot Texas Rankings
The chance of earthquake damage in Yoakum County is about the same as Texas average and is much lower than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in Yoakum County is much lower than Texas average and is lower than the national average.
Earthquake Index, #134
| Yoakum County | 0.01 |
| Texas | 0.04 |
| U.S. | 1.81 |
The earthquake index value is calculated based on historical earthquake events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the earthquake level in a region. A higher earthquake index value means a higher chance of an earthquake.
Volcano Index, #1
| Yoakum County | 0.0000 |
| Texas | 0.0000 |
| U.S. | 0.0023 |
The volcano index value is calculated based on the currently known volcanoes using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the possibility of a region being affected by a possible volcano eruption. A higher volcano index value means a higher chance of being affected.
Tornado Index, #153
| Yoakum County | 114.00 |
| Texas | 208.58 |
| U.S. | 136.45 |
The tornado index value is calculated based on historical tornado events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the tornado level in a region. A higher tornado index value means a higher chance of tornado events.
Other Weather Extremes Events
A total of 8,057 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of Yoakum County were recorded from 1950 to 2010. The following is a break down of these events:
| Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count |
| Avalanche: | 0 | Blizzard: | 0 | Cold: | 1 | Dense Fog: | 0 | Drought: | 70 |
| Dust Storm: | 8 | Flood: | 784 | Hail: | 4,830 | Heat: | 2 | Heavy Snow: | 17 |
| High Surf: | 0 | Hurricane: | 0 | Ice Storm: | 4 | Landslide: | 0 | Strong Wind: | 74 |
| Thunderstorm Winds: | 2,075 | Tropical Storm: | 1 | Wildfire: | 2 | Winter Storm: | 15 | Winter Weather: | 31 |
| Other: | 143 | ||||||||
Volcanos Nearby
No volcano is found in or near Yoakum County.
Historical Earthquake Events
No historical earthquake events that had recorded magnitudes of 3.5 or above found in or near Yoakum County.
No historical earthquake events found in or near Yoakum County.
Historical Tornado Events
A total of 34 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near Yoakum County.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Start Lat/Log | End Lat/Log | Length | Width | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage | Crop Damage | Affected County |
| 0.9 | 1957-05-15 | 2 | 33°11'N / 102°50'W | 2.00 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Yoakum | |
| 23.3 | 1972-06-14 | 2 | 33°06'N / 103°13'W | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Lea | |||
| 25.5 | 1961-05-20 | 2 | 33°19'N / 102°25'W | 0.10 Mile | 23 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Terry | |
| 25.9 | 1963-05-29 | 2 | 33°25'N / 102°29'W | 1.00 Mile | 1320 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Hockley | |
| 30.3 | 1971-08-13 | 2 | 33°17'N / 102°21'W | 33°17'N / 102°17'W | 4.10 Miles | 133 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Terry |
| 31.4 | 1981-06-03 | 2 | 33°13'N / 102°17'W | 2.00 Miles | 40 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Terry | |
| 31.8 | 1970-04-17 | 4 | 33°36'N / 102°38'W | 33°36'N / 102°36'W | 2.00 Miles | 880 Yards | 0 | 20 | 25.0M | 0 | Cochran |
| 33.9 | 1969-04-19 | 3 | 32°42'N / 102°40'W | 0.10 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Gaines | |
| 34.5 | 1954-05-17 | 3 | 32°58'N / 103°22'W | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Lea | |||
| 35.2 | 2007-03-23 | 2 | 33°07'N / 103°27'W | 33°15'N / 103°25'W | 8.00 Miles | 880 Yards | 0 | 0 | 28K | 0K | Lea |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: At 4:50 pm MDT, spotters indicated the presence of two wall clouds. Primary indications are that the new wall cloud spawned a second tornado with the supercell thunderstorm 7 1/2 miles west of the community of McDonald, just south of Lea County Road 147. Survey of damage along county road 147 led to an estimation of tornado width of 50 yards at this point. The tornado continued to intensify as it moved northeast. Significant damage was seen 7 1/2 miles southwest of Tatum over ranchland. At this location, 13 wooden power poles were damaged, three snapped off at ground level and others snapped three to twelve feet above ground. A water trough weighing an estimated 300 pounds was thrown from the tornado for several hundred feet. The tornado was visually estimated to be a half mile in width and described as clean in appearance. Damage along this track supports this estimate. It is believed that this tornado lifted just south of N.M. Highway 380, six and a half miles west of Tatum. Spotters also confirmed that the tornado exhibited multiple vortex structure at times during its life cycle. EPISODE NARRATIVE: Around 12:30 pm MDT on Friday, March 23, thunderstorms began to develop over the Guadalupe Mountains of Eddy County. Thunderstorms continued to rapidly develop, becoming severe over portions of Eddy County at 1:45 pm MDT. Thunderstorms also were developing over eastern portions of Culberson County during this time and these thunderstorms would eventually affect Lea County later in the afternoon. At 3:39 pm MDT, a thunderstorm located in western portions of Lea County just northwest of the community of Halfway began to exhibit supercellular characteristics. This prompted the issuance of a Severe Thunderstorm Warning at 3:42 pm MDT for western portions of Lea county. As the supercell thunderstorm moved northeast at 30 mph, the storm continued to intensify. The presence on radar of an intensifying mesocyclone (storm rotation) and a bounded weak echo region, along with key spotter information relayed into our office through amateur radio Net Control Operations prompted an upgrade to a tornado warning. Spotters indicated a developing wall cloud over the area had become fully formed with increasing surface wind inflow. A tornado warning was issued for northern portions of Lea County at 4:28 pm MDT. | |||||||||||
| 35.7 | 1963-05-29 | 2 | 33°21'N / 102°17'W | 33°30'N / 102°17'W | 10.30 Miles | 67 Yards | 0 | 1 | 0K | 0 | Bailey |
| 36.1 | 1971-08-12 | 2 | 33°11'N / 102°12'W | 0.50 Mile | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Terry | |
| 36.1 | 1971-08-12 | 2 | 33°11'N / 102°12'W | 1.00 Mile | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Terry | |
| 36.1 | 1971-08-12 | 2 | 33°11'N / 102°12'W | 1.00 Mile | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Terry | |
| 36.2 | 1960-07-24 | 2 | 32°58'N / 103°24'W | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Lea | |||
| 37.2 | 1982-05-27 | 2 | 32°42'N / 103°08'W | 0 | 0 | 25.0M | 0 | Lea | |||
| 37.4 | 1982-05-12 | 2 | 32°32'N / 102°43'W | 32°45'N / 102°40'W | 15.00 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 17 | 2.5M | 0 | Gaines |
| 38.2 | 2007-03-23 | 2 | 33°43'N / 102°50'W | 33°44'N / 102°49'W | 2.00 Miles | 150 Yards | 0 | 0 | 175K | 0K | Cochran |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: The Levelland Fire Department reported a second tornado west-northwest of Morton shortly before 22:30 CST. A National Weather Service damage survey found evidence of a strong tornado that developed west of Morton and crossed Texas Highway 114 as it tracked north-northwestward through north-central Cochran county. The tornado impacted the Star Route Gin, which sustained severe damage including the partial collapse of the structure. Concrete anchors were pulled out of the ground and portions of the steel roof beams were heavily damaged. The tornado continued north-northwestward across Farm to Market Road 596 where the tornado destroyed at least three irrigation systems and snapped more than one dozen utility poles. Damage at the Star Route Gin and the snapped utility poles support an EF-2 rating. No injuries were reported and damage estimates totaled $175,000. EPISODE NARRATIVE: An active round of severe thunderstorms, including damaging tornadoes, affected a large portion of the Southern Plains of the U.S. during the afternoon and evening hours of the 23rd. Supercell thunderstorms with a history of producing deadly tornadoes propagated northeastward from the plains of eastern New Mexico into the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle and the western South Plains of west Texas during the evening hours. As these storms moved eastward across the state line, convective modes transitioned from classic supercells toward mini-bow segments and line-echo-waves. Despite the linear nature of the storms, extreme wind shear resulted in at least five tornadoes across the western South Plains region. Tornadoes were initially observed in the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle and the northwestern South Plains around 20:00 CST. The hardest hit area was the Bovina vicinity in Parmer County, where a weak tornado struck the city resulting in minor structural damage. Severe storms producing widespread wind damage and at least one strong tornado then impacted portions of Cochran, southern Bailey, and Lamb Counties during the late evening hours. Two cotton gins in Cochran County were severely damaged, and power outages were widespread. No injuries were reported during the severe weather outbreak on the 23rd, but property damage estimates totaled more than $400,000. | |||||||||||
| 39.3 | 1997-04-10 | 2 | 32°43'N / 102°25'W | 32°43'N / 102°25'W | 2.60 Miles | 250 Yards | 0 | 0 | 80K | 0 | Gaines |
| Brief Description: This second tornado was spawned about two miles east of were tornado #1 dissipated. This tornado tracked to the northeast and overturned two center-pivot irrigation systems. The second system looked as if a couple of sections had become airborne from the resulting damage which snapped off a large wheel. The beginnings of a monster storm were in western Andrews County along the dry line and began moving to the northeast. Just after leaving Seminole in central Gaines County this storm became a supercell and turned almost straight east. According to the KMAF 88D average storm movement was 221 degrees at 26 kt, but this supercell turned and slowed to 268 degrees at 14 kt (47 degrees to the right at 54% speed). The storm continued into the Texas South Plains where it produced numerous other tornadoes and caused one fatality. The environment for the storms according to the rawinsonde sounding that evening on the SHARP workstation showed a buoyancy of about 2800 J/kg for the best lifted parcel and 1700 J/kg for a mean low level parcel. A cap of 65 J/kg kept other storms from forming in the area. | |||||||||||
| 39.6 | 1963-06-08 | 2 | 33°36'N / 102°22'W | 2.00 Miles | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Hockley | |
| 39.9 | 1970-04-17 | 4 | 33°36'N / 102°36'W | 33°44'N / 102°20'W | 18.50 Miles | 880 Yards | 0 | 4 | 25.0M | 0 | Hockley |
| 41.3 | 1991-06-06 | 2 | 32°38'N / 103°12'W | 32°38'N / 103°04'W | 10.00 Miles | 150 Yards | 0 | 5 | 250K | 0 | Lea |
| 41.3 | 1991-06-06 | 2 | 32°38'N / 103°12'W | 32°38'N / 103°04'W | 10.00 Miles | 150 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Lea |
| 41.5 | 1961-06-18 | 2 | 32°37'N / 102°33'W | 0 | 2 | 25K | 0 | Gaines | |||
| 41.7 | 1991-06-06 | 2 | 32°42'N / 103°22'W | 32°38'N / 103°04'W | 17.50 Miles | 150 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Lea |
| 42.1 | 1965-06-09 | 2 | 33°43'N / 102°46'W | 33°50'N / 102°39'W | 10.40 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Cochran |
| 42.5 | 1991-06-06 | 2 | 32°36'N / 103°08'W | 32°36'N / 103°03'W | 4.50 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Lea |
| 47.3 | 1957-04-21 | 4 | 33°36'N / 102°18'W | 33°50'N / 102°21'W | 16.40 Miles | 880 Yards | 0 | 4 | 2.5M | 0 | Hockley |
| 48.0 | 1965-10-17 | 2 | 33°36'N / 102°10'W | 0.20 Mile | 20 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Hockley | |
| 48.4 | 1991-05-10 | 3 | 33°50'N / 102°34'W | 33°51'N / 102°35'W | 1.00 Mile | 450 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Hockley |
| 48.4 | 1982-05-12 | 2 | 32°25'N / 102°45'W | 32°32'N / 102°43'W | 6.00 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Andrews |
| 48.5 | 1969-06-10 | 2 | 33°44'N / 102°19'W | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Hockley | |||
| 49.2 | 1991-05-10 | 3 | 33°51'N / 102°35'W | 33°52'N / 102°36'W | 4.00 Miles | 450 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Lamb |
| 49.7 | 1980-06-19 | 2 | 32°50'N / 102°04'W | 2.50 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 1 | 25K | 0 | Dawson | |
* The information on this page is based on the global volcano database, the U.S. earthquake database of 1638-1985, and the U.S. Tornado and Weather Extremes database of 1950-2010.